The Supreme Court’s decision in Nisperos v. People emerged against a backdrop of rampant acquittals in cases involving illegal narcotics, attributable to law enforcers’ persistent failure to abide by the chain-of-custody rule. In response, the Court issued guidelines for the conduct of marking, inventory, and photographing of seized drugs—requiring the presence of compulsory witnesses during the conduct of physical inventory and photographing, but not during the marking of the seized specimen.
This Comment contends that compulsory witnesses must be present as early as the marking stage, as each step in the chain— marking, inventory, and photographing—is interdependent and collectively safeguards the integrity and evidentiary value of the seized narcotics, the corpus delicti in drugs cases. Given that these witnesses are already required to be immediately present at the time of the arrest, there is no excuse for their absence during the conduct of marking, a procedure done immediately after apprehension.