Opinion
Record No. 2325-92-1
Decided: July 19, 1994
FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE CITY OF NORFOLK, William F. Rutherford, Judge
Affirmed.
(William P. Robinson, Jr.; Robinson, Madison, Fulton Anderson, on brief), for appellant.
Eugene Murphy, Assistant Attorney General (Stephen D. Rosenthal, Attorney General, on brief), for appellee.
Present: Chief Judge Moon, Judges Coleman and Fitzpatrick
Pursuant to Code Sec. 17-116.010 this opinion is not designated for publication.
Harvey Thomas Lewis's conviction of possession of cocaine and possession of heroin are affirmed because the trial court did not err in admitting into evidence the certificate of analysis, filed pursuant to Code Sec. 19.2-187.
Counsel for Lewis conceded at trial that the Commonwealth provided him with a certificate of analysis in general district court more than seven days before his trial in circuit court.
Appellant's claim that a second certificate must be given during the circuit court proceedings, even if a copy has already been provided during the district court proceedings, is without merit. Code Sec. 19.2-187 does not require that a defendant be provided with a certificate of analysis more than once. "The plain, obvious, and rational meaning of a statute is always preferred to any curious, narrow or strained construction; a statute should never be construed so that it leads to absurd results." Branch v. Commonwealth, 14 Va. App. 836, 839, 419 S.E.2d 422, 424 (1992). Because the certificate of analysis was filed with the clerk at least seven days before trial and a copy was provided to appellant's counsel, we hold the Commonwealth abided by the statute and affirm Lewis's convictions.
Affirmed.