Krieger v. Director of Revenue

14 S.W.3d 697, 2000 Mo. App. LEXIS 448, 2000 WL 309338
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 28, 2000
DocketED 76512
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 14 S.W.3d 697 (Krieger v. Director of Revenue) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Krieger v. Director of Revenue, 14 S.W.3d 697, 2000 Mo. App. LEXIS 448, 2000 WL 309338 (Mo. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

LAWRENCE G. CRAHAN, Judge.

The Director of Revenue (“Director”) appeals the judgment of the Circuit Court of Franklin County setting aside the revocation of Matthew Krieger’s (“Driver”) driving privileges. We reverse and remand with directions to reinstate the revocation.

On November 13, 1998, Deputy Trevor Wild of the Franklin County Sheriffs Department was stopped at the intersection of Highway 50 and Highway UU when he observed Driver make a left turn off of Highway 50 and pass between the right side of his patrol car and the stop sign. Deputy Wild pulled Driver over and noticed Driver stumble as he exited his vehicle. He smelled intoxicants on Driver’s breath and observed that his eyes were bloodshot and his speech slurred. Deputy Wild gave Driver a number of field sobriety tests, all of which Driver failed. Driver was then arrested for driving while intoxicated, handcuffed, and transported in the back of the patrol car to the police station.

At the Union police station, Officer Jim Wells informed Driver of Missouri’s implied consent law and administered a breath analysis test with Driver’s consent. The result of the test indicated Driver had a blood alcohol content of .238% by weight.

Director revoked Driver’s driving privileges pursuant to Section 302.505, et seq. RSMo Supp.1998, for driving while intoxicated with a prior alcohol-related enforcement contact within the preceding five years on his driving record. The revocation was upheld after an administrative hearing and Driver sought a trial de novo in circuit court.

At the trial, Deputy Wild testified to the circumstances that led to his conclusion that Driver was impaired and his subsequent arrest. He stated that he called in the traffic stop of Driver’s vehicle at 10:53 p.m. and made contact with Driver within two minutes thereafter. He estimated that approximately 20-25 minutes were spent conducting the field sobriety tests and that Driver’s arrest occurred thereafter. Deputy Wild testified that Driver was then transported in the back of his patrol vehicle, which contained no liquor or cigarettes, to the police station. Deputy Wild stated that he was with Driver from the time of the stop until the breath test was administered at the police station, and that Driver did not put anything in or take anything out of his mouth, nor did he smoke or vomit during this period.

Officer Wells also testified at trial for Director. He testified that he had a Type III permit to operate the BAC verifier and that he performed the actual test on Driv *700 er. He identified the Department of Revenue records concerning a maintenance check performed on the BAC verifier on November 2, 1998, which included: 1) the affidavit of the custodian of records of the Union Police Department, 2) the maintenance report on the BAC verifier, 3) the certificate of analysis from Guth Laboratory, 4) the calibration test and 5) a copy of the permit for the operator of the instrument. Pursuant to the testimony, these records were admitted into evidence as Exhibit A.

He also identified the BAC log that he filled out concerning the breath test administered to Driver and was permitted to testify over a best evidence objection that the BAC verifier test result was .288%. However, the log was subsequently not admitted into evidence because a copy had not been provided to Driver’s counsel prior to trial.

Officer Wells also identified Exhibit C as the checklist that he followed for the test administered to Driver, and described the procedures that he followed prior to and during the administration of the breath test. Specifically, Officer Wells stated that although he was not required to write down the time that the observation period began, he recalled that Driver was brought into the station at about 11:36 p.m. and in accordance with the regulations, he observed Driver for at least fifteen minutes. Officer Wells stated that he gave Driver the breath test at 11:52 p.m. He testified that although he did not wear a watch on the evening of the arrest, he obtained the proper time that he administered the test from the large clock next to the BAC verifier machine. Officer Wells stated that during the observation period Driver did not put anything in his mouth, smoke or vomit.

Officer Wells also identified Exhibit D as the BAC verifier receipt from the test administered to Driver. Upon questioning, he admitted that the time printed on the receipt was wrong, but according to his knowledge and training, the time component of the verifier would not impact in any way with the result of the test. When asked again what the results of the breath test were, the following exchange occurred:

[Driver’s attorney]: I object, there’s not been proper foundation that the machine was calibrated in accordance with regulations that were in effect. There are different certification by laboratories, is not proper that - there’s no proper evidence that the machine was properly calibrated. And there is no foundation for the report, that it was done in accordance with regulations that were applicable at the time that the arrest was made.
The Court: Overruled.
[Director’s attorney]: What were the results of that test?
Answer: .238 percent.
[Director’s attorney]: Your Honor, I’d like to move for the admission of [Director’s] Exhibit C and D.
[Driver’s attorney]: Same objection, sir.
The Court: Overruled.

Driver presented no evidence at trial.

At the conclusion of the trial, the court issued a judgment setting aside Director’s revocation. The court, without any additional objection from Driver or even a motion to strike Director’s testimony, changed its earlier ruling and denied admission of the breath test result into evidence. The court reasoned that due to “inconsistencies” in the testimony of Director’s witnesses regarding the relevant times, the fact that Officer Wells was not wearing a watch, and the fact that there was no documented evidence which reflected an entry as to when the observation period began, Director failed to establish that Driver had been observed for fifteen minutes prior to the administration of the breath analysis test as required by the Department of Health regulations. Director appeals this judgment.

*701 We will affirm the trial court’s judgment unless there is no substantial evidence to support it, it is against the weight of the evidence, or it erroneously declares or applies the law. Murphy v. Carrón, 536 S.W.2d 30, 32 (Mo.banc 1976).

In his first point, Director contends the court misapplied the law in setting aside the revocation of Driver’s driving privileges because Driver did not make a proper and timely objection to the admission of the test result into evidence.

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Bluebook (online)
14 S.W.3d 697, 2000 Mo. App. LEXIS 448, 2000 WL 309338, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/krieger-v-director-of-revenue-moctapp-2000.