Murray City v. Hall

663 P.2d 1314, 1983 Utah LEXIS 1027
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedApril 13, 1983
Docket17329
StatusPublished
Cited by53 cases

This text of 663 P.2d 1314 (Murray City v. Hall) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Murray City v. Hall, 663 P.2d 1314, 1983 Utah LEXIS 1027 (Utah 1983).

Opinions

DURHAM, Justice:

The appellant Dan F. Hall appeals his conviction under Murray City Code § 18-115.1, which provides that it is unlawful for any person with a blood alcohol content of .10 percent or greater to drive or be in actual physical control of any vehicle. This Court has jurisdiction pursuant to U.C.A., 1953, § 78-3-5 (Supp.1981). We reverse the conviction and remand the case for a new trial.

This appeal is before this Court on an agreed statement of the facts which is as follows:

Officer Huggard, Murray City Police Department, was the prosecution’s sole witness. He testified that he stopped a vehicle on Vine Street in Murray, conced-edly with adequate probable cause on the 9th day of September, 1979, in the early morning hours. Officer Huggard further testified that the arrestee identified himself by driver’s license as Dan Frederick Hall and that he was the sole occupant and driver of the pickup truck which he stopped.
Officer Huggard indicated at trial that the arrestee exhibited objective indications of being under the influence of alcohol upon observation and administration of field sobriety tests. For this reason he requested and the arrestee consented to [1316]*1316the administration of a breathalizer [sic] test. The time of the stop and arrest was 2:25 A.M. and the breathalizer [sic] was administered at 3:32 A.M.
The result of the breathalizer [sic] is in evidence having been received by the Court upon testimony of Officer Huggard that he attended a three day course in the operation of the breathalizer [sic] plus a one day refresher and that he followed the operational checklist and that the ar-restee had taken nothing into his mouth for over 20 minutes prior to administering the test. No testimony was elicited with respect to the accuracy of the machine or the trustworthiness of the chemicals used. The Court based its decision upon 41-6-44.3 Utah Code Annotated and allowed the results of the breath test into evidence over objection of counsel.
Officer Huggard further testified that he could not identify the individual charged and in court at the time of trial as the person arrested on that night in September. The record did, however, establish that the individual in court was in fact one Dan Frederick Hall. .
Officer Huggard further testified that he based his decision to charge § 115.1 i.e., .10 higher rather than D.U.I. on no particular reason at all and that the decision to charge was entirely arbitrary.
The defendant did not testify and the defense rested without calling witnesses.

Despite objections by the appellant, the trial court found the appellant guilty of violating § 18-115.1 of the Murray City Code. On appeal, the appellant asserts several points of error, advancing essentially the same objections he raised at trial. First, the appellant contends that § 18-115.1, as well as the companion § 18-115, are unconstitutional in that the arbitrary application of § 18-115.1 to the appellant denied him equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the U.S. and Utah Constitutions. See U.S. Const, amend. 14; Utah Const, art. I, § 24. Second, the appellant contends that U.C.A., 1953, § 41-6-44.3 permits the introduction of evidence that is inadmissible hearsay, and is unconstitutional because it permits evidence to be introduced at trial in violation of the appellant’s right to confront the witnesses against him. See U.S. Const, amend. 6; Utah Const, art. I, § 12. Finally, the appellant claims that the trial court erred in denying the appellant’s Motion to Dismiss based on the prosecution’s failure to prove that the appellant was the perpetrator of the crime charged. The appellant contends that that error constitutes a denial of due process of law as guaranteed by the U.S. and Utah Constitutions. See U.S. Const, amends. 5 & 14; Utah Const, art. 1, § 7.

I.

The appellant’s first point of error focuses on two provisions of the Murray City Code, namely, §§ 18-115 & 18-115.1, which were adopted on May 8, 1979. Section 18-115.1(a) adopts verbatim the language of U.C.A., 1953, § 41-6-44.2(a) (Supp.1973) and provides as follows:

It is unlawful and punishable as provided in subsection (b) of this section for any person with a blood alcohol content of .10 percent or greater, by weight, to drive or be in actual physical control of any vehicle within this city.

The pertinent portions of § 18-115 also adopt verbatim the language of U.C.A., 1953, § 41-6-44(a) & (b) (1970)1 and provides as follows:

(a) It is unlawful and punishable as provided in subsection (d) of this section for any person who is under the influence of intoxicating liquor to drive or be in actual physical control of any vehicle within this city.
(b) In any criminal prosecution for a violation of subsection (a) of this section [1317]*1317relating to driving a vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor, ... the amount of alcohol in the person’s blood, breath or other bodily substance shall give rise to the following presumptions:
(1) If there was at that time 0.05 percent or less by weight of alcohol in the person’s blood, it shall be presumed that the person was not under the influence of intoxicating liquor;
(2) If there was at that time in excess of 0.05 percent but less than 0.08 percent by weight of alcohol in the person’s blood, such fact shall not give rise to any presumption that the .person was or was not under the influence of intoxicating liquor, but such fact may be considered with other competent evidence in determining whether the person was under the influence of intoxicating liquor;
(3) If there was at the time 0.08 percent or more by weight of alcohol in the person’s blood, it shall be presumed that the person was under the influence of intoxicating liquor;
(4) The foregoing provisions of this division shall not be construed as limiting the introduction of any other competent evidence bearing upon the question whether or not the person was under the influence of intoxicating liquor.

The appellant argues that even though § 18-115 and § 18-115.1 are aimed at the same conduct, there are no criteria or guidelines governing the decision to prosecute under one section rather than the other. The appellant points out that under § 18-115 one may avoid a conviction by rebutting the presumption of being under the influence, whereas under § 18-115.1 the presumption is irrebuttable. As a result, the appellant contends that the Murray City ordinances are unconstitutional as a denial of equal protection of the laws because they permit arbitrary, capricious and irrational distinctions between defendants.

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Bluebook (online)
663 P.2d 1314, 1983 Utah LEXIS 1027, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/murray-city-v-hall-utah-1983.