State v. Ducasse, 8 A.3d 1252

Ducasse was convicted of manslaughter (Class A) and aggravated operating under the influence following a jury trial in Kennebec County.
A head-on collision occurred on July 11, 2008; the other driver died and Ducasse was injured.
A blood sample taken ~2 hours after the crash showed a blood-alcohol level of 0.19%.
The State offered testimony from the officer, a Certificate of Compliance from BD Diagnostics, and the lab chemist who analyzed the blood.
Ducasse objected to admitting the certificate as violating her Sixth Amendment right to confrontation; the court admitted it as non-testimonial.
Ducasse was sentenced to 12 years (with 6 suspended) for manslaughter and 4 years for OUI, to run concurrently, plus fines and license suspension.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Confrontation clause applicability	Ducasse argues the certificate is testimonial and admits hearsay evidence.	State asserts the certificate is non-testimonial business record.	Certificate not testimonial; admission did not violate confrontation.

Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, 129 S. Ct. 2527 (U.S. 2009) (certificates declaring forensic analysis are testimonial)
Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36 (U.S. 2004) ( Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses)
Davis v. Washington, 547 U.S. 813 (U.S. 2006) (testimon ial vs nontestimonial statements)
State v. Murphy, 2010 ME 28 (Me. 2010) (confrontation analysis applied to a government certificate)
State v. Mitchell, 2010 ME 73 (Me. 2010) (confrontation framework; de novo review of legal conclusions)
State v. Metzger, 2010 ME 67 (Me. 2010) (confrontation considerations and testimonial vs non-testimonial)