Graves v. State

761 So. 2d 950, 2000 WL 760943
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedJune 13, 2000
Docket1999-KM-01576-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 761 So. 2d 950 (Graves v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Graves v. State, 761 So. 2d 950, 2000 WL 760943 (Mich. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

761 So.2d 950 (2000)

Thomas L. GRAVES a/k/a Thomas Lawson Graves, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 1999-KM-01576-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

June 13, 2000.

*952 Chris N.K. Ganner, Attorney for Appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by John K. Bramlett Jr., Attorneys for Appellee.

BEFORE KING, P.J., PAYNE, AND THOMAS, JJ.

THOMAS, J., for the Court:

¶ 1. Thomas Graves appeals the Rankin County Circuit Court's decision affirming the Rankin County Court's conviction of operating a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol content in excess of the legal limit of .10 percent and careless driving. Aggrieved, Graves assigns the following issues as error:

ISSUES

I. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED BY ALLOWING OFFICER THRASH TO TESTIFY BEFORE THE JURY ABOUT ADMINISTERING THE HORIZONTAL GAZE NYSTAGMUS TEST.

II. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED BY ALLOWING OFFICER THRASH TO RENDER AN EXPERT OPINION WITHOUT BEING QUALIFIED AS AN EXPERT.

III. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED BY ADMITTING INTO EVIDENCE A HEARSAY STATEMENT PREPARED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT PERSONNEL, IN VIOLATION OF DEFENDANT'S RIGHT TO CONFRONTATION.

IV. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED BY REFUSING TO GRANT THE DEFENDANT A JURY INSTRUCTION EMBODYING HIS THEORY OF DEFENSE.

¶ 2. Finding no error, we affirm.

FACTS

¶ 3. Graves appeals his conviction of driving under the influence and careless driving; however, he neither raises any issues nor cites any authority in regards to the careless driving charge. Therefore, the careless driving charge is automatically affirmed.

¶ 4. On November 4, 1995, Thomas Graves was arrested and charged with operating a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol content in excess of the legal limit of.10 percent. Officer Ronnie Thrash, a Reservoir Patrolman, testified that he was driving west on Spillway Road on top of the levee on November 4, 1995, when he met Mr. Graves traveling east. Officer Thrash stated that he saw Graves swerve over the center line into his lane. He also testified that this caused him to turn around to follow Graves, where he witnessed him weaving and continuously jerking back and forth across the road. Officer Thrash pulled Graves over and asked him for his driver's license. He testified that Graves had problems finding his license and ultimately gave him the whole wallet. He stated that he smelled alcohol on Graves's breath and that Graves leaned on the car door for support when he got out of the vehicle. Officer Thrash went on *953 to explain that he performed several field sobriety tests on Graves, the walk and turn, the one-leg stand, the portable breath test and asked Graves to say the alphabet. He testified that Graves failed all of the tests including the horizontal gaze nystagmus test (HGN). Officer Thrash explained that the HGN test requires the person to follow a pen with their eyes as the officer moves the pen to the left and to the right while watching the eyes to see if they make a jerking motion. Then the officer testified that he took Graves to the Reservoir patrol office to give him an intoxilyzer test which established that Graves's blood alcohol content was .227.

¶ 5. The only testimony that Graves presented in his defense was the testimony of Officer Hulett, the officer in charge of calibrating the intoxilyzer machines for the Mississippi Highway Patrol. Officer Hulett testified that he checked the machine in Rankin County on November 17, 1995, December 5, 1995, January 5, 1996, February 27, 1996, March 29, 1996, April 18, 1996, and the calibration was always correct. He also testified that on April 22, 1996, he removed the machine in order to change the battery that controls the time and date. On cross he explained that the battery has nothing to do with the administration of the intoxilyzer test and the proper calibration of the machine.

¶ 6. Thomas Graves was originally convicted in the justice court of Rankin County, Mississippi; he appealed this conviction to county court and was convicted in a de novo trial by a jury. He then appealed that decision to the Circuit Court of Rankin County, which affirmed his conviction. He now appeals that decision to this court.

ANALYSIS

I. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED BY ALLOWING OFFICER THRASH TO TESTIFY BEFORE THE JURY ABOUT ADMINISTERING THE HORIZONTAL GAZE NYSTAGMUS TEST.

¶ 7. Graves's first issue is that the trial judge improperly allowed Officer Thrash to testify about his administering the HGN test to Graves and the results of that test. While this case was tried on September 9-10, 1996 before the Mississippi Supreme Court released its opinion in Young v. City of Brookhaven, 693 So.2d 1355 (Miss.1997); that case pertains to this issue. While the supreme court affirmed Young's conviction of the operation of a vehicle while intoxicated in violation of Section 63-11-30(1)(c), that court held that the HGN test could not "be used as scientific evidence to prove intoxication or as a mere showing of impairment." Young, 693 So.2d at 1360-61. "[T]he only allowable use for the test results" is "to prove probable cause to arrest and administer the intoxilyzer or blood test." Id. at 1361. In Young, the officer testified to the correlation between the results of the HGN and the intoxilyzer and attempted to use the test to prove the percentage of blood alcohol content and whether the defendant was driving under the influence. Id. at 1359. The supreme court's reason for so holding was that it found that "the HGN test is not generally accepted within the scientific community...." Id. at 1360. The court concluded:

We deliver a stern warning concerning using the HGN test for reasons other than to establish probable cause. The State cannot use the results of the HGN test merely as an indicator to show that the defendant was "under the influence of intoxicating liquor" to prove the requisite elements of Miss.Code Ann. § 63-11-30(1)(a). Furthermore, the State cannot attempt to introduce the HGN test as scientific evidence to show degree of intoxication.

Young, 693 So.2d at 1361.

¶ 8. The general rule is that decisions of the Mississippi Supreme Court are presumed to have retroactive effect. Morgan v. State, 703 So.2d 832, 839 (Miss. 1997). Only where "`retroactive enforcement *954 would cause serious disruption of the administration of justice and where the prior rule was not infected by a serious absence of fundamental fairness" will decisions of our supreme court not be retroactively applied. Id.

¶ 9. First, Young can be distinguished from the case at bar and, secondly, the court in Young found the error to be harmless error due to the overwhelming evidence of intoxication presented. In the case sub judice, the officer did not testify regarding the technical and scientific aspects of the HGN test. He did not attempt to use the HGN test to establish that Graves was intoxicated or to determine his level of intoxication as in Young; he only used the test in its permissible manner, to establish probable cause. The court in Young made it clear that the HGN test cannot be used to indicate impairment or to show the degree of intoxication; however, the test can still be used as a field sobriety test to establish probable cause to administer the intoxilyzer, as Officer Thrash used the test here.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
761 So. 2d 950, 2000 WL 760943, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/graves-v-state-missctapp-2000.