State Ex Rel. McDougall v. Superior Court

826 P.2d 337, 170 Ariz. 474, 94 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 40, 1991 Ariz. App. LEXIS 206
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedAugust 29, 1991
Docket1 CA-SA 91-137
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 826 P.2d 337 (State Ex Rel. McDougall v. Superior Court) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State Ex Rel. McDougall v. Superior Court, 826 P.2d 337, 170 Ariz. 474, 94 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 40, 1991 Ariz. App. LEXIS 206 (Ark. Ct. App. 1991).

Opinion

OPINION

CLABORNE, Judge.

The State of Arizona brings this special action challenging the superior court’s af-firmance of the Phoenix city magistrate’s suppression of Jerome G. Klemencic’s (defendant) breath alcohol test results. Because we find that the state presented sufficient evidence relating defendant’s breath test results back to the time of the arrest, *475 we accept jurisdiction of this special action and grant the relief requested.

JURISDICTION

Defendant filed a motion to dismiss this special action arguing that this court has no jurisdiction to entertain this special action. Citing Baca v. Don, 130 Ariz. 222, 223, 635 P.2d 510, 511 (App.1981), defendant claims that no special action jurisdiction exists where a petitioner has no potential right of direct appeal to the court of appeals. As defendant points out, the state has no right of direct appeal to this court because Rule 13(b) of the Superior Court Rules of Criminal Appellate Procedure precludes any further appeal from a case that has been appealed from a justice court or police court to the superior court.

The court of appeals, as a court of limited jurisdiction, has only the jurisdiction conferred on it by statute. Baca, 130 Ariz. at 222, 635 P.2d at 510 (citing Campbell v. Arnold, 121 Ariz. 370, 590 P.2d 909 (1979). Since Baca, A.R.S. § 12-120.21(A) has been amended to expand the court of appeal’s special action jurisdiction. The amendment specifically provides that the court of appeals has “[¡Jurisdiction to hear and determine petitions for special actions brought pursuant to the rules of procedure for special actions, without regard to its appellate jurisdiction.” A.R.S. § 12-120.-21(A)(4) (emphasis added). Therefore, this court has jurisdiction to hear a special action in a case originating in justice or police court that has been appealed to the superi- or court. See State v. Aguilar, 89 Ariz.Adv.Rep. 52, 53-54 (June 25, 1991).

The next question is whether special action jurisdiction exists under the facts of this particular case. Because there is no adequate remedy by appeal in this case and because we feel that interpretation of the rule set forth in Desmond v. Superior Court, 161 Ariz. 522, 529, 779 P.2d 1261, 1268 (1989), is a matter of statewide concern, we accept jurisdiction of this special action.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On February 5, 1990, at 10:58 p.m., Officer Celaya stopped defendant for traveling too slowly on North Seventh Street and for traveling without his headlights on at night. Officer Celaya asked defendant where he was coming from. Defendant responded that he had had a few beers and that he had had too much to drink. He then gave his car keys to Officer Celaya. Defendant declined to perform the field sobriety tests.

Officer Celaya read defendant his Miranda rights and arrested him at 11:10 p.m. Defendant was transported to the Squaw Peak station where a breath test was administered at 12:26 a.m. The results of the breath test showed a breath alcohol concentration (BAC) of .22 percent. Defendant was cited with violating former A.R.S. § 28-692(A), 1 driving while under the influ *476 ence; former § 28-692(B), driving with an alcohol concentration of .10 percent or more; and § 28-924(A), driving without headlamps at night.

Prior to trial, defendant filed a motion to suppress his breath test results arguing that the state would be unable to offer any testimony relating the breath test results back to the time of the driving. The city magistrate conducted a hearing on the motion. At the hearing, the state made an offer of proof that Pat Chavez of the City óf Phoenix Crime Lab would testify that defendant would have to have consumed six and two-thirds standard size drinks five minutes prior to leaving the bar in order to have a BAC of .10 percent or below at the time of driving. The magistrate granted defendant’s motion to suppress.

The state timely appealed to Maricopa County Superior Court. The superior court judge affirmed the magistrate’s suppression of the breath test results, stating:

This [the offer of proofl is pretty compelling evidence. But there is a missing link. There was no evidence below as to how many drinks the defendant did or did not have within any time frame before driving. If the State had any evidence from which it could be inferred that the defendant did not have the requisite number of drinks within the requisite time period, then together with the expert’s testimony, the jury could have drawn a reasonable inference as to the BAC at the time of arrest. But here, the expert could only state a scientific proposition and had no other evidence to apply it to the defendant. Thus this expert was not in a position to render an opinion as to what the BAC range would have been at the time of the arrest.

DISCUSSION

In its petition for special action, the state argues that its offer of proof and the corroborating facts of defendant’s driving, his statement that he had had too much to drink, and the unsolicited surrender of his car keys are sufficient evidence to satisfy the relation back requirement of Desmond. We agree.

Desmond held that to receive the statutory presumption instruction under § 28-692(A) or to make a prima facie case under § 28-692(B), there must be “some evidence” relating the BAC back to the time of driving. Desmond, 161 Ariz. at 529, 779 P.2d at 1268. The Desmond decision involved two cases consolidated for disposition. In the first case, the evidence at trial established that Desmond had consumed two or three “shots” of liquor between 12:30 a.m. and 1:00 a.m. Id. at 524, 779 P.2d at 1263. He was stopped at 1:20 a.m. and given a breath test at approximately 2:15 a.m. His BAC at that time was .13 percent. Id. An expert testified that, based on these facts, Desmond’s BAC at the time he was stopped was probably .03 percent. Id. at 524-25, 779 P.2d at 1263-64. The supreme court determined that because no expert testimony was presented that the BAC at the time of the arrest was .10 percent or more, there could be no presumption that Desmond was driving under the influence at that time. Id. at 529, 779 P.2d at 1268. In the second case, the state’s only witness was the arresting officer who testified to the defendant’s condition at the time of the arrest and to the fact that the defendant’s BAC at the time of testing, approximately one hour after arrest, was .13 percent. Id. at 525, 779 P.2d at 1264.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
826 P.2d 337, 170 Ariz. 474, 94 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 40, 1991 Ariz. App. LEXIS 206, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-mcdougall-v-superior-court-arizctapp-1991.