2C:35-19. Laboratory certificates; use; admission into evidence; objections
2C:35-19. Laboratory Certificates; Use; Admission into
Evidence; Objections. a. The Attorney General of New Jersey may
designate State Forensic Laboratories. These laboratories shall be
staffed by employees of this State or any of the States political
subdivisions. In a proceeding for a violation of the provisions of
chapters 35 and 36 of this title or any other statute concerning
controlled dangerous substances or controlled dangerous substance
analogs, a law enforcement agency may submit to one of these
laboratories any substance, including, but not limited to, any substance
believed to be a controlled dangerous substance or controlled substance
analog thereof, or any poisons, drugs or medicines or human body
tissues or fluids. The laboratory shall analyze these substances.
b. Upon the request of any law enforcement agency, the laboratory
employee performing the analysis shall prepare a certificate. This
employee shall sign the certificate under oath and shall include in the
certificate an attestation as to the result of the analysis. The
presentation of this certificate to a court by any party to a proceeding
shall be evidence that all of the requirements and provisions of this
section have been complied with. This certificate shall be sworn to
before a notary public or other person empowered by law to take oaths
and shall contain a statement establishing the following: the type of
analysis performed; the result achieved; any conclusions reached based
upon that result; that the subscriber is the person who performed the
analysis and made the conclusions; the subscribers training or
experience to perform the analysis; and the nature and condition of the
equipment used. When properly executed, the certificate shall, subject
to subsection c. of this section and notwithstanding any other provision
of law, be admissible evidence of the composition, quality, and
quantity of the substance submitted to the laboratory for analysis, and
the court shall take judicial notice of the signature of the person
performing the analysis and of the fact that he is that person.
c. Whenever a party intends to proffer in a criminal or quasi-criminal
proceeding, a certificate executed pursuant to this section, notice of
an intent to proffer that certificate and all reports relating to the
analysis in question, including a copy of the certificate, shall be
conveyed to the opposing party or parties at least 20 days before the
proceeding begins. An opposing party who intends to object to the
admission into evidence of a certificate shall give notice of objection
and the grounds for the objection within 10 days upon receiving the
adversarys notice of intent to proffer the certificate. Whenever a
notice of objection is filed, admissibility of the certificate shall be
determined not later than two days before the beginning of the trial. A
proffered certificate shall be admitted in evidence unless it appears
from the notice of objection and specific grounds for that objection
that the composition, quality, or quantity of the substance submitted to
the laboratory for analysis will be contested at trial. A failure to
comply with the time limitations regarding the notice of objection
required by this section shall constitute a waiver of any objections to
the admission of the certificate. The time limitations set forth in this
section shall not be relaxed except upon a showing of good cause.
