Consequently, we conclude that like the warrant of deportation at issue in Torres-Villalobos, the DPS records are not testimonial evidence that implicates the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment. The district court cited State v. Brown, 303 Minn. 114, 226 N.W.2d 747 (1975), as an additional basis for requiring a records custodian to testify to establish a foundation for the DPS records. In Brown, the supreme court held that admitting certified copies of DPS records under Minn. Stat. § 171.21 without having a records custodian appear as a witness at trial did not violate the defendant's right to confront and cross-examine witnesses.
1981), we held that revocation of a Minnesota driver's license is proper under section 171.17(7) for a DWI offense in another state which, if committed in this state, would be ground for revocation of the driver's license. In this case the state apparently was able and will be able to show, through certified records, that defendant's license was revoked on the basis of a DWI conviction. State, City of Minneapolis v. Brown, 303 Minn. 114, 226 N.W.2d 747 (1975). The records reveal that defendant was given an opportunity to challenge the revocation but did not and that his license had not yet been reinstated when he allegedly committed the second act of DWI.
Second, appellant's driving record constitutes an official document that may be admitted at trial without calling witnesses. See State v. Brown, 303 Minn. 114, 116, 226 N.W.2d 747, 748-49 (1975) (in driving-after-suspension case, permitting records from driver's license division of Department of Public Safety to be introduced without calling custodian or other qualified witness); Minn. Stat. § 171.21 (2004) (providing that certified copy of driver's license records "shall" be received in evidence with same effect as original). Affirmed.
Minn. Stat. § 171.19 (1986). The question then becomes whether the records in question were admissible when accompanied by an affidavit from the Department of Public Safety. State v. Brown, 303 Minn. 114, 115, 226 N.W.2d 747, 748 (1975). The trial court considered this evidence under the public records exception to the hearsay rule.
Minn.R.Evid. 1005 provides that a copy of a public record, certified as correct by the custodian or other authorized person under Minn.R.Evid. 902, may be used to prove the contents of the record. The supreme court held in State v. Brown, 303 Minn. 114, 226 N.W.2d 747 (1975), that a certified copy of the driver's record is admissible without testimony of the record's custodian. Minn.Stat. § 171.21 (1986) provides the same.
Official records of non-discretionary data may be received in a criminal case, but this is not true when the basis for the data is at issue. State v. Brown, 303 Minn. 114, 117, 226 N.W.2d 747, 749 (1975). Business records, even more generally than official records, are not admissible to prove an essential element of a crime.