Michael Ian Kramer was convicted by a jury of misdemeanor driving under the influence of alcohol, Idaho Code §§ 18-8004, 18-8005(4). On intermediate appeal, the district court affirmed his conviction. Kramer appeals to this Court contending that the magistrate erred by admitting documents that were disclosed the day before trial and that admission of the documents violated his Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses against him. We affirm.
I.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
Kramer was charged with misdemeanor DUI. On the day of trial, Kramer moved to exclude evidence of the breath test results and Intoxilyzer 5000 certificates, arguing that the State failed to timely provide all evidence required of it under a discovery request.
1
Kramer asserted that the State did not disclose the certificates, which the State intended to use to lay a foundation for admission of the breath test itself, until the day before trial, in violation of Idaho Rules of Evidence 702, 703, and 704. Kramer also argued that the Confrontation Clause required the State to produce not just the certificates, but the live testimony of: (1) the individuals responsible for calibrating the breath testing equipment; (2) the forensic services commander who certified the forensic alcohol test; and (3) the person who
II.
ANALYSIS
On review of a decision of the district court, rendered in its appellate capacity, we review the decision of the district court directly.
Losser v. Bradstreet,
A. Disclosure of Intoxilyzer 5000 Certificates
Whether to impose a sanction for a party’s failure to comply with a discovery request, and the choice of an appropriate sanction, are within the discretion of the trial court.
State v. Buss,
Kramer argues that due to the late disclosure of the Intoxilyzer 5000 certificates, he was unable to retain his own expert on the testing equipment, and thus the late disclosure hampered his ability to meet the evidence at trial. The State argues that Kramer’s discovery request did not require production of the certificates and, additionally, Kramer failed to show a connection between any prejudice suffered and the timing of the disclosure of the certificates.
In
State v. Anderson,
In the present case, the State’s culpability to the extent the discovery request reqxxired
Establishing prejudice ordinarily requires that the complaining party demonstrate that the late disclosure hampered his ability to meet the evidence at trial, had a deleterious effect on his trial strategy, or that it deprived him of the opportunity to raise a valid challenge to the admissibility of evidence.
Allen,
B. Sixth Amendment Right to Confront Witnesses
“When considering alleged violations of constitutional rights, this Court defers to the district court’s findings of fact unless clearly erroneous, but exercise[s] free review over the trial court’s determination as to whether constitutional requirements have been satisfied in light of the facts found.”
State v. Thorngren,
Kramer argues that because Intoxilyzer 5000 certificates are prepared in anticipation of trial they are testimonial, and therefore trigger the Confrontation Clause.
In
Crawford,
the Supreme Court based its holding on the historical underpinnings of the Confrontation Clause, and noted that the Sixth Amendment must be interpreted with this history in mind: “[T]he principal evil at which the Confrontation Clause was directed was the civil-law mode of criminal procedure, and particularly its use of ex parte examinations as evidence against the accused.”
Crawford,
(1) ex parte in-court testimony or its functional equivalent — that is, material such as affidavits, custodial examinations, prior testimony that the defendant was unable to cross-examine, or similar pretrial statements that declarants would reasonably expect to be used proseeutorially;
(2) extrajudicial statements ... contained in formalized testimonial materials, such as affidavits, depositions, prior testimony, or confessions; and
(3) statements that were made under circumstances which would lead an objective witness reasonably to believe that the statement would be available for use at a later trial.
Crawford,
Using the
Crawford
analysis, the Supreme Court has held that laboratory analysts’ certificates, which “show[ed] the results of the forensic analysis performed on [ ] seized substances,” were “testimonial.”
See Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts,
The Court also repudiated the argument that the certificates of analysis were admissible without implicating the Confrontation Clause because they were “akin to the types of official and business records admissible at common law.”
Melendez-Diaz,
Although Kramer argues that the Intoxilyzer 5000 certificates are testimonial, all state appellate courts deciding the issue have found that such certificates are not.
4
The Massachusetts’ case of
Commonwealth v. Zeininger,
The Massachusetts Court also reasoned that the calibration records were created “ ‘for the administration of an entity’s affairs and not for the purpose of establishing or pi’oving some fact at trial,’ the distinction the Supreme Court forged between business records traditionally admissible absent confrontation and testimonial records subject to confrontation.”
Zeininger,
The primary purpose of OAT certification is to guarantee, internally, as a matter of course, and when necessary, in court, the accuracy and standardization of all breathalyzer testing equipment across the various police departments of the Commonwealth. At the time of certification, the hypothetical use of that record in an as-yet-unknown criminal proceeding is merely an ancillary purpose, subordinate in importance to the “administration of the entity’s affairs.” [Melendez-Diaz, 557 U.S. at 324, 129 S.Ct. at 2539 ,174 L.Ed.2d at 329 .]
In comparison to a chemist who authors certificates of drug analysis, a technician certifying a breathalyzer machine has no “particular prosecutorial use in mind.” [Bergin,217 P.3d at 1089 .] The certificate of analysis is particularized and performed in aid of a prosecution seeking to prove the commission of a past act and, thus, resembles the type of “ex parte in-court testimony or its functional equivalent” at the nucleus of the confrontation clause. [Crawford,541 U.S. at 51, 52 ,124 S.Ct. at 1364, 1365 ,158 L.Ed.2d at 192, 193 .] That the OAT certification records are generalized and performed prospectively in primary aid of the administration of a regulatory program makes all the difference. [See Crawford,541 U.S. at 51-52 ,124 S.Ct. at 1364-65 ,158 L.Ed.2d at 192-93 ; see also Bergin,217 P.3d at 1089 .]
Zeininger,
Kramer argues that the Intoxilyzer 5000 certificates are prepared in anticipation of trial and, as such, are testimonial. He cites the recent Supreme Court case of
Bullcoming v. New Mexico,
564 U.S.-,
Unlike the reports in
Melendez-Diaz
and
Bullcoming,
the Intoxilyzer 5000 certificates admitted over Kramer’s objection in this case were not direct proof of an element of the crime of driving under the influence. The certificates admitted regarding the calibration of the testing instrument were not offered to prove that Kramer’s BAC was above the legal limit; rather, the certificates were admitted as proof that the testing instrument was working properly. Just as in
Zeininger,
the certificates here “support one fact (the accuracy of the machine) that, in turn, supports another fact that can establish guilt (blood alcohol level).”
Zeininger,
Kramer asserts that I.C. § 18-8004(4) requires that the State introduce into evidence the Intoxilyzer 5000 certificates as an element of proof. We disagree. Idaho Code § 18-8004(4) sets the formula for evidentiary testing and requires that evidentiary testing be performed in an approved laboratory. That section does not require that the certificates, including solution documentation, be admitted in order to obtain a conviction. Moreover, I.C. § 18-8004(4) expressly provides that “records relating to calibration, approval, certification or quality control performed by a laboratory operated or approved by the Idaho state police or by any other method approved by the Idaho state police shall be admissible in any proceeding in this state without the necessity of producing a witness to establish the reliability of the testing procedure for examination.” While the section provides how the certifi
cates may be admitted into evidence, it does not require that the certificates
Furthermore, the certification standards for breath test instruments in Idaho are not tied to the prosecution of any particular person. See Idaho State Police, 6.0 Standard Operating Procedure Breath Alcohol Testing (Rev.2010). Idaho regulations provide that “[e]ach breath testing instrument shall be cheeked on a schedule established by the [Idaho State Police] for accuracy with a simulator solution provided by or approved by the department.” Idaho Admin. Code 11.03.01.014. ISP’s standard operating procedures, in turn, provide that each testing instrument is to be calibrated and certified before it is approved for use in the field. After the initial calibration, the frequency of performance cheeks varies between different instruments, but generally the cheeks occur at least once per month. See Idaho State Police, 6.0 Standard Operating Procedure: Breath Alcohol Testing, pp. 7, 10-12 (Rev. 2010).
ISP’s 'standard operating procedures also dictate that additional cheeks to ensure the accuracy of the instrument occur at the time of, or within twenty-four hours of, an evidentiary breath test. These “performance verifications” are recorded in instrument logs, and were apparently admitted in this ease along with the calibration and simulator solution certificates. Although Kramer does not explicitly include the instrument logs in his argument, referring to “breath test certificates” generally, performance verifications and the instrument logs are arguably more particularized to a specific “prosecutorial use” than the certificates in
Zeininger.
The “performance verification” may be more likely used as evidence in a particular DOT case to show that the instrument was functioning properly at the time of the test. Nevertheless, at least one court thus far has found that even officer testimony and instrument logs admitted to prove proper functioning of a breath testing instrument were not testimonial.
See People v. Jacobs,
Ultimately, Kramer only asserts generally that there were issues dealing with “the calibration of the machine and what simulator solution was installed in the machine.” The connection between the calibration and simulator solution certificates and the ultimate issue of Kramer’s BAC is the same as in
Zeininger.
This is especially true considering that subsequent calibrations, similar to the one performed prior to an instrument’s initial certification, are only completed after an instrument has failed three performance verifications.
See
Breath Alcohol SOP, p. 11;
see also Ramirez v. State,
hi.
CONCLUSION
Kramer has failed to demonstrate that the magistrate abused its discretion by failing to exclude the Intoxilyzer 5000 certificates due to late disclosure. The Intoxilyzer 5000 certificates admitted into evidence are not testimonial and, therefore, do not implicate the Confrontation Clause. Therefore, the district court’s intermediate appellate decision upholding Kramer’s judgment of conviction is affirmed.
Notes
. The “Intoxilyzer 5000 certificates” consist of multiple "certificates” produced by the State: (1) a certificate that the instrument is approved for alcohol testing as per I.C. § 18-8004(4) and ISP Rules and Regulations; (2) a certificate from the manufacturer certifying that the calibration of the instrument was tested and found to be in compliance with the applicable national standards; and (3) two certificates of analysis, certifying the target values and ranges of two different simulator solution lots. Also included was an instrument operations log showing the results of a series of tests for the instrument.
. The State first argues that Kramer's Confrontation Clause claim fails because the State’s Exhibit 2, which contained the Intoxilyzer 5000 certificates, is not in the appellate record. However, copies of breath test certificates are included in the clerk’s record as part of the State’s "Supplemental Response to Discovery.” The State acknowledges that the description of the contents of Exhibit 2 contained in the trial transcript is generally consistent with the contents of the State’s supplemental response to discovery. Since the Confrontation Clause analysis is not particular to the certificates in Exhibit 2, but applies generally to the type of certificates at issue, we will address the Confrontation Clause claim.
. The Idaho Supreme Court has held that the videotaped statements of a witness admitted in a sexual abuse trial are testimonial under
Crawford
and
Davis,
but has not yet applied the Confrontation Clause analysis to certificates regarding calibration of breath test devices.
See State v. Hooper,
.
See, e.g., United States v. Forstell,
