State of Washington v. Joseph James Goggin

Court of Appeals of Washington·Decided October 28, 2014·No. 31515-1·Unpublished

Opinion

FILED

OCT. 28,2014

In the Office of the Clerk of Court WA State Court of Appeals, Division III

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON DIVISION THREE

STATE OF WASHINGTON, ) No. 31515-1-111 )

Respondent, )

)

v. )

)

JOSEPH JAMES GOGGIN, ) UNPUBLISHED OPINION )

, Appellant. )

in1~uence

I BROWN, J. - Joseph Goggin appeals his felony driving under the (OUI)

jury conviction. In addition to his evidence insufficiency challenge, Mr. Goggin contends

the trial court erred in (1) admitting blood alcohol test results without an additional 1 I independent-testing advisement, and (2) admitting an Idaho OUI judgment and

sentence in violation of his state confrontation rights. We affirm.

FACTS

On December 17,2011, Spokane police officer Barry Marcus responded to a call about a person, later identified as Mr. Goggin, possibly driving under the influence of an intoxicant. Upon contact with Mr. Goggin, Officer Marcus noticed the odor of intoxicants on Mr. Goggin's breath and observed he was stumbling and had slurred speech. Mr.

I, !

Goggin failed field sobriety tests. Officer Marcus then arrested Mr. Goggin for OUI.

After taking Mr. Goggin in for a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) test, Officer Marcus I

No. 31515-1-111 State v. Goggin

read him the implied consent warnings, including the right to have additional tests performed by a person of his own choosing. Mr. Goggin indicated he understood his rights and signed the implied consent form. When Mr. Goggin refused the breath test, Officer Marcus obtained a search warrant to draw a sample of Mr. Goggin's blood that was taken about three hours after his arrest without any further independent-testing advisement.

Alleging Mr. Goggin had four prior DUI convictions, the State partly charged him with felony driving under the influence of an intoxicating liquor. He moved to suppress the results of the blood test based on the officer's failure to advise him of his right to an additional test after obtaining the warrant. The trial court concluded, U[t}his was a blood draw authorized by a search warrant. The trooper did not have to advise the defendant of the right to additional tests." Clerk's Papers (CP) at 23. The court explained:

The trooper was not mandated by the statute to get a search warrant. It was a decision, a discretion [sic} decision on his part to basically seek out further evidence by a neutral and detached magistrate.

In no way did the Court see that as mandatory, and the trooper could have at that time got an implied consent warning, taken a refusal and gone with it.

Report of Proceedings (RP) (April 26, 2012) at 17.

At trial, brothers Jared and Jordan Berezay testified that on December 17, 2011, around 5:00 p.m., they were driving when they were abruptly cut off by a man later identified as Mr. Goggin. They saw Mr. Goggin swerving left and right and crossing the center line into oncoming traffic, causing other cars to swerve out of the way. The

No. 31515-1-111 State v. Goggin

brothers called 911 and followed Mr. Goggin until he parked. According to Jared Berezay, when Mr. Goggin exited his car he was staggering and smelled of alcohol. Jordan Berezay noticed Mr. Goggin "had a hard time keeping his balance" and was "stumbling" toward Jared. RP at 265.

Liberty Lake Police Officer Taj Wilkerson responded first. He testified Mr.

Goggin's speech was "thick tongued and slurred." RP at 291. Mr. Goggin told Officer Wilkerson he had had a "few beers" at a bar. RP at 292. Officer Wilkerson observed Mr. Goggin was "very slow to respond to my questioning." RP at 293.

Trooper Barry Marcus testified when he contacted Mr. Goggin, he noticed Mr.

Goggin struggled to get out of his car, could not maintain his balance, and had "a strong odor of intoxicants on his breath." RP at 326. He related Mr. Goggin had difficulty focusing and his eyes were watery and bloodshot. Trooper Marcus then administered the three standard field sobriety tests. According to the Trooper, Mr. Goggin's ability to perform the tests was "impaired pretty well by alcohoL" RP at 342. He staggered, could not maintain his balance or put one foot in front of the other, could not stand on one leg, perform the eye tracking test, or recite his ABCs.

During cross-examination, defense counsel asked Trooper Marcus whether he re-read the implied consent warnings to Mr. Goggin after obtaining the search warrant:

[Defense counsel]: Did you at any time advise him as part of any warnings related to the blood test that he could get an additional blood test?

No. 31515-1-111 State v. Goggin

[Trooper Marcus]: That was in part of the implied consent warnings for breath. It states in there that you have the right to additional tests administered by a qualified person of your own choosing.

[Defense counsel]: You have separate warnings for blood; do you not?

[Trooper Marcus]: We do, but implied consent warnings for blood weren't read in this case.

RP (Feb. 27,2013) at 399.

Dr. Naziha Nuwayhid, PhD, a forensic toxicologist, testified Mr. Goggin's blood sample tested 0.32 gram per 100 milliliters and related a person's ability to drive is impaired at 0.08 gram per milliliter. She estimated Mr. Goggin had the equivalent of 16 standard drinks in his system at the time of his arrest.

The State moved to admit certified copies of four prior DUI judgment and sentences bearing Mr. Goggin's name. Defense counsel objected to their admission, arguing the State was required to bring in a witness to verify the documents. He argued the admission of the documents without a witness to verify them violated his confrontation rights under Crawford. 1 The court rejected Mr. Goggin's argument, reasoning certified court records are admissible under RCW 5.44.010 and are not testimonial evidence, rendering Crawford inapplicable. Even so, to identify Mr. Goggin as the person in the Washington State DUI judgment and sentences, the State produced related booking photographs and called the police officers who had arrested Mr. Goggin on the 2003, 2004, and 2006 DUI cases.

1 Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36,124 S. Ct. 1354, 158 L. Ed. 2d 177 (2004).

No. 31515-1-111 State v. Goggin

After the State initially rested, the trial court allowed the State to reopen to inform the jury it had admitted exhibits 5, 7, 9, and 11. Mr. Goggin unsuccessfully argued even if the judgment and sentence had been admitted "there's not been any testimony about how the arrest occurred if, indeed, it did occur in the state of Idaho." RP at 549. Mr. Goggin renewed his motion to dismiss based on the State's failure to produce a witness from Idaho who could provide evidence that he had been arrested in Idaho. The court denied the motion, finding sufficient circumstantial evidence to go to the jury.

The jury found Mr. Goggin guilty of felony DUI. He appealed.

ANALYSIS

A. Admissibility of Blood Test Results The issue is whether the court erred in admitting Mr. Goggin's blood alcohol test results. He contends the test should not have been admitted because the State failed to re-advise him of his right to additional testing after it administered a blood draw pursuant to a search warrant. The State responds it was not statutorily mandated to read the implied consent warnings for a blood alcohol test because the arresting officer was not investigating a crime that statutorily mandated a blood draw under RCW 46.20.308(3).

When reviewing a suppression motion, we determine if substantial evidence supports the findings of fact and if the findings support the conclusions of law. State v. Dempsey, 88 Wn. App. 918, 921,947 P.2d 265 (1997). We review solely those findings

No. 31515-1-111 State v. Goggin

of fact to which error has been assigned; we treat unchallenged findings as verities on appeal. State v. Hill, 123 Wn.2d 641,647,870 P.2d 313 (1994). We review conclusions of law de novo. State v. Eisfeldt, 163 Wn.2d 628, 634, 185 P.3d 580 (2008).

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