Mills v. State

99 S.W.3d 200, 2002 WL 31933030
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 9, 2003
Docket2-01-190-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 99 S.W.3d 200 (Mills 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
Mills v. State, 99 S.W.3d 200, 2002 WL 31933030 (Tex. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

OPINION ON STATE’S PETITION FOR DISCRETIONARY REVIEW

SAM J. DAY, Justice.

I. Introduction

A jury convicted Appellant Joe Elbert Mills of driving while intoxicated (DWI), and the trial court assessed punishment at ninety days’ confinement and a $500 fine. In two points, Appellant complains about the factual sufficiency of the evidence to support the jury’s verdict and the trial court’s decision to allow the admission of *201 radar gun results absent any showing of admissibility of such results under rule 702 of the rules of evidence. On August 30, 2002, we issued an opinion and judgment reversing the judgment and remanding the case for a new trial. The State has filed a petition for discretionary review in the court of criminal appeals. Pursuant to Texas Rule of Appellant Procedure 50, we withdraw our opinion and judgment and substitute the following opinion and accompanying judgment affirming the trial court’s judgment.

II. BackgRound

On October 14, 2000, Officer Marcellous Anderson with the Texas Department of Public Safety stopped Appellant for traveling seventy-two miles per horn' in a sixty mile-per-hour zone. When Officer Anderson approached Appellant, he noticed a moderate smell of alcohol emanating from the vehicle and that Appellant’s eyes were red and glassy. Appellant failed a number of field sobriety tests, and he was arrested.

III. Admissibility of the Radar Gun Evidence

In his second point, Appellant argues the trial court erred in allowing Officer Anderson to testify about the results of the radar gun without a showing of its admissibility under rule 702 of the rules of evidence and Kelly v. State. Tex.R. Evid. 702; Kelly v. State, 824 S.W.2d 568 (Tex.Crim.App.1992). During trial, Appellant objected to Officer Anderson’s testimony concerning the radar gun results on the ground that “[t]here hasn’t been any showing that ... verification, how he would know that, if instruments were used, the verity [sic] of those instruments, seven-oh-four [sic] — whether there is a scientific theory behind those instruments, and whether or not those scientific theories are, in fact, valid.” Appellant then took Officer Anderson on voir dire, during which he questioned him about his knowledge of the underlying scientific theories of the radar gun. The State argues that Appellant’s objections were too general and did not specify that he was complaining about the State’s failure to satisfy the Kelly requirements for the reliability of scientific evidence. See Kelly, 824 S.W.2d at 573.

To preserve a complaint for our review, a party must have presented to the trial court a specific objection, request, or motion, or must state the specific grounds for the objection if it is not apparent from the context. Tex.R.App. P. 33.1(a)(1); Mosley v. State, 988 S.W.2d 249, 265 (Tex.Crim.App.1998) (op. on reh’g), cert. denied, 526 U.S. 1070, 119 S.Ct. 1466, 143 L.Ed.2d 550 (1999). In Kelly, the court of criminal appeals established a set of factors that the proponent of expert testimony or evidence based on scientific theory must show by clear and convincing evidence before the proposed evidence may be introduced. To be considered rehable, evidence based on a scientific theory must satisfy three criteria: (1) the underlying scientific theory must be valid; (2) the technique applying the theory must be valid; and (3) the technique must have been properly applied on the occasion in question. Kelly, 824 S.W.2d at 573. While the State argues that Appellant’s objection to the radar gun results was not sufficiently specific to preserve error, we note that AppeUant’s objection specifically complained of the validity of the scientific theories and the veracity of the instruments used to test those theories, which constitute two of the three Kelly requirements of reliability. As such, we believe that while Appellant’s objection is not the picture of clarity, the context of his objection made clear that he was contesting the *202 radar gun’s reliability under Kelly. Consequently, we hold that Appellant preserved error on his complaint, and we will address his complaint on its merits.

In Hartman v. State, 946 S.W.2d 60, 63 (Tex.Crim.App.1997), the court concluded that the Kelly factors apply to all evidence based on a scientific theory and not just to evidence based on novel scientific theories. Relying on this and the court of criminal appeals’ ruling in Kelly, the El Paso Court of Appeals concluded that “although radar is a familiar concept, it is based on a scientific theory and therefore subject to proof of reliability and relevance under Kelly.” Ochoa v. State, 994 S.W.2d 283, 284 (Tex.App.—El Paso 1999, no pet.).

Pursuant to Ochoa, Appellant argues that Officer Anderson’s testimony concerning the radar gun was subject to the Kelly requirements for admitting scientific evidence under rule 702 of the rules of evidence. Tex.R. Evm 702; Kelly, 824 S.W.2d at 573. More recently, however, the Texarkana Court of Appeals held that even under Kelly, the underlying scientific principles of radar are indisputable and valid as a matter of law:

When dealing with well-established scientific theory, Kelly’s framework provides courts flexibility to utilize past precedence and generally accepted principles of science to conclude its theoretical validity as a matter of law. To strictly construe Kelly otherwise would place a significant burden on judicial economy by requiring parties to bring to court experts in fields of science that no reasonable person would challenge as valid....
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... [I]n 1979 the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in Masquelette [v. State], 579 S.W.2d [478,] 481 [ (Tex.Crim.App. [Panel Op.] 1979) ], pronounced once and for all that the State is not required to call an expert witness to establish the underlying theory of radar.
Although Kelly modified the pre-exist-ing scheme for determining the admissibility of scientific evidence, it also provides flexibility to courts to apply both generally-accepted scientific principles and previous legal determinations.
In light of society’s widespread use of radar devices, and considering other courts’ acceptance of radar, we view the underlying scientific principles of radar as indisputable and valid as a matter of law.

Maysonet v. State, 91 S.W.3d 365, 371 (Tex.App.—Texarkana Oct.16, 2002, no pet. h.). We agree with the principles enunciated in Maysonet

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99 S.W.3d 200, 2002 WL 31933030, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mills-v-state-texapp-2003.