Breazeale v. State

2011 WY 10, 245 P.3d 834, 2011 Wyo. LEXIS 11, 2011 WL 198505
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 24, 2011
DocketS-10-0097
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 2011 WY 10 (Breazeale v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wyoming Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Breazeale v. State, 2011 WY 10, 245 P.3d 834, 2011 Wyo. LEXIS 11, 2011 WL 198505 (Wyo. 2011).

Opinion

*837 BURKE, Justice.

[T1] Justin Daniel Breazeale appeals his conviction on one count of aggravated homicide by vehicle, raising six separate claims of error. We will affirm his conviction.

ISSUES

[Q2] Mr. Breazeale presents these issues:

1. Did the trial court err in denying the suppression of medical records obtained from Mr. Breazeale after assertion of his right to silence and counsel?
Did the evidence support a conviction of reckless driving?
Did the evidence support a conviction of driving under the influence of cocaine?
Did the presentation of evidence of cocaine use two days prior to the incident violate W.R.E. 404(b)?
Did the district court have jurisdiction to try Mr. Breazeale on a charge different from the one on which he was bound over by the circuit court?
Did the trial court deny Mr. Breazeale his constitutional right to present his defense of a medical cause of his unconsciousness?

FACTS

[a3] On March 15, 2009, Mr. Breazeale and his girlfriend were running errands in Casper, Wyoming, in a pickup borrowed from a friend. While driving, Mr. Breazeale lost consciousness or "blacked out." During the black out, his pickup veered to the left, crossed three lanes of traffic, and collided head-on with a small station wagon. The driver of the station wagon died from injuries suffered in the wreck. According to Mr. Breazeale, he did not realize he had wrecked the pickup until he regained consciousness after the collision.

[T4] At the seene of the collision, Mr. Breazeale's girlfriend told the police she did not know how the wreck occurred. She was looking at something in her lap, she said, and the next thing she knew, the pickup was crashing into the other vehicle. At trial, however, she testified that Mr. Breazeale had lost consciousness after inhaling "canned air" they had purchased at an office supply store. At trial, a toxicology expert testified that the active ingredients in "canned air," when inhaled, cause a "very rapid intoxication phase, a euphoric phase ... [al] very fast high." The toxicologist also stated that inhaling "canned air" can cause loss of consciousness and loss of muscle control.

[s5] Mr. Breazeale was taken to the hospital after the wreck. There, he agreed to testing of his blood and urine. The tests did not reveal any traces of the "canned air," but as the toxicologist explained, the active ingredients in "canned air" are so volatile that they become undetectable "within an hour." The analyses did reveal the presence of cocaine metabolites. 1 In addition, the police analyzed the used can of "canned air" found in the pickup after the wreck, and found DNA consistent with Mr. Breazeale's on the tube through which the "canned air" was sprayed. After these test results were returned, the police arrested Mr. Breazeale and charged him with aggravated vehicular homicide.

[T6] At trial, Mr. Breazeale denied inhaling "canned air" before the wreck. He asserted that his black out was due to a seizure disorder, which was not diagnosed until after the wreck. A neurologist who testified at trial confirmed a diagnosis of epileptic seizures. According to the neurologist, Mr. Breazeale could have experienced a seizure just prior to the wreck, though he could not say whether Mr. Breazeale actually had suffered a seizure at that time.

[x7] The jury found Mr. Breazeale guilty of aggravated vehicular homicide, in violation of Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 6-2-106(b)(i) and () (LexisNexis 2009):

A person is guilty of aggravated homicide by vehicle and shall be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary for not more than twenty (20) years, if:
(G) While operating or driving a vehicle in violation of [specified statutes prohib *838 iting such while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or controlled substances], he causes the death of another person and the violation is the proximate cause of the death; or
(ii) He operates or drives a vehicle in a reckless manner, and his conduct is the proximate cause of the death of another person.

In its verdict form, the jury specifically found that Mr. Breazeale was guilty under both of these subsections. The district court sentenced Mr. Breazeale to eighteen to twenty years in prison. Mr. Breazeale appealed his conviction to this Court.

DISCUSSION

Did the trial court err in denying the suppression of medical records obtained from Mr. Breazeale after assertion of his right to silence and counsel?

[T8] In the hospital after the wreck, a police officer asked to talk with Mr. Breazeale. Mr. Breazeale contends that he told the officer he did not want to talk without an attorney present. The officer nevertheless remained in the room with Mr. Breazeale, and later asked him to sign a form consenting to the release of his medical records. Mr. Breazeale agreed. In a pretrial motion, however, Mr. Breazeale claimed that it was improper for the police officer to continue talking with him after he invoked his right to counsel, and that his consent to release the medical records was coerced rather than voluntary. On that basis, he moved to suppress the evidence of his medical records, including the results of the blood and urine tests. The district court denied the motion, and Mr. Breazeale appeals that decision.

When we review a district court's decision to deny motions to suppress, we defer to the district court's findings of fact unless they are clearly erroneous. The evidence is viewed in a light favorable to the district court's determination, because that court had the opportunity to hear the evidence and assess the credibility of the witnesses. The issue of law-whether a search was unreasonable and in violation of constitutional rights-is reviewed de novo.

Lovato v. State, 2010 WY 38, ¶ 11, 228 P.3d 55, 57 (Wyo.2010) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted).

[T9] The district court found, and Mr. Breazeale admits, that he was not in police custody while he was in the hospital. The district court ruled that, because he was not in custody, Mr. Breazeale's right to counsel and his right to remain silent did not yet apply. This ruling is consistent with our precedent. Hannon v. State, 2004 WY 8, ¶ 41, 84 P.3d 320, 337 (Wyo.2004) ("[This Court adheres to the principle that the rights recognized in Miranda, including the right to counsel, apply only in the context of custodial interrogation.").

[T10] On appeal, Mr. Breazeale concedes that he was not in custody, and that the police were not required to inform him of his right to counsel. He maintains, however, that he still had the right to counsel, and that the police officer was required to stop questioning him onee he invoked his right to counsel. "Once the officer refused to honor Mr. Breazeale's request to terminate the contact," he argues in his brief, "his consent became coerced."

[T11] Mr. Breazeale's argument is directly contrary to our ruling in Hannon. In that case, Mr.

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Bluebook (online)
2011 WY 10, 245 P.3d 834, 2011 Wyo. LEXIS 11, 2011 WL 198505, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/breazeale-v-state-wyo-2011.