Criminal Practice — Constitutional – Confrontation Right – DMV Records – Nontestimonial – First Impression

State v. Clark (Lawyers Weekly No. 15-07-0672, 8 pp.) (Chris Dillon, J.) Appealed from Caldwell County Superior Court (C. Thomas Edwards, J.) N.C. App.

Holding: The documents used to convict defendant of driving while license revoked – a copy of his driving record, two orders indefinitely suspending defendant’s license, and a document authenticating the suspension orders and saying it was mailed to the person named in the orders – were created by the Division of Motor Vehicles during the routine administration of its affairs and in compliance with its statutory obligations to maintain records of drivers’ license revocations and to provide notice to motorists whose driving privileges have been revoked. Since the documents were not created for the purpose of proving some fact at trial, they are not testimonial. Therefore, the admission of these documents without accompanying testimony did not violate defendant’s right to confront the witnesses against him.

No error.