Langlade County v. Travis Lee Lettau

CourtCourt of Appeals of Wisconsin
DecidedDecember 4, 2019
Docket2019AP000068
StatusUnpublished

This text of Langlade County v. Travis Lee Lettau (Langlade County v. Travis Lee Lettau) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Langlade County v. Travis Lee Lettau, (Wis. Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

COURT OF APPEALS DECISION NOTICE DATED AND FILED This opinion is subject to further editing. If published, the official version will appear in the bound volume of the Official Reports. December 4, 2019 A party may file with the Supreme Court a Sheila T. Reiff petition to review an adverse decision by the Clerk of Court of Appeals Court of Appeals. See WIS. STAT. § 808.10 and RULE 809.62.

Appeal No. 2019AP68 Cir. Ct. Nos. 2017TR86 2017TR87

STATE OF WISCONSIN IN COURT OF APPEALS DISTRICT III

LANGLADE COUNTY,

PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT,

V.

TRAVIS LEE LETTAU,

DEFENDANT-RESPONDENT.

APPEAL from a judgment of the circuit court for Langlade County: JOHN B. RHODE, Judge. Affirmed.

¶1 SEIDL, J.1 Langlade County appeals a judgment dismissing charges against Travis Lettau of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated

1 This appeal is decided by one judge pursuant to WIS. STAT. § 752.31(2) (2017-18). All references to the Wisconsin Statutes are to the 2017-18 version unless otherwise noted. No. 2019AP68

(OWI) and operating a motor vehicle with a prohibited alcohol concentration (PAC), both as first offenses. The case was tried to the circuit court without a jury, and the court found Lettau not guilty of both charges. The County argues that the court erred by failing to apply the evidentiary presumptions afforded to Lettau’s breath test result set forth in WIS. STAT. § 885.235. It further asserts that had the court properly applied § 885.235, the County met its burden of proof on both citations. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

¶2 The facts of this case are largely taken from the circuit court’s findings of fact, none of which the State contends are clearly erroneous. On January 21, 2017, at 2:55 a.m., Langlade County sheriff’s deputy Jake DeFiore stopped Lettau for driving ten miles per hour over the speed limit.2 DeFiore observed no improper driving by Lettau other than his vehicle’s speed. Upon making contact with Lettau, DeFiore noticed Lettau’s eyes appeared “glossy” and his speech “was slightly slower than what … DeFiore considered normal, but … not slurred.” Lettau admitted that he had consumed “some alcohol” prior to driving.

¶3 Lettau agreed to perform field sobriety tests, which were recorded on video. DeFiore observed all six clues of impairment on the horizontal gaze nystagmus test. However, he only observed three clues of impairment on the

2 The circuit court found that the traffic stop occurred at 2:55 a.m. DeFiore testified that he first “encountered” Lettau at 2:35 a.m. and that the “actual time of the violation” as recorded on Lettau’s citation was 2:55 a.m. Lettau’s counsel initially recognized the discrepancy when the court gave its oral ruling, but then later concluded that she was mistaken and accepted the court’s 2:55 a.m. finding. This twenty-minute discrepancy regarding the time of the stop is immaterial to our decision.

2 No. 2019AP68

walk-and-turn test and one impairment clue on the one-leg-stand test. Lettau submitted to a preliminary breath test and was subsequently arrested.

¶4 After his arrest, Lettau agreed to take a second breath test at the county jail. At 3:47 a.m., within approximately one hour after he had been driving, the result of the Intoximeter breath test was .09 g/210L of breath.3 Additionally, Lettau answered questions posed by law enforcement officers on an alcohol influence report in which he admitted to consuming alcoholic beverages at a tavern from approximately 10:00 p.m. until about 2:00 a.m. He was not asked, and did not specify, however, exactly how much he had to drink or when he drank it. Lettau was subsequently cited for OWI and PAC.

¶5 Lettau contested his citations at a bench trial. The County introduced the .09 breath alcohol concentration (BAC) test result, which the circuit court admitted without objection. While DeFiore testified regarding Lettau’s field sobriety tests, the County did not introduce into evidence the video of those tests because it had failed to preserve the video.

¶6 At trial, Ronald Henson testified as an expert witness for Lettau. Henson has a doctoral degree in applied management and decision sciences, and he is a former police officer who now works as an independent consultant in drug and alcohol related matters. Henson opined that, due to the .09 test result and the test’s timing approximately one hour after Lettau had been driving, Henson could not conclude with a reasonable degree of scientific certainty that Lettau’s BAC

3 The Wisconsin Statutes define “alcohol concentration” as: (1) “The number of grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of a person’s blood”; and (2) “The number of grams of alcohol per 210 liters of a person’s breath.” See WIS. STAT. §§ 340.01(1v); 885.235(1)(a).

3 No. 2019AP68

was .08 or greater while he was driving. As to that testimony, the circuit court stated in its findings of fact:

In other words, the Court interprets that testimony to be that [Lettau] could have been either higher or lower at the time of actual driving. The court believes this [is] common sense. It is common knowledge that the human body first absorbs and then digests alcohol after it is consumed. Therefore, after consumption alcohol concentration first goes up, eventually peaks, and then goes down until it is completely digested and disappears. There is insufficient evidence in the record to know if Mr. Lettau’s BAC was higher or lower than .09 at the time he was driving.

¶7 Henson also testified that the Intoximeter device used in this case did not measure breath temperature, but if it did, its test results would have been more accurate. This is so because an individual’s breath temperature affects a measuring device’s breath test result, especially in a case like this one where Lettau’s .09 breath test result was so close to the .08 benchmark. Henson explained that Wisconsin’s Intoximeter devices are not approved for measuring breath temperature, and instead, they simulate an average breath temperature. Henson testified that an individual’s breath temperature can vary as much as three degrees from the simulated average. Henson further testified that breath temperature impacts a breath test result by 8.6% per one degree. Thus, in this case where Lettau’s breath test result was just .01 over the limit, Henson opined that Lettau’s BAC could have actually been lower than .08 had the Intoximeter measured Lettau’s actual breath temperature at the time his sample was analyzed.

¶8 The County called its own expert witness, Department of Transportation breath alcohol toxicologist Ashley Kickbusch, to rebut Henson’s

4 No. 2019AP68

testimony.4 Kickbusch testified that Henson’s opinions on the impact of breath or body temperature were overstated. Kickbusch opined that the actual impact of breath or body temperatures on BAC readings is minimal or nonexistent. Additionally, Kickbusch, as well as Theodore Skarlupka, a corrections officer at the Langlade County Jail, testified that the Intoximeter device was working properly and gave an accurate reading of Lettau’s BAC.

¶9 Lettau did not testify. Following the bench trial’s conclusion, the circuit court set a later date to give its oral decision.

¶10 The circuit court found Lettau not guilty of both the OWI and PAC citations. In arriving at its conclusion, the court relied heavily upon WIS JI— CRIMINAL 2668 (2014). That instruction provides that in order to obtain a guilty verdict on the OWI citation, the County had the burden to prove by clear, satisfactory, and convincing evidence that Lettau operated a motor vehicle and was under the influence of an intoxicant at the time he was driving. See id. Reading from the jury instruction, the court explained:

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Bluebook (online)
Langlade County v. Travis Lee Lettau, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/langlade-county-v-travis-lee-lettau-wisctapp-2019.