Bates v. State

384 S.W.3d 654, 2011 Ark. App. 446, 2011 Ark. App. LEXIS 476
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedJune 22, 2011
DocketNo. CA CR 10-1299
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 384 S.W.3d 654 (Bates v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bates v. State, 384 S.W.3d 654, 2011 Ark. App. 446, 2011 Ark. App. LEXIS 476 (Ark. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinions

ROBERT J. GLADWIN, Judge.

[ |Appellant Jennifer Bates appeals her conviction by a Drew County jury on charges of negligent homicide and aggravated assault, for which she was sentenced to sixteen years’ imprisonment in the Arkansas Department of Correction. She argues that the circuit court erred when it allowed the introduction of the results of her blood-alcohol test into evidence because the State failed to provide evidence that the blood was drawn by a physician or a person acting under the direction and supervision of a physician as required by Arkansas Code Annotated section 5-65-204 (Repl.2005). Although we find merit in her argument, we affirm the convictions.

On September 22, 2008, appellant was the driver of a vehicle involved in an accident that caused the death of Dustin Ferguson. An information was filed charging appellant with |2the negligent homicide of Ferguson and the aggravated assault of Nicole Black. The information was later amended to add the alternative charge of the manslaughter of Ferguson.

Following the accident, appellant was transported to Jefferson Regional Medical Center (JRMC) in Pine Bluff. James Brian Vance, an employee of JRMC, drew blood from appellant. He was in room trauma-ten in the emergency room when he drew the blood.

Rebecca Lynn Baker, a chemist at the Arkansas Department of Health’s Office of Alcohol Testing, tested appellant’s blood. Appellant’s counsel objected to the introduction of the blood-test results because no evidence was presented that the blood was drawn under the supervision of a physician as required by statute. The objection was overruled, and the results were introduced indicating that appellant’s blood-alcohol level was 0.27.

A jury returned a verdict of guilty on negligent homicide, manslaughter, and aggravated assault. Following the guilty verdicts, the circuit court went forward with the negligent-homicide conviction rather than manslaughter. The jury returned with sentences of ten years for negligent-homicide and six years for aggravated assault and recommended that they run consecutively. A judgment and disposition order noting convictions of negligent homicide and aggravated assault and imposing the jury’s sentencing recommendation was entered on August 25, 2010. Appellant timely filed her notice of appeal on September 22, 2010.

The decision to admit evidence is within the trial court’s discretion. Stott v. State, 77 Ark.App. 329, 82 S.W.3d 170 (2002). We will not reverse a trial court’s ruling on the admission of evidence absent an abuse of that discretion. Id.

IsNegligent homicide is defined in Arkansas Code Annotated section 5-10-105 (Repl.2006) as follows:

(a)(1) A person commits negligent homicide if [she] negligently causes the death of another person, not constituting murder or manslaughter, as a result of operating a [vehicle]:
(A) While intoxicated;
(B)(i) If at that time there is an alcohol concentration of eight-hundredths (0.08) or more in the person’s [blood] based upon the definition of [blood] in § 5-65-204, as determined by a chemical test of the person’s [blood].
(ii) The method of chemical analysis of the person’s [blood] shall be made in accordance with [§ 5-65-204],
(2) A person who violates subdivision (a)(1) of this section is guilty of a Class C felony.

Manslaughter, a Class C felony, occurs when a person recklessly causes the death of another person. Ark. Code Ann. § 5-10-104(a)(3), (c) (Repl.2006). Aggravated assault, a Class D felony, occurs when a person, under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life, engages in conduct that creates a substantial danger of death or serious physical injury to another person. Ark.Code Ann. § 5-13-204(a)(l), (b) (Repl.2006). Arkansas Code Annotated section 5-65-204(d)(i) specifically provides that when a person submits to a blood test at the request of a law enforcement officer under a provision of this section, blood may be drawn by a physician or a person acting under the direction and supervision of a physician.

Arkansas Code Annotated section 5-65-204(d)(i) has been interpreted to not require a physician to be actually present when the blood is drawn. See Gavin v. State, 309 Ark. 158, 827 S.W.2d 161 (1992). In Gavin, a registered nurse, whose normal duties included taking blood samples, testified that she followed the standard hospital policy in extracting the blood. Although a physician was on call, one was not present when she drew the blood. Id. at 160, 827 S.W.2d at 162. Our supreme court determined that a registered nurse taking the sample following standard hospital policy with a physician on call met the requirements and purpose of section 5-64-204. Id. at 160, 827 S.W.2d at 163.

In this case, it is undisputed that Vance withdrew appellant’s blood at JRMC following the accident. Vance testified that he was employed at JRMC and had been for twelve years. Vance further testified that he was in room trauma-ten in the emergency room when he took the blood. But no evidence was presented as to Vance’s occupation at JRMC, his qualifications with respect to drawing blood, or that drawing blood from patients was within his normal job duties. There was no evidence presented that a physician was present at the time appellant’s blood was drawn, either in the building or on call. We note that from the record before us, Vance never mentioned the word “physician” or “doctor” during the course of his testimony.

Gavin is distinguishable from the facts of this case in that there is no evidence before us that Vance was a registered nurse, otherwise qualified to withdraw blood, or performing his normal duties of withdrawing blood from a patient. Moreover, there was no evidence presented to the circuit court that Vance was acting under the supervision or direction of a physician at the time appellant’s blood was drawn. Accordingly, we agree that it was error for the circuit court to allow the introduction of the blood-test results into evidence.

| fiWe, however, affirm appellant’s convictions based upon additional evidence that was presented to the circuit court. Amanda Marie Pope, a waitress at a local Sonic restaurant, testified that on September 22, 2008, appellant was at Sonic in her extended-cab Silverado truck. Pope explained that she saw appellant drinking straight from two different vodka bottles, the first of which she was “turning up” to drink from, and both of which appellant later threw out of the vehicle onto the ground. Pope indicated that appellant seemed to be “under the influence,” and Pope noted that she mentioned to her manager, Brad Johnson, that appellant had slurred speech. Pope testified that she tried to get appellant to drink some coffee and stay a bit longer before driving away, but appellant drove away without doing so, nearly causing a wreck in the Sonic parking lot. Pope explained that she gave the second vodka bottle to Johnson for safekeeping “just in case something happened.” The accident involving Ferguson occurred approximately ten minutes after appellant left Sonic.

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Related

Fowler v. State
2014 Ark. App. 460 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2014)

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Bluebook (online)
384 S.W.3d 654, 2011 Ark. App. 446, 2011 Ark. App. LEXIS 476, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bates-v-state-arkctapp-2011.