v. Hamilton

Citations

• 2019 COA 101

Syllabus

Hamilton bought a round of shots for J.F. and her friends at a bar. J.F. accused Hamilton of drugging her, separating her from her friends, taking her to an apartment without her consent while she was unconscious, and sexually assaulting her. Hamilton told the investigating detective, Slay, that J.F. had sent him multiple texts while they were drinking together at the bars and sent him texts the day after the alleged sexual assault. At trial, J.F. testified she thought her drink had drugs in it because she could not remember much after she had taken the shot. J.F. told the jury the next thing she remembered was waking up on her stomach in an apartment, with her hands being held above her head, and Hamilton was having sex with her. J.F. testified that she did not agree to have sex with Hamilton. Hamilton claimed the sex was consensual. Slay testified that police department personnel downloaded the contents of Hamilton's and J.F.'s phones and generated reports (the reports) reflecting the phones' contents. The prosecutor did not seek to introduce into evidence the reports or testimony of police department employees who had examined the phones or generated the reports. Instead, Slay testified that, based on his review of the reports, neither phone contained text messages from J.F. to Hamilton. Hamilton was convicted of one count of sexual assault and one count of distribution of a controlled substance. On appeal, Hamilton argued that the district court erred in allowing Slay to testify about the contents of J.F.'s and Hamilton's phones. Hamilton did not preserve his argument that the district court erred in admitting Slay's testimony regarding the contents of Hamilton's phone, but preserved his argument that the court erred in allowing Slay to testify regarding the contents of J.F.'s phone. A computer-generated report of a cell phone's contents is not hearsay as long as it was created without human input or interaction. To qualify as a computer-generated report that do