CrimLaw has a post about how some really incompetent judges in the COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA ruled that an incompetent trial judge could allow NCIS records as evidence in vlolation of hearsay rules.
From the FBI via the FAS.
PURPOSE: The purpose for maintaining the NCIC system is to provide a computerized database for ready access by a criminal justice agency making an inquiry and for prompt disclosure of information in the system from other criminal justice agencies about crimes and criminals. This information assists authorized agencies in criminal justice and related law enforcement objectives, such as apprehending fugitives, locating missing persons, locating and returning stolen property, as well as in the protection of the law enforcement officers encountering the individuals described in the system.
NCIC records were never meant to be used as evidence in the courtroom because of known inaccuracies. In fact, because of the many inaccuracies in the records of the NCIC system, there is a a broad coalition of organizations across the United States that has endorsed a letter urging the reestablishment of accuracy requirements for the FBI's National Crime Information Center (NCIC).
The Mississippi Court of Appeals got it right when they excluded NCIC records from being used as evidence as the following excerpt shows:
¶10. In the case before us, there was no evidence offered as to the means by which the information regarding registered ownership of the vehicles was compiled. The only testimony came from an investigating officer who limited his testimony to the fact that law enforcement officers routinely make use of such information. The reliability of the information in "business records" is determined by the competence of the compiler of the information and not the extent of the consumer's reliance on information received from another source.
Problems may arise when one business organization seeks to introduce records in its possession but actually prepared by another. Obviously, mere possession or "custody" of records under these circumstances does not qualify employees of the possessing party to lay the requisite foundation, and transmittal of information by the custodian regarding the contents of records in the custodian's possession does not qualify the recipient to lay the foundation.
2 McCormick on Evidence § 292 (John W. Strong ed., 5th ed. 1999).
¶11. Because the necessary predicate was not laid showing how registration information on motor vehicles is compiled and made available by computer connection to law enforcement authorities, we conclude that, in this case, the NCIC printout purporting to reveal ownership of the particular motor vehicles in question did not demonstrate the necessary indications of trustworthiness to be admitted over a hearsay objection. See, e.g., Journal Publishing Co. v. McCullough , 743 So. 2d 352, 355 (¶ 5) (Miss. 1999).
According to an ABC news report the NCIC is notoriously inaccurate as the following excerpt shows:
The system "is replete with inaccurate, untimely information, but everybody does their best to keep it up to date," said Beryl Howell, former general counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee. "That's a goal we shouldn't just throw out."
The following doesn't really pertain to this post, but I find it interesting.
A second investigator in the Nevada attorney general's office has come under the scrutiny of state agents in the FBI's secrets-for-sale scandal.Posted by John at December 26, 2003 12:40 AMThe investigator, a 31-year-old veteran of three years with the attorney general's office, was close friends with Maria Emeterio, who resigned from the office in June following her arrest on federal charges of selling classified FBI information to private detective Mike Levin.
Emeterio, 34, was charged with giving Levin top-secret records from the FBI's National Crime Information Center (NCIC), a computerized criminal database used by law enforcement agencies across the country. Levin then sold the records to his criminal clients.
Following her arrest, state agents with the Nevada Division of Investigations launched a probe into Emeterio's ties to Levin to determine whether others at the attorney general's office were involved in the theft of the FBI documents.
The FBI in New York has been conducting a separate investigation, which has resulted in the arrests of 10 people, including Levin and James J. Hill, a Las Vegas FBI security analyst who also has been charged with selling Levin confidential information.
Levin, a former FBI agent Las Vegas, has pleaded guilty to buying the stolen FBI documents and is cooperating with federal authorities.
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