Irby v. State

49 So. 3d 94, 2010 Miss. LEXIS 638, 2010 WL 4983011
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 9, 2010
DocketNo. 2009-KA-01005-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 49 So. 3d 94 (Irby v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Irby v. State, 49 So. 3d 94, 2010 Miss. LEXIS 638, 2010 WL 4983011 (Mich. 2010).

Opinion

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING

CARLSON, Presiding Justice,

for the Court:

¶ 1. The motion for rehearing is denied. The original opinion is withdrawn, and this opinion is substituted therefor.

¶ 2. A Clarke County jury found Thomas Irby guilty of DUI maiming. The Clarke County Circuit Court, Judge Robert W. Bailey presiding, sentenced Irby to serve a sentence of twenty-five years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections as a habitual offender. Aggrieved, Irby appeals. Finding no error, we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS IN THE TRIAL COURT

¶ 3. On the afternoon of May 10, 2008, while driving a Ford Ranger pick-up truck, Thomas Irby collided with a Dodge van driven by Olivia Miller. Also occupying Olivia’s vehicle was her husband, Justin Miller. All three were injured. Both drivers sustained injuries to their legs and feet, and the passenger, Justin, sustained brain injuries and was in a coma for four weeks after the accident. At the time of trial, Justin had use of only his left arm and hand. He was unable to speak clearly. He had received care at various hospitals, including a facility specializing in brain injury in Atlanta, Georgia. At the time of trial, the Millers had incurred $2,000,000 in medical bills. Justin’s prognosis at the time of trial was uncertain, and doctors were unable to predict whether he would ever walk again. Irby’s charge of DUI maiming stemmed solely from the injuries sustained by Justin.

¶ 4. According to Olivia Miller’s testimony, on the day of the accident, she was traveling north on County Road 430 in Clarke County. Upon passing over a hill, she discovered a pick-up truck in her lane about a tenth of a mile in front of her, traveling south in the northbound lane. Olivia testified that to her right was a ditch, and that because of the ditch, she did not feel she could safely veer off the road to her right. Accordingly, she veered sharply into the left lane. As soon as she went left, Irby veered to his right into the proper lane. As a result, the two automobiles collided, not quite head-on, but at a slight angle. Olivia Miller further testified that just after the accident, while in close proximity with Irby, she had detected the smell of alcohol.

¶ 5. Clarke County Deputy Sheriff Jerry Ivey responded to the scene of the accident. After impact, both vehicles were observed to have come to a stop on the west side of the highway. Ivey diagrammed the final resting place of each vehicle and testified that, while at the scene, he had observed tire marks from the pick-up in the northbound lane headed south and tire marks from the van in the northbound lane headed north. He testified that he had smelled alcohol in the pick-up truck and had observed a beer can lying inside the truck on the driver’s side floorboard.

¶ 6. Ivey followed the ambulance transporting Irby to a local hospital and spoke with Irby at the hospital. Ivey testified that he had asked for and received consent from Irby for a blood sample. Ivey further testified that he had read to Irby the contents of the law-enforcement form requesting that the hospital withdraw a blood sample. Ivey testified that he had informed Irby of his right to refuse consent to draw the blood sample. Ivey testified that the nurse had read Irby a second form, the Consent by Individual form (hereinafter “consent form”), which both [98]*98Irby and the nurse had signed. The consent form read, in pertinent part, as follows: “I, Thomas Irby, consent to the taking of a blood or urine specimen from me for an investigation by a duly authorized law enforcement official.... ” Moreover, the form explicitly stated that “results of the test may be made available to law enforcement.” According to the deputy, Irby had appeared “alert and awake.” The consent form bears Irby’s signature. After Nurse Lauren Westbrook drew Irby’s blood, Ivey sent the samples to the Mississippi Crime Laboratory in Meridian.

¶ 7. John Stevenson, a forensic scientist with the Mississippi Crime Laboratory, testified regarding the results of the blood-alcohol and drug analysis. Irby’s blood tested positive for benzodiazepines, ben-zoylecgonine (a breakdown product of cocaine), and opiates. The particular benzo-diazepine found in Irby’s blood sample was alprazolam, commonly known as Xanax. The opiate was hydrocodone, which is commonly prescribed as a pain-killer. As to the breakdown product of cocaine, or metabolite of cocaine, Stevenson explained that cocaine “is in your system very readily. It is maybe 30 minutes at the most. It’s very rapidly gone once you use. The metabolites are what are found ... not the parent compound.” Stevenson testified that a positive result for a metabolite of cocaine means that a person has ingested cocaine; however, Stevenson had been unable to determine when Irby had ingested cocaine relative to the accident. Irby’s blood sample was then sent to National Medical Services Laboratories (NMS Labs) in Pennsylvania for quantitative analysis.

¶ 8. Dr. Laura Labay, a forensic toxicologist with NMS Labs, testified as to the quantitative analysis of Irby’s blood sample. Irby’s blood sample contained 410 nanograms per milliliter of the cocaine metabolite benzoylecgonine, 90 nanograms per milliliter of hydrocodone, and 87 nano-grams per milliliter of alprazolam. Dr. Labay testified that the benzoylecgonine in and of itself would have had no pharmacological activity or effect. Dr. Labay testified that the therapeutic range for alprazo-lam is 10 to 50 nanograms per milliliter and that a concentration of 75 nanograms per milliliter or more is potentially toxic. Side effects of alprazolam include fatigue and drowsiness. Likewise, hydrocodone, a semisynthetic narcotic analgesic, produces the side effect of drowsiness. As to the effects of these drugs on Irby’s ability to operate a motor vehicle, Dr. Labay testified from her report:

Based on the concentration of Alprazo-lam and Hydrocodone found in this case, it can be stated with reasonable scientific certainty that if the individual showed signs of impairment ... then these substances can be responsible for the production of that impairment, especially in the absence of a more competent cause. Such impairment would be characterized by diminished faculties associated with the safe operation of a motor vehicle, including impaired alertness, judgement [sic] perception, coordination, response time and sense of care and caution. These decrements can cause the individual to be impaired to and beyond the point of rendering this individual unfit to operate a motor vehicle safely.

¶ 9. Two additional witnesses for the State testified that they had seen Irby earlier in the day on May 10, 2008. Both testified that Irby had run his pick-up truck off Causeyville Road and had gotten stuck in a ditch. One of the passersby, Gene Jay, stopped to see if Irby was injured, but then declined Irby’s request for assistance in pulling his truck out of the ditch because Jay was of the opinion that [99]*99Irby’s behavior appeared erratic and that Irby should not have been driving.

DISCUSSION

¶ 10. Irby raises three points of error for this Court’s review: (1) Was blood evidence improperly admitted, (2) were the defendant’s confrontation rights protected, and (3) was the verdict supported by the evidence? 1

¶ 11. Irby was charged pursuant to Mississippi Code Section 68-11-30(5) (Rev. 2004), in connection with the permanent injuries sustained by Justin Miller in the collision.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
49 So. 3d 94, 2010 Miss. LEXIS 638, 2010 WL 4983011, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/irby-v-state-miss-2010.