People v. Tsintzelis

• Decision Date: 24 March 2020
• Docket Number: No. 17, No. 18,17, No. 18
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. George TSINTZELIS, Appellant. The People & c., Respondent, v. Jose Velez, Appellant.
• Court: New York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

35 N.Y.3d 925

146 N.E.3d 1160

124 N.Y.S.3d 1

The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent,

v.George TSINTZELIS, Appellant.

The People & c., Respondent,

v.Jose Velez, Appellant.

No. 17, No. 18

Court of Appeals of New York.

March 24, 2020

OPINION OF THE COURT MEMORANDUM.

In each case the order of the Appellate Division should be reversed and a new trial ordered.

In People v. John, we held that, when confronted with testimonial DNA evidence at trial, a defendant is entitled to cross-examine "an analyst who witnessed, performed or supervised the generation of defendant's DNA profile, or who used his or her independent analysis on the raw data" ( 27 N.Y.3d 294, 315, 33 N.Y.S.3d 88, 52 N.E.3d 1114 [2016] ). In People v. Austin, we reiterated that a testifying analyst who did not participate in the generation of a testimonial DNA profile satisfies the Confrontation Clause's requirements only if the analyst "used his or her independent analysis on the raw data to arrive at his or her own conclusions" ( 30 N.Y.3d 98, 105, 64 N.Y.S.3d 650, 86 N.E.3d 542 [2017] [quotations omitted] ). The records before us do not establish that the testifying analyst had such a role in either case. Accordingly, because the analyst's hearsay testimony as to the DNA profiles developed from the post-arrest buccal swabs "easily satisfies the primary purpose test" for determining whether evidence is testimonial (see id. at 103, 64 N.Y.S.3d 650, 86 N.E.3d 542 ), we conclude that her testimony and the admission of those DNA profiles into evidence, over defendants' objections, violated defendants' confrontation rights.¹

These errors are not harmless. In both cases, the People relied solely on the evidence of the DNA profile generated from the post-arrest buccal swabs to prove defendants' guilt at trial (see id. at 104, 64 N.Y.S.3d 650, 86 N.E.3d 542 ).²

RIVERA, J. (concurring).

I concur that the Appellate Division should be reversed because the analyst's respective testimony violated the Confrontation Clause rights of each defendant. In both appeals, the analyst failed to identify the stages of testing with which she was directly involved or the extent of her independent analysis on the raw data generated from the DNA testing. Given the analyst's limited participation in the testing, it was necessary for her to clarify which stages of testing she actually performed and her overall role in the process as a predicate to determining whether she was an "analyst with the requisite personal knowledge" ( People v. John, 27 N.Y.3d 294, 313, 33 N.Y.S.3d 88, 52 N.E.3d 1114 [2016] ). Her testimony fell short of that constitutional threshold.

The analyst only stated that she visually compared the DNA profiles generated from the defendants' buccal swabs with the respective profiles generated from the crime scene evidence and that she is charged with reviewing each portion of testing prior to approving or finalizing a testing determination.¹ Notably, the analyst did not state what "reviewing" testing practically entailed. This thin testimony failed to establish that the testifying analyst was "an analyst who witnessed, performed or supervised the generation of defendant's DNA profile, or who used his or her independent analysis on the raw data," as is required by the Confrontation Clause ( John, 27 N.Y.3d at 315, 33 N.Y.S.3d 88, 52 N.E.3d 1114 ).

The People argue that the information in the admitted Forensic Biology (FB) files—specifically the listing of the analyst's name as a "reviewer" or "analyst" on some testing reports and the appearance of the analyst's initials on each page of the FB files—suffices to show the analyst's critical role in generating the defendants' DNA profiles and independent analysis of the raw data. However, the contents of the FB files belie the People's claims, as the testifying analyst's name does not appear as a "reviewer" or "analyst" at all on several documents related to the final stages of DNA typing

, including electrophoresis, editing and control review, for both defendants' buccal swab samples. More importantly, the listing of the analyst's name or initials on any FB file document, including as a "Reviewer," is meaningless without testimony about what such a designation means. It is the People's burden to present the proper witnesses and elicit the proper testimony from such testifying analysts that establishes their role in testing; the People may not defer to assumptions or precedent in fulfilling this obligation (see Bullcoming v. New Mexico, 564 U.S. 647, 666, 131 S.Ct. 2705, 180 L.Ed.2d 610 [2011] ; John, 27 N.Y.3d at 303–305, 312–14, 33 N.Y.S.3d 88, 52 N.E.3d 1114 ; see also People v. Brown, 13 N.Y.3d 332, 337–38, 340, 890 N.Y.S.2d 415, 918 N.E.2d 927 [2009] ).² Indeed, in People v. Austin, the testifying OCME criminalist's "name appear[ed] on some of the laboratory reports" but "he testified that he did not perform the laboratory testing on those samples," exemplifying the deficiencies in blindly deferring to assumptions or even precedent ( 30 N.Y.3d 98, 102–103, 64 N.Y.S.3d 650, 86 N.E.3d 542 [2017] ). I agree with the majority that this error was not harmless on the facts of these respective appeals (majority mem. at 927, 124 N.Y.S.3d at 3, 146 N.E.3d at 1162 ).

Accordingly, the Appellate Division in People v. Tsintzelis should be reversed because although the court concluded that the admission of the FB files through the analyst's testimony violated defendant Tsintzelis's confrontation rights, the court incorrectly found the error was harmless because the FB files were cumulative of the analyst's testimony. In People v. Velez, the Appellate Division should be reversed as the court misinterpreted our holding in John and erroneously held there was no violation.³

Chief Judge DiFiore and Judges Stein, Fahey, Garcia, Wilson and Feinman concur. Judge Rivera concurs in result in an opinion in which Judge Wilson concurs.

Order reversed and a new trial ordered, in a memorandum.

1 The trial record in each of these cases was made prior to this Court's guidance in John, and they are therefore particularly poor vehicles for commenting on the "People's burden to present the proper witnesses and elicit the proper testimony" from the relevant analysts or for delving into the Forensic Biology files, entered into evidence without comment or explanation. The cases similarly present no occasion to chastise the People for purportedly "defer[ring] to assumptions or precedent" (see concurring op. at 928, 124 N.Y.S.3d at 4, 146 N.E.3d at 1163 ) by failing to anticipate John 's requirements.

2 Given our disposition of these appeals and the intervening changes in New York's criminal discovery laws (see CPL 245.20 ; see also id. 245.60), we need not address defendants' remaining contentions including that they were wrongly denied discovery of the raw DNA data under former CPL 240.20.

1 In People v. Tsintzelis, the analyst stated that she must "go through each and every testing technique to ensure that everything did pass" in order for her to "sign off on the case file or the report." In People v. Velez, she said, "[i]n order to make a determination, I need to...