Minnich v. Administrative Director of the Courts

124 P.3d 965, 109 Haw. 220, 2005 Haw. LEXIS 629
CourtHawaii Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 19, 2005
DocketNo. 27068
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 124 P.3d 965 (Minnich v. Administrative Director of the Courts) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Hawaii Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Minnich v. Administrative Director of the Courts, 124 P.3d 965, 109 Haw. 220, 2005 Haw. LEXIS 629 (haw 2005).

Opinion

[222]*222Opinion of the Court by

ACOBA, J.

We hold, in this appeal by Petitioner-Appellant David C. Minnieh (Petitioner), from the December 20, 2004 judgment of the district court of the first circuit1 (the court) affirming the October 4, 2004 decision of Respondent-Appellee Administrative Director of the Courts, State of Hawai'i (Respondent),2 that (1) Freitas v. Admin. Dir. of the Courts, 108 Hawai'i 31, 116 P.3d 673 (2005) [hereinafter, Freitas II], and Dunaway v. Admin. Dir. of the Courts, 108 Hawai'i 78, 117 P.3d 109 (2005) apply, and as to issues not decided by those cases, (2) the provisions under Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) § 291E-3(a) and (c) (Supp.2004)3 apply to administrative revocation of driver’s license proceedings, (3) evidence of a defendant’s blood-alcohol level obtained from a blood alcohol chemical (BAC) test more than three hours after an alleged violation is relevant but must be offered in compliance with the Hawaii Rules of Evidence (HRE) as prescribed under HRS § 291E-3(c), and (4) the Director was right in concluding that irrespective of Petitioner’s BAC test result, the remainder of the evidence supported the conclusion that Petitioner was operating his vehicle while under the influence of an intoxicant (DUI). In light of our holding, we vacate the Director’s finding that the three-hour time frame for drawing a blood sample under HRS § 29IE-3 applies only to criminal prosecutions, but affirm the court’s judgment.

I.

On September 5, 2004, Petitioner was arrested in Honolulu, Hawaii, for DUI, in violation of HRS § 291E-61(a) (Supp.2004),4 after a motor vehicle he was driving collided with a median guard rail and after he failed the field sobriety tests. Subsequently, Petitioner consented to and failed a BAC test. Petitioner’s driver’s license was revoked and the revocation was sustained for a period of three months by a review officer of the Administrative Driver’s License Revocation Office (ADLRO) on September 10, 2004. Petitioner requested a hearing within six days of the revocation pursuant to HRS § 291E-37 (Supp.2004)5 and the hearing was scheduled on September 29, 2004.

On the day of and prior to the hearing, two women came into the ADLRO and asked to attend Petitioner’s hearing. The women refused to follow the ADLRO’s sign-in and identification procedures, stating that to do so would violate their privacy. The women [223]*223offered to be searched instead, but were not granted entry.

During the hearing, Petitioner, through his counsel, contended that, under this court’s decision in Freitas v. Admin. Dir. of the Courts, 104 Hawai'i 483, 489, 92 P.3d 993, 999 (2004) [hereinafter Freitas I], he was entitled to a hearing on the validity of the ADLRO security procedures.

Over Petitioner’s objections, the hearing officer received most of the ADLRO file into evidence, including the Honolulu Police Department (HPD) 396B Implied Consent Form (HPD 396B form), the arrest report, the Standardized Field Sobriety Test (SFST) results, and the sworn statements of the arresting officer and BAC test technician. The arrest report indicated that Arresting Officer Miya Brouwer (Officer Brouwer) was sent by dispatch at approximately 10:35 p.m. and that she arrived at the scene at about 10:40 p.m.

The hearing officer then advised Petitioner that he could begin his presentation and that the hearing was conducted de novo, to which Petitioner objected.

Petitioner requested that a particular procedure be followed.6 The hearing officer stated that she was not required to follow Petitioner’s requested procedure.

Officer Brouwer was then called to testify. Officer Brouwer testified that she was personally supervised by her training officer, Officer Mei King (Officer King). Officer Brouwer related that this was the third arrest she had made for DUI. When they arrived at the scene of Petitioner’s accident, another police officer, Officer Eric Lorica (Officer Lorica), was already present. Officer Brouwer noted that Petitioner’s vehicle had sustained front end damage from having hit a guardrail of an on-ramp from Kamehameha Highway to the H-l freeway and that the damage to the vehicle was severe. Officer Brouwer did not know how much time had elapsed between the time of the accident and her arrival.

After questioning Petitioner for approximately ten minutes, at approximately 10:50 p.m., Officer Brouwer began to administer the SFSTs because of Petitioner’s appearance and the odor of alcohol on his breath. While Petitioner’s eyes were not red or bloodshot, Officer Brouwer observed them to be glassy and Officer Lorica reported them to be “watery and glassy.” Officer Brouwer conceded that a driver would be “shaken up” in an accident such as this one.

Officer Brouwer administered the SFSTs on the freeway. The ground was level and the street was damp as it had begun to drizzle. The three SFSTs are (1) the walk- and-turn (WAT), (2) the one-leg stand (OLS), and (3) the horizontal gaze nystagmus (HGN). Officer Brouwer administered all three tests to Petitioner. Officer Brouwer admitted to not knowing how the accident affected Petitioner’s performance on the SFSTs, although Petitioner was observed to be, and claimed that, he was fine.

During his cross examination of Officer Brouwer, Petitioner’s counsel referred to a manual entitled DWI Detection and Standardized Field Sobriety Testing, Participant Manual, 2002 ed., published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The manual provides instructions for administering SFSTs. The WAT instructions state that the “[wjalk and [tjurn test requires a designated straight line and should be conducted on a reasonably dry, hard, level, nonslippery surface.” Officer Brouwer was not trained at the police academy to administer the WAT on an actual line and she did not do so with Petitioner. Officer Brouwer also admitted that the surface “might” have been slightly slippery from the drizzle, but not wet. The OLS test instructions in the manual provide that the “[o]ne-leg-stand requires a reasonably dry, hard, level and non-slippery surface. Suspect’s safety should be considered at all times.” Officer Brouwer noted that the ground was level and that it had started to drizzle at the time she administered the OLS to Petitioner.

In connection with the HGN test, the manual contained an illustration of a protractor device which aids a police officer to estimate [224]*224a forty-five degree angle required for the test’s accuracy. Officer Brouwer had never seen the device before and had not used it in her training.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Engel v. ADMINISTRATIVE DIRECTOR OF COURTS
154 P.3d 431 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 2007)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
124 P.3d 965, 109 Haw. 220, 2005 Haw. LEXIS 629, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/minnich-v-administrative-director-of-the-courts-haw-2005.