Berry v. State

720 N.E.2d 1206, 1999 Ind. App. LEXIS 2183, 1999 WL 1211794
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 20, 1999
DocketNo. 27A05-9903-CR-101
StatusPublished

This text of 720 N.E.2d 1206 (Berry v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Berry v. State, 720 N.E.2d 1206, 1999 Ind. App. LEXIS 2183, 1999 WL 1211794 (Ind. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

OPINION

RILEY, Judge

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

Appellant-Defendant Steven A. Berry (Berry) appeals his convictions of operating a vehicle with at least ten hundredths percent (0.10%) of alcohol by weight in grams in one hundred (100) milliliters of his blood, or two hundred ten (210) liters of his breath, a Class C misdemeanor, Ind.Code § 9-30-5-1;1 and operating a vehicle while intoxicated with a prior conviction of operating a vehicle while intoxicated within five years, a Class D felony, Ind.Code § 9-30-5-3.

We reverse.2

ISSUE

Berry raises three issues3 for our review, one of which we find dispositive and [1208]*1208restate as: whether the trial court erred by failing to take judicial notice and in failing to instruct the jury of the effect of breath tests pursuant to the Department of Toxicology regulations.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On August 9, 1997, Jonesboro Police Officer Gary Robbins (Robbins) observed Berry driving his vehicle with no taillights, crossing the centerline of the road three times, and failing to stop at a stop sign. As a result of these observations, Robbins pulled Berry over and administered several field sobriety tests.' Berry failed each test.

Robbins transported Berry to the Gas City Police Department to give Berry a breath test. Following proper procedure, Officer Kirk McCollum, a certified chemical test operator, administered the test on a certified and recently calibrated Intoxi-lyzer 5000. The machine reported a result of .13. Berry was charged with Count I, operating a vehicle with at least 0.10% of alcohol by weight in grams in 100 milliliters of his blood, or 210 liters of his breath, under Ind.Code § 9-30-5-1. Berry was also charged with Count II, operating a vehicle while intoxicated with a previous operating while intoxicated conviction within five years under Ind.Code § 9-30-5-3. Berry was also charged with two traffic infractions.

On October 26, 1998, a jury trial was held, and the jury returned a guilty verdict for Counts I and II, and not guilty of the traffic infractions. On November 19, 1998, the trial court sentenced Berry to be imprisoned four and one-half (4% years. Berry now appeals.

DISCUSSION AND DECISION

Berry argues that the trial court erred by failing to take judicial notice of the administrative regulations for selecting and certifying breath test equipment and in failing to instruct the jury regarding this judicial notice. At the trial, the court did not take judicial notice of the Indiana Administrative Code’s standards and regulations for the selection and certification of breath test equipment and chemicals.4 Instead, the following colloquy took place between the trial judge and the Deputy Prosecuting Attorney:

Mr. Faulk [Deputy Prosecuting Attorney]: Your Honor, I would ask the Court to take judicial notice of the effect of the breath test, uh, regulations and Indiana Administrative Code 260 1.1 to 4.8 and 1.1 to 5-1.
The Court: Do you have a copy of them since I don’t have them in my head?
Mr. Faulk: Yes I do, Your Honor.
The Court: What does it relate to? Any issue in this case?
Mr. Faulk: I’m sorry?
[1209]*1209The Court: Does it relate to any issue in this case?
Mr. Faulk: Uh, yes, absolutely it does. The Court: Well then I suggest if it does you submit a proposed instruction on it then.
Mr. Faulk: Very good, Your Honor.

(R.302). However, Mr. Faulk never tendered a proposed instruction, and the trial judge never instructed the jury with respect to the administrative regulations.

In Baran v. State, 639 N.E.2d 642 (Ind.1994), our supreme court settled the question of whether evidence must be introduced concerning the conversion of alcohol content in breath to alcohol content in blood. The court noted that the administrative regulations for selecting and certifying breath test equipment mandate that the machines must measure blood alcohol content as a percentage of alcohol by weight in the blood in order to be properly certified by the Department of Toxicology. Id. at 648. The court also noted that the trial court was entitled to take judicial notice of the fact that the breath test machine printout expresses the test result as a percentage of alcohol by weight in the blood. Id. In holding that the trial court did not err in taking judicial notice of the administrative regulations, our Supreme Court stated:

We note that the trial court did not notify the parties that it would take judicial notice of the conversion from breath content to blood content and the meaning of the results on the printout. Because this was a bench trial and the court was commanded by statute to take judicial notice that the breath testing machines must measure blood alcohol content as a percentage of alcohol by weight in the blood, the absence of notice was not reversible error. Where a jury serves as the fact finder in a criminal case, however, the trial court must: expressly take judicial notice of the effect of the Administrative Code’s standards and regulations for the selection and certification of breath test equipment and chemicals; and
instruct the jury “that it may, but is not required to, accept as conclusive any fact judicially noticed.”

Ind.Evidence Rule 201(g); Id. at 648 (footnotes omitted).

Here, the trial court did not instruct the jury that it may, but was not required, to accept as conclusive those sections of the Administrative Code judicially noticed. In fact, the trial court did not take judicial notice of any section of the Administrative Code, and therefore could not instruct the jury about any Administrative Code judicially noticed. Such was error. However, we found this error to be harmless in Sturgis v. State, 654 N.E.2d 1150 (Ind.Ct.App.1995).

In that case, Sturgis argued that the trial court erred by not instructing the jury as to the effect of the court’s taking judicial notice of the administrative regulations. Id. at 1152. However, unlike the case at hand, the trial court in Sturgis did in fact take judicial notice of the relevant Indiana Administrative Code’s standards and regulations for the selection and certification of breath test equipment and chemicals, but the trial court failed to instruct the jury that it may, but was not required, to accept as conclusive those sections of the Administrative Code judicially noticed. Id. at 1153. We held in Sturgis

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Related

Sales v. State
714 N.E.2d 1121 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1999)
Sturgis v. State
654 N.E.2d 1150 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1995)
Baran v. State
639 N.E.2d 642 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1994)

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Bluebook (online)
720 N.E.2d 1206, 1999 Ind. App. LEXIS 2183, 1999 WL 1211794, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/berry-v-state-indctapp-1999.