Quick v. Commissioner of Public Safety

429 N.W.2d 298, 1988 Minn. App. LEXIS 884, 1988 WL 97933
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedSeptember 27, 1988
DocketCX-88-265
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 429 N.W.2d 298 (Quick v. Commissioner of Public Safety) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Quick v. Commissioner of Public Safety, 429 N.W.2d 298, 1988 Minn. App. LEXIS 884, 1988 WL 97933 (Mich. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

OPINION

HUSPENI, Judge.

Appellant was arrested for DWI and took a breath test showing an alcohol concentration of .11. His driver’s license was revoked. He obtained additional blood and urine tests and presented testimony in support of his argument that his alcohol concentration had been less than .10. The trial court sustained the revocation and Quick appeals. We affirm.

FACTS

State Trooper Malachy Paul McCarthy was on duty on May 24, 1987, when he stopped appellant William Francis Quick for speeding. McCarthy observed signs of intoxication and gave appellant field sobriety tests, which Quick performed incorrectly. On the one-legged stand test, after being given instructions three times, appellant counted to ten with both feet on the ground instead of standing on one foot. McCarthy believed appellant’s physical symptoms were consistent with drivers who received test results of an alcohol concentration over .10. He arrested appellant for violation of Minn.Stat. § 169.121 (1986).

At approximately 10:42, McCarthy requested that appellant take a breath test. McCarthy observed appellant for 15-20 minutes, during which time he had nothing to eat or drink, placed nothing in his mouth, and did not vomit or regurgitate.

State Trooper Paul Blaha, a certified In-toxilyzer operator, administered the test. He checked appellant’s mouth to ensure there were no foreign substances. The diagnostic test indicated “OK” and the temperature of the unit was within the proper range. During the course of the test sequence, four air blank tests were run, with readings of .000, the anticipated result. The calibration standard was .105, with a replicate of .105, also within the proper range. Nothing suggested the machine was giving an erroneously high reading.

Appellant then provided two adequate breath samples. The first subject test showed an alcohol concentration of .117 with a replicate reading of .120. The second sample result was .119 with a replicate reading of .121. The correlation between the two samples was 99 percent, with a final reported value of .11.

Appellant testified in detail as to the events which occurred prior to his arrest. He visited a number of friends, and estimated that during the evening he had six drinks which contained seven or, at most, eight ounces of alcohol.

When appellant was stopped and arrested by the police officer for speeding, Dennis Stenberg,- whom appellant had visited earlier, happened to drive past the scene. He stopped and drove appellant’s car to the police station.

After appellant took and failed the breath test, Stenberg drove him to a hospital to obtain additional tests. At the hospital, Peggy Erwin supplied appellant with a urine kit and gave him instructions. At approximately 12:35 a.m., while alone in the bathroom, appellant urinated in the bottle. He then gave Erwin the sample and she sealed it. It was sent for analysis, with results showing an alcohol concentration of .036 and .038. The Commissioner objected to the admissibility of this evidence.

The blood sample was drawn at 12:40 a.m. Erwin gave it to appellant, because it was determined the hospital would not send it for analysis. Appellant gave it to Stenberg, who kept the sample refrigerated until he brought it in for analysis. The sample was ultimately analyzed at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, and showed an alcohol concentration of .0588. The Commissioner also objected to the introduction of this result.

*300 William Flynn, an attorney who was previously employed by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension as a crime laboratory analyst, testified. Flynn used the result of the urine test to extrapolate backwards to appellant’s alcohol concentration at 10:52, which Flynn estimated would have been .063. Flynn then extrapolated backwards using the alcohol concentration of .0588 obtained from the blood sample, and arrived at a result of .083 or .084.

Flynn also estimated appellant’s alcohol concentration using the amount of alcohol appellant testified he had consumed, seven ounces, the time at which it was consumed, and appellant’s weight, and estimated that appellant’s alcohol concentration at 10:52 was .04. If the amount of alcohol consumed was eight ounces, the alcohol concentration at 10:52 would be .058. He testified this was very close to the urine test result, and the blood test result, but inconsistent with the breath test result.

Rebuttal testimony was given by Edward Alan Engman, a BCA employee who has analyzed thousands of blood and urine samples and is currently an Intoxilyzer instructor and a technician responsible for maintaining Intoxilyzers. He reviewed the test record and other lab records relating to the particular Intoxilyzer used and found nothing to suggest the Intoxilyzer was not working properly or that the test was not administered properly. He testified that when drawing a forensic urine sample, the proper procedure is to have the person administering the test actually see the subject urinate in the container, and this was not done here.

Engman agreed with Flynn’s calculations as to the extrapolations of alcohol concentration. However, he also testified that certain events could affect the alcohol concentration of a urine sample, such as the alcohol could leak. Finally, Engman testified that it was his opinion that the Intoxi-lyzer test results were an accurate reflection of the subject’s breath alcohol concentration.

The trial court found that the Intoxilyzer testing method was valid and reliable and the test results were accurately evaluated. In a memorandum incorporated by reference, the court addressed the independent tests obtained by appellant.

The Commissioner of Public Safety objected to the admission of Petitioner’s Exhibits 3, 4 and 5. Exhibits 3 and 4 [the urine test] are clearly admissible under M.S. 169.123, subd. 6. The admissibility of Petitioner’s Exhibit 5 [the blood test] is not so clear since the exhibit bears no signature or certification. However, the Court is admitting the exhibit pursuant to Rule 9.01, Rules of Evidence. The lack of a verification affidavit can, of course, be considered with respect to the weight to be given to the exhibit.

The trial court sustained the revocation.

ISSUE

Was the trial court clearly erroneous in determining that the testing method was reliable and that the test results were accurately evaluated?

ANALYSIS

The implied consent law provides that any person who drives a motor vehicle consents, subject to certain provisions, to a chemical test for the purpose of determining alcohol concentration. Minn.Stat. § 169.123, subd. 2(a) (1986).

The law further provides for additional testing:

The person tested has the right to have someone of the person’s own choosing administer a chemical test or tests in addition to any administered at the direction of a peace officer; provided, that the additional test sample on behalf of the person is obtained at the place where the person is in custody, after the test administered at the direction of a peace officer, and at no expense to the state.

Minn.Stat. § 169.123, subd. 3 (1986).

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Related

Hotchkiss v. Commissioner of Public Safety
553 N.W.2d 74 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1996)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
429 N.W.2d 298, 1988 Minn. App. LEXIS 884, 1988 WL 97933, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/quick-v-commissioner-of-public-safety-minnctapp-1988.