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Appeals court hears arguments over admission of 'no record found' CJIS printout in firearms case
Summary
In oral arguments, defense counsel urged that a CJIS "no record" printout is testimonial hearsay violating the Confrontation Clause; the Commonwealth argued the result was nonhearsay or admissible as absence of a public record. The court took the matter under advisement and noted related Supreme Judicial Court guidance may be forthcoming.
Defense counsel for the defendant argued at oral argument that a CJIS/BOPFI printout reading “no record found” is the functional equivalent of testimony that the defendant had no license to carry a firearm and therefore is testimonial hearsay barred by the Confrontation Clause.
The prosecutor, Jesse Crane, told the panel the printout and Dowd’s testimony were admissible because the result was computer-generated and, alternatively, qualified as the recorded absence of a public record under Massachusetts evidence law. The court took the matter under advisement.
At issue was whether a printout indicating no firearms-license record in the centralized database could be admitted to prove that the defendant did not hold a license. Defense counsel argued…
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