Carrington v. District of Columbia

77 A.3d 999, 2013 WL 5648734, 2013 D.C. App. LEXIS 666
CourtDistrict of Columbia Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 17, 2013
DocketNo. 11-CT-698
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 77 A.3d 999 (Carrington v. District of Columbia) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District of Columbia Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Carrington v. District of Columbia, 77 A.3d 999, 2013 WL 5648734, 2013 D.C. App. LEXIS 666 (D.C. 2013).

Opinion

WASHINGTON, Chief Judge:

Appellant Derrick Carrington raises two issues on appeal from his conviction for driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs (“DUI”). The first of these issues is worthy of a published opinion given the frequency with which it has appeared before this court. Appellant’s second argument is more easily disposed of summarily. For the reasons stated below, we affirm the trial court’s judgment.

I. Facts

Around 9:10 p.m. on April 16, 2008, Officers Benjamin Rubin (“Rubin”) and Bai Bangura (“Bangura”) of the Metropolitan Police Department (“MPD”) responded to a report of a driver “slumped over the steering wheel of a gray or silver Chrysler Sebring.” Officer Rubin spotted a car that matched the description and identified appellant as the man driving the car. Noticing that he was “driving very slow with little control,” Officer Bangura came up behind him and turned on his emergency lights. Instead of stopping, appellant “rolled through a stop sign, and turned left into the oncoming traffic lane.”. Appellant then made a U-turn onto the other side of the road — into oncoming traffic — before “hitting the curb and coming to a stop.”

When the officers approached his vehicle, appellant looked at them “with a blank stare, and was confused by [their] orders.” While they “repeatedly advised him to put the car in park ... based upon his condition, he was unable to do so.” Appellant was confused by the officers’ order to exit the vehicle, and could not get out on his own. After he was helped out of the vehicle, appellant fell over and could not stand up. The officers testified that “[h]e was laughing the whole time, and ... without [their] assistance, he couldn’t walk.” Officer Rubin testified that there was no odor of alcohol coming from appellant’s person or from the vehicle, but noticed that his speech was slurred, his pupils were dilated, and he was having difficulty following directions. Officer Bangura also did not smell any alcohol but stated that appellant was “glossy-eyed ... he just stared like he didn’t understand what I was saying.”

Officer Rubin then administered three standardized field sobriety tests (“SFSTs”) to determine whether appellant was under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Appellant told Officer Rubin that he had no [1002]*1002physical issues that would interfere with testing, and never complained of any medical conditions. During each test, Officer Rubin observed indicators of intoxication. Based on the results of the SFSTs, Officer Rubin determined that appellant was under the influence of drugs or alcohol and arrested him.

Appellant was then transported to the police station, where Officer John Light conducted a breath alcohol test on him. Appellant scored a .000. Officer Light, who had been a police officer for 19 years, testified that when appellant arrived at the station to take the breathalyzer test, he was unsteady on his feet as if he were going to fall and was taking small steps and using his arms for balance. He also did not smell any alcohol and concluded that in his experience, if he was not drunk, appellant was under the influence of a drug or a narcotic, and that it “probably was POP that he ha[d] taken.”

While at the station, appellant also gave a urine sample. Officer Rubin collected the sealed cup with the sample, placed it in a labeled evidence bag, and delivered it to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (“OCME”), where he logged it in and placed it in a secure refrigerator. Appellant’s urine sample was then tested at the OCME toxicology lab. Mr. Lucas Zarwell (“Mr. Zarwell”) was the deputy chief toxicologist at OCME, and his responsibilities included managing six members of the lab staff, reviewing all tests that were done, conducting quality control reviews, and producing reports. He estimated that he had conducted over a thousand urine tests and had reviewed thousands of tests as a supervisor. Despite an objection from the defense, Mr. Zarwell was qualified as an expert in forensic toxicology.1

Mr. Zarwell testified that he had reviewed the results of a urine test before trial to make sure that all procedures were followed; and came to a conclusion that was similar to that of the report. Over a hearsay objection from the defense, the trial court allowed Mr. Zarwell to testify that the urine sample belonged to appellant and that it was sealed and in good condition. The trial court stated that it was allowing Mr. Zarwell’s testimony not for the truth of the matter asserted, but rather to demonstrate what he had relied on in forming his expert opinion.

Finally, the court allowed Mr. Zarwell to testify that appellant’s urine sample “was in the care, custody, and control of [the] lab,” and that there were no issues with the confirmation test performed on the sample, because his testimony was being allowed in only to show the basis for Mr. Zarwell’s ultimate expert opinion. Here, the defense raised a Confrontation Clause objection because Mr. Zarwell was attempting to testify that there were no issues with the retest although he was not personally involved in the process. Later, the defense clarified that its objection was that Mr. Zarwell was presenting testimonial hearsay evidence, and that the individuals who actually performed the testing were needed to testify to the lack of errors. The trial court also overruled this objection stating that the testimony was not being admitted for the truth of the matter asserted.

Based on his review of the urine test, Mr. Zarwell testified that appellant’s urine sample contained PCP and THC. While he [1003]*1003did not personally observe the testing done on appellant’s urine, he said that if there had been any accidents in the testing process, the technicians “would have to record a corrective action report which would be found within the case folder.” Though he did not see the technicians wearing gloves, Mr. Zarwell testified that they are required to do so. All of Mr. Zarwell’s opinions as to the testing of appellant’s urine were based on his review of documents prepared by the technicians.

The government then gave Mr. Zarwell a hypothetical set of facts, and asked whether he would consider the hypothetical individual under the influence of drugs. The fact pattern included an individual whose behavior mirrored appellant’s condition on the night of his arrest, as well as the fact that the hypothetical individual’s urine tested positive for PCP. Mr. Zarwell responded that given those indicators and the positive urine test, his opinion would be that the hypothetical individual was under the influence of PCP. He then clarified, however, that if the hypothetical had not included the drug test result, he could not say that the individual was under the influence of PCP because other drugs can cause similar behaviors.

The trial court had deferred ruling on the defense’s Confrontation Clause objection, but ultimately overruled the objection and allowed Mr. Zarwell to testify that appellant’s urine sample tested positive for PCP and THC. The trial court reasoned that Mr. Zarwell was testifying to his own expert opinion, based on his review of the raw data produced by machines, which was not testimonial and therefore did not implicate the Confrontation Clause. Additionally, because it was his own expert opinion, the trial court stated that he was the one bearing testimony against the defendant, and thus there was no violation of the Confrontation Clause.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
77 A.3d 999, 2013 WL 5648734, 2013 D.C. App. LEXIS 666, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carrington-v-district-of-columbia-dc-2013.