People v. Silver CA3

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 12, 2016
DocketC076715
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Silver CA3 (People v. Silver CA3) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Silver CA3, (Cal. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

Filed 4/12/16 P. v. Silver CA3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT (Glenn) ----

THE PEOPLE, C076715

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Super. Ct. No. 12SCR07623)

v.

KELCY BONDELL SILVER,

Defendant and Appellant.

A court found defendant Kelcy Bondell Silver guilty of various charges related to driving while under the influence of alcohol with prior violations. The trial court also found true allegations that defendant had a blood-alcohol level of .15 percent or higher and had served a prior prison term. The court sentenced defendant to a total term of four years in prison based on the charge of driving while under the influence of alcohol within 10 years of a prior DUI felony and the prior prison term enhancement. The court stayed the sentences on the other counts. On appeal, defendant contends: (1) the trial court erred by failing to grant her motion for acquittal because at the end of the prosecution’s case-in-chief there was

1 insufficient evidence that her intoxication and elevated blood-alcohol level were true while she was still driving, (2) even considering the evidence presented by defendant, there was insufficient evidence that she drove under the influence of alcohol or with a blood-alcohol level of .08 percent or higher, (3) there was insufficient evidence to support the finding that defendant drove with a blood-alcohol level of .15 percent or higher, (4) there was insufficient evidence to support the finding of a prior felony DUI conviction with respect to the third and fourth counts, and (5) defendant’s felony DUI conviction was not a “prior violation” within the meaning of Vehicle Code section 23550.5, subdivision (a), as it existed at the time of defendant’s violation and sentencing.1 We conclude the prosecution’s case-in-chief, and the evidence as a whole, contained the necessary substantial evidence that defendant was under the influence of alcohol and had a blood-alcohol level of .15 percent (and therefore .08) or higher when she was driving. Because we agree that defendant’s DUI conviction was not a prior violation within the meaning of former section 23550.5, we need not address whether the prosecution introduced sufficient evidence of this conviction. We reverse defendant’s counts 3 and 4 convictions for driving under the influence of alcohol within 10 years of a prior DUI felony and driving with a blood-alcohol level of 0.8 percent or higher within 10 years of a prior DUI felony. Otherwise, we affirm the judgment. I. BACKGROUND A. The Prosecution’s Witnesses On July 5, 2011, James Mahoney drove into a rest stop near Willows. He testified that, when he arrived, he noticed a woman leaned back in the driver’s seat of a silver parked car. He watched her get out and throw away some beer cans as she “staggered to the bathroom.” She seemed “drunk,” and Mahoney noted what “appeared to be some

1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Vehicle Code.

2 fresh scrapings down the passenger side” of the car. He testified that both before and after defendant’s trip to the bathroom she was in her car “just sitting there.” Mahoney called 911 and provided a description of the woman and her car. Barbara Kirtley was in Mahoney’s car. She testified that, when they arrived at the rest stop, she saw defendant sitting in the driver’s seat of her car “messing with her headlights, like she was trying to turn them on and then turn them off—getting high beams, low beams.” Then, defendant got out of her car, threw Budweiser cans into a trash can, and staggered to the restroom, “tripping a little bit.” Kirtley passed by defendant as defendant was returning from the bathroom, and defendant smelled of alcohol and appeared lethargic and intoxicated. Kirtley estimated that she and Mahoney were at the rest stop for about 30 minutes and called 911 ten or fifteen minutes before they left. She did not recall the time of day, but agreed that it was “before dinner” without specifying when she ate dinner. They left before the officer arrived, and Kirtley did not see anyone else at the rest stop. Neither Kirtley nor Mahoney testified that they saw defendant drink. At 8:40 p.m., California Highway Patrol Officer Michael Foss was dispatched to the rest stop on a report of a possible intoxicated female in a silver vehicle. He arrived about ten minutes later. The rest stop was in a remote area with no services or businesses in the immediate area. Officer Foss testified that when he arrived, defendant was standing by an open driver’s side door of a car matching the license plate and description provided by dispatch. He “observed fresh damage along the right side of the vehicle.”2 As he approached, defendant walked to the front of the car holding the keys. The car was not running, but Officer Foss placed his hand on the hood and the temperature was

2 When he was asked by defense counsel if he had “any reason to believe that the injury to the car . . . is related to this offense at all,” Officer Foss responded, “I do, but you’re not going to like the answer.” This line of questioning was not pursued by either counsel.

3 “hot . . . hotter than the ambient temperature of the air,” which indicated to him, based on his training and experience, that the engine had been running recently. When he approached defendant, he immediately smelled alcohol on her breath and person. Defendant told him she was coming from Stanford University, had started drinking at 4:00 or 5:00 p.m., had consumed four beers, was drinking while she was driving, and only stopped drinking shortly before she spoke to him. “She indicated she felt buzzed, and she also made the statement that she does not believe she should be driving, or something to that effect.” Defendant’s eyes were red and watery and her speech was soft and slow. Officer Foss conducted a series of field sobriety tests and noted results that were consistent with her being under the influence of alcohol. He also tested her using a preliminary alcohol screening device. The first test was given at 9:18 p.m., and showed a blood-alcohol level of .211 percent. Two minutes later, the result was .208. Officer Foss performed a “cursory search without digging” of the trash cans described by the witnesses in front of defendant’s car. He found one Bud Light Lime can. He also found an opened and mostly full can of Bud Light Lime on the right front floor of defendant’s car and an open 18-pack of Bud Light Lime concealed under a bed pillow on the floorboard behind the driver’s seat. The cardboard box was open, and there were 13 sealed cans inside. Officer Foss arrested defendant and took her to a medical center for a blood test. The sample was drawn at 10:16 p.m. Criminalist Tamla Corbin testified that most people are too impaired to safely operate a motor vehicle at a blood-alcohol level of .05, and all people are too impaired at a level of .08. Corbin analyzed defendant’s blood sample and determined that her blood- alcohol level was .19 percent. The prosecutor posed a series of hypothetical questions to Corbin. In response, she opined that a female weighing about 140 pounds would need to have consumed a minimum of seven to nine drinks to obtain a blood-alcohol of .19

4 percent at the time the sample was drawn. If the same female drank four 12-ounce beers starting at 8:00 p.m. and finished them around 9:00 p.m., she would have a blood-alcohol level of around .07 percent at 10:00 p.m.

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People v. Silver CA3, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-silver-ca3-calctapp-2016.