State v. Christie

766 P.2d 1198, 70 Haw. 158, 1988 Haw. LEXIS 45
CourtHawaii Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 29, 1988
DocketNO. 12438
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 766 P.2d 1198 (State v. Christie) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Hawaii Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Christie, 766 P.2d 1198, 70 Haw. 158, 1988 Haw. LEXIS 45 (haw 1988).

Opinion

*159 OPINION OF THE COURT BY

NAKAMURA, J.

We granted certiorari to review the approval by the Intermediate Court of Appeals (ICA) of the Honolulu Police Department’s use of a “Beam Attenuator” in verifying the accuracy of a breath-testing device, an Intoxilyzer 4011 AS, employed to measure the concentration of alcohol in the blood of putative drunken drivers. A thorough review of the record and the relevant statutes and administrative rules disclosing no error, we affirm the ICA’s ruling.

I.

Steven Richard Christie was charged with Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicating Liquor in violation of Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) § 291-4. He moved to suppress as evidence the results of the breath test administered shortly after his arrest on January 14,1987 to determine the concentration of alcohol in his blood. Concluding that the accuracy of the testing instrument used on the occasion was not verified in strict compliance with applicable provisions of chapter 111 of title 11 of the State’s Administrative Rules, the District Court of the First *160 Circuit granted the motion. The district court reasoned that section 11-111-2. l(i) of the foregoing rules compelled the performance of an accuracy verification test “during the actual breath test sequence of a subject,” the test “must be the analysis of a suitable reference sample of known alcohol concentration,” “the quartz crystal beam attenuator [used to verify accuracy in this instance] contained] no alcohol,” so “[i]n the instant case no accuracy verification test using a reference sample of known alcohol concentration was performed during the actual breath test sequence of the defendant”

The State of Hawaii appealed, and the case was assigned to the Intermediate Court of Appeals. The ICA found “the district court focused narrowly” on section 11-111-2.1(l) in deciding the employment of a beam attenuator to verify the accuracy of the Intoxilyzer 4011 AS was not authorized under the relevant administrative rules. Invoking basic principles of statutory construction that “each part or section of a statute should be construed in connection with every other part or section so as to produce a harmonious whole[,]” State v. Davis, 63 Haw. 191, 196, 624 P.2d 376, 380 (1981), and “if rational and practicable, [a court should] give effect to all parts of a statute[,]” Camara v. Agsalud, 67 Haw. 212, 215, 685 P.2d 794, 797 (1984), principles which are pertinent also when administrative rules are construed, Mahiai v. Suwa, 69 Haw. _, _, 742 P.2d 359, 366 (1987), the ICA concluded the district court erred.

The appellate court reviewed the provisions of section 11-111-2.1(j), 11-111-2.1 (k), and 11-111-2.1 (l) of the Department of Health’s Rules for the Testing of Blood, Breath and Other Bodily Substances for Alcohol Concentration, 1 observing that the general require *161 ments relating to the “[t]esting for accuracy or calibration of all breath testing instruments” are set forth in section 2.1(j), the department’s recommended calibration testing method is described in section 2.1(k), and the accuracy verification test to be performed during an actual breath test is described in section 2.1(l). The ICA further noted subsection 2.1(j)(3) authorized the use of “[mjethods recommended by the manufacturer [of the testing instrument] or approved by the department for the testing for accuracy or calibration [.]’’ State v. Christie, 7 Haw. App. _, _, 764 P.2d 1245, 1248 (1988). It rejected the defendant’s thesis that subsection 2.1(j)(3) ‘“must be read to limit approval of such methods exclusively to [those approved by] the Department[] ’ ” to avoid (1) a nullification of section 2.10, (2) “‘an impermissible abdication of the State’s role in assuring that the Rules are given effect[,]’” and (3) an “‘absurd result[.]’” Id.

There was evidence in the record, the ICA said, “that the beam attenuator is a reliable means of testing the Intoxilyzer for accuracy.” Id. at _, 764 P.2d at 1249. And since “the performance of an accuracy verification test with a beam attenuator is a method recommended by [its] manufacturer[,]” id. (footnote omitted), the court ruled “there was strict compliance with the [department’s] [r]ules____” Id. at _, 764 P.2d at 1250.

*162 The defendant then submitted his application for a writ of certiorari, arguing that section 11-111-2.1 (l) of the Department of Health’s Rules for the Testing of Blood, Breath and Other Bodily Substances for Alcohol Concentration required no construction because it “is clear on its face” and the department’s “incorporation of the manufacturer’s [recommended] method [for verification of accuracy] in § 2.1 (j)(3)” was an invalid subdelegation of its rule-making power. He argued too that the department breached the provisions of HRS § 91-3 in authorizing a use of methods recommended by the manufacturer for the verification of accuracy or calibration of testing instruments. Finding the questions posed in the defendant’s petition worthy of further discussion, we granted certiorari.

II.

A.

The defendant, we noted at the outset, was charged with Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicating Liquor, an offense which may be established by a showing that aperson “operatc[d.| orassume[d] actual physical control of the operation of [a motor] vehicle [either] while under the influence of intoxicating liquor[J” or “with 0.10 per cent or more, by weight of alcohol in [his] blood.” HRS § 291-4. And by virtue of HRS § 291-5 “the amount of alcohol found in the defendant’s blood within three hours after the lime of the alleged [offense] as shown by chemical analysis or other approved analytical techniques of the defendant’s blood or breath [is] competent evidence [to establish] that [he] was under the influence of intoxicating liquor at the time of the alleged [offense].” The analytical technique we arc concerned with here is infrared absorption spect rometry, and the testing instrument in question is the Intoxilyzcr 4011 AS.

“With the advent of advanced infrared (IR) breath alcohol analyzer and microprocessor technology, IR spectrometry has become a major technique in the quantitative analysis of breath for alcohol content.” Goldberger & Caplan, Infrared Quantitative Evidential Breath-Alcohol Analysis: In Vitro Accuracy and Precision Studies, 31J. Forensic Sci. 16 (1986).

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Bluebook (online)
766 P.2d 1198, 70 Haw. 158, 1988 Haw. LEXIS 45, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-christie-haw-1988.