State v. Davis.

400 P.3d 453, 140 Haw. 252, 2017 WL 2062987, 2017 Haw. LEXIS 82
Hawaii Supreme Court·Decided May 15, 2017·No. SCWC-12-0001121·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinions

OPINION OF THE COURT BY

POLLACK, J.

This case concerns the admissibility of two Intoxilyzer Supervisor’s Sworn Statements to prove that the Intoxilyzer used to test Raymond S. Davis’s breath alcohol content was in proper working order. The State relied on these out-of-court statements in establishing the reliability of Davis’s breath alcohol test results, which in turn served as a basis for his conviction for the offense of operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant. We consider whether the Intoxilyzer Supervisor’s Sworn Statements were admissible given the facts of this case under the Hawaii Rules of Evidence.

I. BACKGROUND

The State of Hawai'i filed a complaint in the District Court of the First Circuit (district court), charging that, on March 3, 2012, Raymond S. Davis committed the offense of Operating a Vehicle Under the Influence of an Intoxicant (OVUII), in violation of Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) § 291E-61(a)(l) and/or (a)(3) (Supp. 2011).1 At the commencement of the bench trial,2 the State orally arraigned Davis only under HRS § 291E-61(a)(3) for operating or assuming actual physical control of a vehicle upon a public way, street, road, or highway with .08 or more grams of alcohol per 210 liters of breath. Davis entered a plea of not guilty to the charge.

The State’s first witness was Officer Russell Maeshiro, who testified that on March 3, 2012, around 2:10 a.m., he stopped Davis’s car after observing Davis weave in and out of marked lanes without using his blinkers or hand signals. Officer Maeshiro approached the driver’s side of the vehicle and observed that Davis had red, bloodshot, glassy eyes and noted that Davis spoke with an apparent slight slur. The officer stated that he asked Davis to complete a field sobriety test after smelling the odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from the interior of Davis’s car. At this point in the testimony, Davis stipulated that, based on Officer Maeshiro’s observations, the officer had reasonable suspicion to stop Davis and probable cause to arrest him for OVUII.

Officer Kimberly Ann Chaney testified that she transported Davis from the location of the stop to the Kalihi police station. Officer Chaney related that she informed Davis of the implied consent law by reading him form HPD-396K.3 After Davis elected to take a breath test, Officer Chaney testified that she turned on the Intoxilyzer 8000, identified as serial number 80-003486 (Intoxilyzer), and that the machine proceeded to conduct and pass an internal self-check.

After questioning Officer Chaney regarding the internal self-check, the State asked whether “based on [Officer Chaney’s] training and experience in operating the Intoxilyzer 8000,” the instrument “appearfed] to be operating properly and accurately on the date in question.” Before Officer Chaney responded, the State showed to defense counsel two Intoxilyzer 8000 Accuracy Test Supervisor’s Sworn Statements, dated February 29, 2012, and March 16, 2012 (Sworn Statements 1 and 2, respectively). The State, however, asked no questions of Officer Chaney regarding Sworn Statements 1 and 2. Rather, the State informed the court that Sworn State[254] ments 1 and 2 “show[ed] that the instrument was working properly” and that it sought to admit the documents into evidence as proof of the Intoxilyzer’s condition and accuracy.

The top half of Sworn Statements 1 and 2 includes a machine printout of the calibration testing data from the Intoxilyzer. The bottom half of Sworn Statements 1 and 2 includes a pre-printed text block in which a person by the name of Woo Kang is identified as the Intoxilyzer supervisor. As to the machine printout of the calibration testing data, there is a table listing the following information in this order: (1) air blank; (2) simulator temperature; (3) reference sample # 1; (4) air blank; (5) air blank; (6) simulator temperature; (7) reference sample # 2; (8) air blank; (9) ITP check; and (10) air blank. Next to each category of information, except the simulator temperatures, is a data entry based on “g/210L BrAC.”4 Next to each data entry is a time stamp.

The pre-printed text block located in the bottom half of Sworn Statements 1 and 2 contains the following statement:

I, Woo KANG, swear that the aforementioned information is true and correct and that I am a duly licensed Intoxilyzer 8000 supervisor trained to maintain and perform accuracy tests on the Intoxilyzer 8000. The Intoxilyzer 8000 is a breath alcohol testing instrument approved for use in the State of Hawaii pursuant to section 321-161 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes as amended. The Intoxilyzer was operating accurately in compliance with the State of Hawaii Department of Health Administrative Rules, Title Eleven, Chapter 114-7, on the date indicated below, when I conducted the accuracy test recorded on this document.

Below this pre-printed language are the date, Woo Kang’s signature, and his license number and its expiration date.

Davis objected to Sworn Statements 1 and 2 being entered into evidence based upon, inter alia: (1) lack of foundation; (2) hearsay; and (3) hearsay within hearsay. Davis argued that Sworn Statements 1 and 2 did not substantively comply with the requirements of Hawaii Rules of Evidence (HRE) Rule 803(b)(6) (1993 & Supp. 2002), which is the hearsay exception for records of regularly conducted activity (i.e., business records). Further, Davis maintained that without more information or testimony as to Sworn Statements 1 and 2, the data printout reflecting the calibration test results was meaningless to the court; he noted, for example, that there was no evidence presented as to what known reference samples were used in the calibration testing and what their “target values” or output should have been in the machine’s data printout, Additionally, Davis contended that there was no information presented as to the specifics of the calibration procedure performed by Kang, which apparently differed from the Intoxilyzer’s internal self-check. Davis also objected to the admission of Sworn Statements 1 and 2 into evidence under the public records exception. Davis argued that Sworn Statements 1 and 2 lacked reliability on their face because the State failed to present the circumstances of how the information was obtained, given that Kang did not testify at trial.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

State v. Davis., 400 P.3d 453, 140 Haw. 252, 2017 WL 2062987, 2017 Haw. LEXIS 82 (haw 2017).

400 P.3d 453 (State v. Davis.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

State v. Iturbide
Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals, 2023
State v. Dumford
487 P.3d 712 (Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals, 2021)
State v. Abrigo.
445 P.3d 72 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 2019)