U.S. v. Campbell, 50 M.J. 154

Core Criminal Law Subjects: Crimes: Art. 112a -- Wrongful Use, Possession, etc, of Controlled Substances Pre-2019 offenses

1. to sustain a drug prosecution based upon an urinalysis and to support the inferences of knowing and wrongful use, the test results must be supported by expert testimony explaining the underlying scientific methodology and the significance of the test result, so as to provide a rational basis for the inferences of knowing and wrongful use
2. to support the inference of wrongful use of drugs, the prosecution’s expert testimony must show: (1) that the metabolite is not naturally produced by the body or any substance other than the drug in question; (2) that the cutoff level and reported concentration are high enough to reasonably discount the possibility of unknowing ingestion and to indicate a reasonable likelihood that the user at some time would have experienced the physical and psychological effects of the drug; and (3) that the testing methodology reliably detected the presence and reliably quantified the concentration of the drug or metabolite in the sample
3. evidence in support of prosecution for wrongful use of LSD was insufficient where Government did not prove the significance of the concentration levels or frequency of error in gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry drug testing, and further the Government introduced no evidence to show that it had established cutoff levels which took into account what is necessary to eliminate the reasonable possibility of unknowing ingestion or a false positive
4. with respect to drug testing such as urinalysis, the law does not require a particular cutoff level to establish knowing use beyond a reasonable doubt, but any cutoff level must be sufficiently high as to rationally permit factfinders to find beyond a reasonable doubt that an accused’s use was knowing

Core Criminal Law Subjects: Evidence: Inferences

1. to sustain a drug prosecution based upon an urinalysis and to support the inferences of knowing and wrongful use, the test results must be supported by expert testimony explaining the underlying scientific methodology and the significance of the test result, so as to provide a rational basis for the inferences of knowing and wrongful use
2. to support the inference of wrongful use of drugs, the prosecution’s expert testimony must show: (1) that the metabolite is not naturally produced by the body or any substance other than the drug in question; (2) that the cutoff level and reported concentration are high enough to reasonably discount the possibility of unknowing ingestion and to indicate a reasonable likelihood that the user at some time would have experienced the physical and psychological effects of the drug; and (3) that the testing methodology reliably detected the presence and reliably quantified the concentration of the drug or metabolite in the sample

Core Criminal Law Subjects: Evidence: Scientific Evidence

1. urinalysis testing for LSD by gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry drug testing

Core Criminal Law Subjects: Burdens, Standards, Presumptions, Inferences: Trial Burdens, Standards › Proof, persuasion

1. evidence in support of prosecution for wrongful use of LSD was insufficient where Government did not prove the significance of the concentration levels or frequency of error in gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry drug testing, and further the Government introduced no evidence to show that it had established cutoff levels which took into account what is necessary to eliminate the reasonable possibility of unknowing ingestion or a false positive
2. with respect to drug testing such as urinalysis, the law does not require a particular cutoff level to establish knowing use beyond a reasonable doubt, but any cutoff level must be sufficiently high as to rationally permit factfinders to find beyond a reasonable doubt that an accused’s use was knowing

Core Criminal Law Subjects: Burdens, Standards, Presumptions, Inferences: Trial Presumptions, Inferences

1. to sustain a drug prosecution based upon an urinalysis and to support the inferences of knowing and wrongful use, the test results must be supported by expert testimony explaining the underlying scientific methodology and the significance of the test result, so as to provide a rational basis for the inferences of knowing and wrongful use
2. to support the inference of wrongful use of drugs, the prosecution’s expert testimony must show: (1) that the metabolite is not naturally produced by the body or any substance other than the drug in question; (2) that the cutoff level and reported concentration are high enough to reasonably discount the possibility of unknowing ingestion and to indicate a reasonable likelihood that the user at some time would have experienced the physical and psychological effects of the drug; and (3) that the testing methodology reliably detected the presence and reliably quantified the concentration of the drug or metabolite in the sample