C.A. 1st;
A143470

The First Appellate District affirmed in part and reversed in part a judgment. The court held that there was no error in the admission of a criminalist's testimony regarding her use of an internet database to identify various pharmaceutical pills seized from the defendants.

Darrell Mooring and Lanita Davis were tried before a jury on charges of possessing five different controlled substances for sale. Criminalist Shana Meldrum testified at trial that she used the Ident-A-Drug website to identify the pills seized from defendants. The website contains information about, and images of, pharmaceutical pills derived from the FDA and pharmaceutical pill manufacturers. The crime lab pays a subscription fee to access Ident-A-Drug, and the Web site is login-controlled. Meldrum did not conduct chemical testing on the pills. The jury found defendants guilty.