State v. Veres

Citation: State v. Veres, 7 Ariz. App. 117, 436 P.2d 629 (1968).

The defendant was charged, inter alia, with passing bad checks. As evidence, the State introduced bank records for a two month period, consisting of four separate sheets. These records were generated by a computer, and showed the number of bad checks, and the amount of each. A bank official was called to testify to the identity of the records, though he did not know the mechanical operation of the computer. The defendant objected to admission of the evidence. The court relied on the Business Records Rule as the general law applicable to computer-generated evidence. The court emphasized the relevance of the clause "in the opinion of the court" in the statute and, based on the evidence admitted and the testimony of the bank official, held that there was "an absence of an abuse of discretion by the trial judge in admitting the exhibit in evidence.” 7 Ariz. App. at 126, 436 P.2d at 638.