People of Michigan v. Joseph Jay Ford

CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 10, 2015
Docket322456
StatusUnpublished

This text of People of Michigan v. Joseph Jay Ford (People of Michigan v. Joseph Jay Ford) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People of Michigan v. Joseph Jay Ford, (Mich. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

STATE OF MICHIGAN

COURT OF APPEALS

PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN, UNPUBLISHED September 10, 2015 Plaintiff-Appellee,

v No. 322456 Kent Circuit Court JOSEPH JAY FORD, LC No. 13-011415-FH

Defendant-Appellant.

Before: BOONSTRA, P.J., and MURPHY and MARKEY, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

Defendant was charged with two counts of operating a motor vehicle while impaired (OWI) causing death, MCL 257.625(4), and two counts of reckless driving causing death, MCL 257.626(4), following an accident in which Andrea Herrera and Eric Fischer died. After a jury trial, defendant was convicted of OWI causing death and reckless driving causing death in the death of Herrera. Defendant was acquitted of OWI causing death in the death of Fischer, but was convicted of a moving violation causing death, MCL 257.602d(1), which was submitted to the jury as a lesser offense of reckless driving causing death. The trial court sentenced defendant as a third-offense habitual offender, MCL 769.12, to concurrent sentences of 12 years and 6 months to 30 years’ imprisonment for the OWI causing death conviction and 1 year for the moving violation causing death conviction. It vacated the conviction for reckless driving causing death. Defendant appeals by right. We affirm in part but remand for proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I. PERTINENT FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Defendant’s convictions arose out of a collision between the vehicle he was driving, a silver Charger, and the vehicle driven by Fischer, a black Mazda, in which Herrera was a passenger, at the intersection of 36th Street and Patterson Avenue in Kentwood, Michigan, on October 10, 2013. Witnesses testified to seeing defendant drink alcoholic beverages at a pizzeria earlier that evening. Witnesses to the crash testified that defendant’s vehicle ran a red light at an intersection and collided with Fischer’s vehicle as it was proceeding through the intersection. Fischer’s vehicle was pushed into a semi-truck that was also in the intersection. Herrera was dead on arrival at the hospital, while Fischer died in the operating room. A forensic pathologist testified that both victims had died as a result of the collision. Fischer’s blood alcohol level was .11 percent at autopsy, although the pathologist was unsure whether the test was serum or whole

-1- blood. The pathologist testified that Fischer’s blood alcohol level was not a significant contributing factor to his death.

Kent County Deputy Christopher Goehring testified that he spoke with defendant while defendant was in the back of an ambulance. He could smell a moderate amount of alcohol coming from defendant. Defendant told Goehring that he could not remember the whole night. He remembered where he was coming from, but nothing else. Defendant also said that he had had two beers. Other than the smell of alcohol and defendant’s admission that he had been drinking, Goehring did not note any signs that defendant was intoxicated. The ambulance took defendant to St. Mary’s Hospital. Goehring also went to the hospital.

Dr. Julie Shanaver, an emergency room physician at St. Mary’s Hospital, treated defendant. For medical purposes, she requested a chemical analysis of defendant’s blood. Defendant’s blood was drawn at 11:37 p.m. Defendant’s blood alcohol result was .125 percent. The hospital uses a serum test.

At the hospital, Goehring filled out an affidavit for a search warrant for defendant’s blood. The warrant was signed by a magistrate. Suanne Unger, a nurse in the emergency room, drew two samples of defendant’s blood at 12:04 a.m. and 12:05 a.m. on October 11, 2013. The samples were sent to the Michigan State Police (MSP) crime laboratory.

After defendant was released from the hospital, Goehring arrested defendant and then interviewed him. Defendant waived his Miranda1 rights. Defendant said that he remembered more. He had dropped his friend off in Kentwood and then got lost. He made a wrong turn, and then was going north on Patterson. He approached the 36th Street intersection; the light was green. The black Mazda entered the intersection and there was an accident. He was going the speed limit, which was 55 miles per hour. He had had two beers earlier that night.

Experts from the MSP crime laboratory testified that the two samples of defendant’s blood showed a blood alcohol level .086 and .088 percent by whole blood test. Further, controlled substances were found in defendant’s blood, including amphetamines, morphine, and promethazine and promethazine metabolite.2

Michele Glinn testified as an expert in forensic toxicology, the analysis of blood, and procedures for a crime laboratory. Glinn reviewed the results and reports from the crime laboratory and St. Mary’s Hospital. Glinn testified that “whole blood” is blood that comes from a person’s arm. It contains red and white blood cells, as well as other proteins and clotting factors. Hospitals often separate out the red blood cells and proteins, ending up with the water fraction of the blood. Depending on the amount of filtering, this part of the blood is plasma or serum. According to Glinn, because “alcohol partitions into the water,” the serum alcohol level is higher than the whole blood alcohol level. By reducing a serum alcohol level by 16 or 18

1 Miranda v Arizona, 384 US 436; 86 S Ct 1602; 16 L Ed 2d 694 (1966). 2 As Glinn testified, promethazine is an antihistamine and central nervous system depressant available only by prescription.

-2- percent, one can obtain the whole blood alcohol level. According to Glinn, if defendant’s serum alcohol level was reduced by 16 percent, his whole blood alcohol level was .105 percent for the hospital blood draw. Glinn further testified that, because a body metabolizes alcohol, the difference in time between the blood draws for the hospital and for the police could explain the difference in the whole blood alcohol levels. Specifically, because the blood draw for the police was done at a later time, Glinn would expect that the alcohol level in the blood from that draw to be lower than in the blood drawn for the hospital. According to Glinn, a decrease in defendant’s blood alcohol level from .105 to .087 percent is consistent with the general metabolic range. Glinn further testified that the amphetamine level of defendant’s blood was consistent with one dose of the prescription medication Adderall.3

The jury convicted defendant of OWI causing death and reckless driving causing death regarding Herrera. It acquitted defendant of OWI causing death regarding Fischer, but convicted him of a moving violation causing death. The trial court vacated the conviction for reckless driving causing death because “[t]here cannot be a conviction on both [charges] with the same victim.” It sentenced defendant as previously described. This appeal followed.

II. ADMISSION OF HOSPITAL BLOOD DRAW

Defendant argues that the trial court erred when it failed to suppress evidence of the blood draw ordered by Dr. Shanaver in the emergency room at St. Mary’s Hospital. We disagree. We review a trial court’s evidentiary decisions for an abuse of discretion. People v Unger, 278 Mich App 210, 216; 749 NW2d 272 (2008). An abuse of discretion occurs when the trial court’s decision falls outside the range of reasonable and principled outcomes. Id. at 217. We review de novo questions of statutory interpretation. People v Watkins, 491 Mich 450, 466- 467; 818 NW2d 296 (2012).

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People of Michigan v. Joseph Jay Ford, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-of-michigan-v-joseph-jay-ford-michctapp-2015.