Kiona F. Boutang v. State

402 S.W.3d 782, 2013 WL 696782, 2013 Tex. App. LEXIS 1851
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 27, 2013
Docket04-11-00764-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 402 S.W.3d 782 (Kiona F. Boutang v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kiona F. Boutang v. State, 402 S.W.3d 782, 2013 WL 696782, 2013 Tex. App. LEXIS 1851 (Tex. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinions

OPINION

Opinion by:

MARIALYN BARNARD, Justice.

Appellant Kiona F. Boutang appeals her conviction for driving while intoxicated. Boutang was sentenced to six months confinement in the Bexar County Jail, suspended for a period of eighteen months, and ordered to pay a fine of $500.00. On appeal, Boutang argues: (1) the trial court violated her rights under the Confrontation Clauses of the United States and Texas Constitutions by overruling her objection to the testimony of the State’s witness, Deborah Stephens, the admission of the breath test results, and breathalyzer maintenance reports; (2) the trial court committed harmful error by allowing the State to commit the venire to always consider the results of a breath test; and (3) the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury to consider whether the arresting officer had probable cause to arrest Boutang. We affirm the trial court’s judgment.

Background

On January 9, 2010, at approximately 2:30 a.m., Boutang was pulled over by San Antonio Police Officer Ben Esquivel for traveling the wrong way on a one-way street. During the stop, Officer Esquivel requested she perform standardized field sobriety tests. No video of these tests was taken. After determining Boutang showed signs of intoxication while performing the tests, Officer Esquivel placed Boutang under arrest for driving while intoxicated. She voluntarily gave two breath samples, which showed her blood alcohol level was above the State’s legal limit.

Boutang filed a motion to suppress the breath test results and any testimony concerning these results. During the pretrial suppression hearing, the State called Deborah Stephens to testify. Stephens is a senior forensic scientist and technical supervisor with the Bexar County Breath Testing Program. She is the custodian of records for all the breathalyzer machines in Bexar County. Stephens testified she began employment with Bexar County Breath Testing as a technical supervisor in August 2011. Stephens was employed by the City of Austin (also as a technical supervisor) on the date Boutang was placed under arrest and administered a breath test.

At the time of Boutang’s arrest, George McDougall was responsible for maintaining the Intoxilyzer 5000 machines in Bexar County. His duties included creating a reference solution for use in the machines, periodically changing out the solution in the machines, setting the machines to anticipate the particular amount of alcohol in the reference solution, and creating records to reflect the same. Stephens testi[786]*786fied she recently assumed the position of senior forensic analyst after McDougall retired. As the current technical supervisor, Stephens is the custodian of records. Stephens testified the records are maintained in accordance with DPS regulations.

During trial,1 Stephens sponsored the admission of State’s Exhibits 10, 11, and 12. State’s Exhibit 10 is the breath test slip printed by Officer Charles Marcus, who was in charge of administering Bou-tang’s breath test on the night of her arrest. Exhibit 10 indicates Officer Marcus obtained two samples from Boutang, reflecting alcohol concentrations of 0.141 and 0.144, both above the legal limit. Exhibit 10 established the Intoxilyzer was set to anticipate a 0.080 reading from the reference solution and measured the solution at 0.077 on the night that Officer Marcus administered Boutang’s breath test.

Stephens testified about the preparation of the reference solution. She testified that at least once a month the technical supervisor is required to inspect the reference solution to ensure the machine is operating properly; however, the particular machine used to test Boutang’s breath is inspected twice a month because of the machine’s frequent use.

State’s Exhibits 11 and 12 show McDou-gall tested the reference solution on two different dates prior to Boutang’s arrest. Stephens testified the maintenance records were kept pursuant to state regulations. She also testified she believed the machine used to test Boutang’s breath was working properly because State’s Exhibit 10 shows Officer Marcus operated the machine correctly and because State’s Exhibits 11 and 12 show the machine was reading the reference solution correctly.

Officer Marcus testified he was certified to administer the breath test with the In-toxilyzer 5000 on the date Boutang was arrested. Officer Marcus testified he administered Boutang’s breath test and monitored Boutang for fifteen minutes before administering the test to ensure she had no residual alcohol in her mouth. He further stated he ran the self-diagnostic check on the machine. Finally, Officer Marcus testified he administered the test, the machine properly flushed out the chamber between samples, and the machine measured the reference solution within the allowable range.

The jury found Boutang guilty of driving while intoxicated. The trial court placed Boutang on community supervision. Bou-tang timely appealed.

Analysis

On appeal, Boutang raises issues relating to alleged errors involving: (1) her rights under the Confrontation Clauses of the United States and Texas Constitutions, (2) voir dire, and (3) jury instructions. We begin with the constitutional issue.

Confrontation Clause

Boutang first argues the trial court violated her rights under the Confrontation Clauses of the United States and Texas Constitutions by overruling her objection to the testimony of Deborah Stephens, an alleged surrogate analyst who was not employed during the time Boutang’s breath sample was provided and analyzed, and the admission of the breath test results and breathalyzer maintenance reports.

A defendant has a constitutional right to confront the witnesses against her. U.S. Const. amend. VI; Tex. Const. art. 1, § 10. Out-of-court testimonial statements [787]*787by witnesses are barred under the Confrontation Clause unless the witnesses are unavailable and defendant had a prior opportunity to cross-examine the witness. Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 86, 68, 124 S.Ct. 1354, 158 L.Ed.2d 177 (2004); Wall v. State, 184 S.W.3d 730, 735 (Tex.Crim.App.2006).

Standard of Review

We must defer to a trial court’s resolution of credibility issues and issues of historic fact. Langham v. State, 305 S.W.3d 568, 576 (Tex.Crim.App.2010). However, whether an out-of-court statement is testimonial or not is a question of law and subject to de novo review. Id.

Breathalyzer Test Results

The United States Supreme Court recently addressed a similar issue in Bullcoming v. New Mexico, — U.S.-, 131 S.Ct. 2705, 180 L.Ed.2d 610 (2011). In Bullcoming, the Supreme Court held the defendant’s confrontation rights were violated when the State was allowed to introduce into evidence a forensic lab report certifying Bullcoming’s blood alcohol content (“BAC”) when the State did not use the testimony of the analyst who had created the report as the sponsoring witness, but used a different analyst to sponsor the report. 131 S.Ct. at 2715-16.

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Bluebook (online)
402 S.W.3d 782, 2013 WL 696782, 2013 Tex. App. LEXIS 1851, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kiona-f-boutang-v-state-texapp-2013.