Commonwealth v. Parrish

471 S.W.3d 694, 2015 Ky. LEXIS 1865, 2015 WL 5646581
CourtKentucky Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 24, 2015
Docket2013-SC-000830-DG
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 471 S.W.3d 694 (Commonwealth v. Parrish) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Kentucky Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. Parrish, 471 S.W.3d 694, 2015 Ky. LEXIS 1865, 2015 WL 5646581 (Ky. 2015).

Opinions

OPINION OF THE COURT BY

JUSTICE KELLER

Following a bench trial, the district court convicted Adrian Parrish of driving under the influence, first offense. Parrish appealed to the circuit court and argued a Brady1 violation. The circuit court reversed the conviction, and the Court of Appeals, on discretionary review, affirmed based on the circuit court’s findings and conclusions. This Court granted discretionary review, and for the reasons stated herein, we reverse the opinion of the Court of Appeals and reinstate the district court’s judgment.

I. BACKGROUND.

At 12:04 a.m. on November 18, 2010, Officer Cobb of the Nieholasville Police Department stopped Adrian Parrish’s vehicle after Parrish did not stop completely at two stop signs and failed to stay to the right side of the road. Upon approaching the vehicle, Officer Cobb smelled the odor of alcohol coming from inside,, and, after inquiry, Parrish volunteered that he had consumed three drinks within the thirty minutes before being stopped. With this, Officer Cobb asked Parrish to step out of his vehicle to perform field sobriety tests. Parrish performed the' one-legged stand and the heel-to-toe walk tests with some proficiency, yet Officer Cobb noted signs [696]*696of impairment with both. Officer Cobb then administered a preliminary breath test (PBT) and showed the level reading to his police cruiser’s dashboard video recorder. Officer Cobb also noted on the citation that “PBT detected the presence of alcohol” but did not record the numerical level. Based on the totality of Parrish’s driving and the tests, Officer Cobb placed Parrish under arrest for suspected driving while under the influence of alcohol and transported him to the Jessamine County Detention Center.

At the station, Officer Cobb performed an Intoxilyzer breath alcohol level test on Parrish at 12:49 a.m.; the result was 0.086. Officer Cobb noted this result as well as the existence of the dashboard video on the citation and charged Parrish with driving under the influence, first offense.

Prior to trial, Parrish’s attorney made an informal request to obtain a copy of the dashboard video, but police told him that the video did not exist. Parrish’s attorney did not make a formal discovery request.

At the bench trial, Officer Cobb, the only witness, testified that he did not know why the video was unavailable. He testified that his cruiser was equipped with a video recording system, which was automatically set to begin recording when he activated his emergency lights. Officer Cobb stated that it is standard department practice to note the dashboard video on the citation and for the evidence clerk to take responsibility for delivering the video if it is requested. Officer Cobb was unaware that the video did not exist until the day of trial and even stated that he was curious as to its whereabouts.

On cross examination, Officer Cobb reiterated that the PBT showed the presence of alcohol and that he flashed the result to his dashboard video recorder, but he could not recall the exact numerical result. Officer Cobb admitted that it was possible that the level was less than 0.08. Parrish’s attorney attempted to lay a foundation for an extrapolation defense through Officer Cobb’s testimony. The district court allowed Officer Cobb to testify concerning the general principles of alcohol absorption into the body but sustained the Commonwealth’s objections as to any scientific testimony.

During closing arguments, Parrish’s attorney submitted that his client’s extrapolation defense was hampered by the missing dashboard video. However, he also conceded that he believed that the video was not destroyed purposefully by police and that Officer Cobb dealt fairly with Parrish.

The district court found that the Commonwealth had met its burden of proving Parrish was per se driving under the influence according to Kentucky Revised Statute (KRS) 189A.010(l)(a). The court stated that the majority of Parrish’s arguments, including any extrapolation arguments, went toward defending against a conviction under (l)(b) or the general “driving under the influence of alcohol” theory of prosecution. The court explained that without clear scientific evidence as to the extrapolation defense, it could not make a conclusion that Parrish’s blood alcohol content was under the legal limit when he was stopped. The district court made this finding under the totality of the evidence presented and with full awareness of the missing video. Finally, the court commended both Officer Cobb and Parrish for their honesty.

On appeal to the circuit court, Parrish argued that the PBT result was admissible and potentially exculpatory evidence. He further contended that police either destroyed or failed to preserve the only record of the result: the dashboard video.

[697]*697Parrish argued that this amounted to a Brady violation.

The circuit court agreed with Parrish that the failure to preserve the PBT level was a Brady violation, finding that the PBT result “was, at the very least, destroyed inadvertently outside normal practices.” However, in response to the Commonwealth’s motion to reconsider, the circuit court specifically stated, “I don’t know what happened to the evidence, but I think that [Officer Cobb] intentionally did not record the evidence when he saw it was below .08. And that is why I think it constituted bad faith.” The circuit court reversed the district court and remanded the case for a new trial, with the recommendation that the ’ district court conduct a Daubert2 hearing.

The Court of Appeals affirmed the circuit court’s finding of a Brady violation, and this Court granted discretionary review. For the following reasons, we reverse the opinion of the Court of Appeals and reinstate the district court’s judgment.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW.

The findings of fact by the tidal court following a bench trial “shall not be set aside unless clearly erroneous, and due regard shall be given to the opportunity of the trial court to judge the credibility of the witnesses.” Kentucky Rule of Civil Procedure (CR) 52.01; see also Patmon v. Hobbs, 280 S.W.3d 589, 593 (Ky. App. 2009). Keeping that in mind, this Court reviews de novo whether the conduct of the Commonwealth pertaining to the evidence at issue constitutes a Brady violation. Commonwealth v. Bussell, 226 S.W.3d 96,100 (Ky. 2007).

III. ANALYSIS.

The Commonwealth essentially argues that'the circuit court abused its discretion as a reviewing court and erroneously found a Brady violation. We agree.

In Brady, the United States Supreme Court held that “the suppression by the prosecution of evidence favorable to an accused upon request violates due process where the evidence is material either to guilt or to punishment, irrespective of the good faith or bad faith of the prosecution.” 373 U.S. 83, 87, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963). In Arizona v. Youngblood,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
471 S.W.3d 694, 2015 Ky. LEXIS 1865, 2015 WL 5646581, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-parrish-ky-2015.