During the last decade, the U.S. Supreme Court has focused a great deal of attention on what is known as the “Confrontation Clause” of the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The Confrontation Clause provides that persons accused of crimes have the right “to be confronted with the witnesses against him.” In the recent case of Bullcoming v. New Mexico the Court held that Mr. Bullcoming’s confrontation clause rights were violated when he was denied the opportunity to confront and cross examine the analyst who actually test the alcohol concentration of the blood, as opposed to a surrogate analyst testifying to what the other analyst did to reach his or her conclusion as the alcohol concentration.
This decision may impact Collin County Driving While Intoxicated cases because it will likely require the State to arrange for the anaylist that actually performed the blood test to appear in court to testify and be subject to cross examination before the results of a blood test will be admissible against an accused person
