State v. Donaldson

452 N.W.2d 531, 234 Neb. 683, 1990 Neb. LEXIS 74
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 9, 1990
Docket89-168
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 452 N.W.2d 531 (State v. Donaldson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska 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. Donaldson, 452 N.W.2d 531, 234 Neb. 683, 1990 Neb. LEXIS 74 (Neb. 1990).

Opinions

Grant, J.

The defendant, James A. Donaldson III, appeals from an order of the district court for Lancaster County affirming his conviction of violation of a charge of operating or being in the “actual physical control of any motor vehicle upon a public road while under the influence of alcoholic liquor or any drug or when such person has a concentration of. 10 of one gram or more by weight of alcohol per one hundred milliliters of his urine____” After a trial in county court, a jury found defendant guilty. Following an enhancement hearing, the county court found defendant’s conviction was his third, and defendant was sentenced to 90 days in the Lancaster County jail, he was fined $500, and his driver’s license was suspended for 15 years. Defendant timely appealed to the district court and then to this court.

In this court defendant assigns six errors, which, in summary, assert the district court erred in affirming the defendant’s conviction in the county court, and the county court erred (1) in receiving in evidence a specimen of defendant’s urine and the results of a chemical test performed thereon, (2) in receiving in evidence records of defendant’s prior convictions and in determining this was defendant’s third conviction for the offense, and (3) in determining that the evidence was sufficient to support the guilty verdict for the offense of driving while intoxicated. We reverse and remand for a new trial.

The record shows that on September 8, 1987, at approximately 10:30 p.m., defendant was stopped by a Lancaster County sheriff’s deputy near 26th and O Streets in Lincoln. The officer stopped defendant’s vehicle after hearing the sound of squealing tires and seeing defendant’s vehicle come to a stop in the middle of an intersection controlled by a red traffic signal. The officer testified that the defendant had some difficulty retrieving his license from his wallet.

The officer testified that defendant had red eyes and a moderate odor of alcohol on his breath. The officer instructed [685]*685the defendant to perform some field sobriety tests. The officer testified defendant failed to recite the alphabet in full the first time, stopping with the letter u, and then recited the full alphabet but repeated the letter v twice in that recitation. The officer testified that defendant had no difficulty in following directions to count to 10 and back. The officer did not notice any slurring of defendant’s speech. Next, the officer instructed defendant to perform coordination and balance tests, and testified that, although defendant did not appear to have problems performing a finger-to-nose test, the defendant did not follow instructions. Defendant then performed a test where he stood feet together with hands to the side, tilting his head backward with eyes closed and back slightly arched. The officer testified the defendant swayed approximately 3 inches off center, which in the officer’s opinion was more than normal for a sober individual. The defendant also failed to follow instructions while performing the “walk-the-line” test. The officer concluded that defendant was under the influence of alcohol, placed him under arrest, and transported him to the Lancaster County sheriff’s office, where he submitted a urine sample that was tested for alcohol content.

In collecting the urine sample, the officer followed the procedure for the collection of urine for testing, as set out in 177 Neb. Admin. Code, ch. 1, § 005.02 (1986), which requires that the accused void his bladder 20 minutes prior to the time the test sample is taken. Accordingly, at 11:09 p.m., the officer directed defendant to void his bladder of urine, and that urine was discarded. At 11:42 p.m., defendant submitted a urine sample, and a later chemical test of that sample indicated that defendant’s urine had a concentration of .526 grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of his urine.

Defendant testified that he was a U.S. Navy veteran, having served 6 years with two 6-month Vietnam tours of duty. He testified that, at the time of his arrest, he suffered from various physical and emotional problems, including a vascular disease called Raynaud’s disease, a posttraumatic stress disorder, a bipolar or manic-depressive disorder, and “Dismatic” disorder. He testified that he had been treated for these problems at various Veterans’ Administration hospitals. He also testified [686]*686that his ability to concentrate on the officer’s instructions was affected by his condition and that his red eyes stemmed from a medical condition called Reiter’s syndrome. He further testified that he had numerous physical problems resulting from injuries he sustained in an auto accident. The defendant has vision and hearing impairments and was on medication at the time of the arrest. The arresting officer testified that defendant told him, before the field tests, that defendant was under a doctor’s care and was taking medication.

Defendant admits that on the day he was arrested he had been drinking late in the afternoon and had a “couple ... big gulps of whiskey” later in the evening shortly before leaving his apartment. He was stopped by the officer approximately 10 minutes later. He testified that he was not under the influence of alcohol while he was driving, but did admit that he began to feel the effects of the alcohol after he had been at the police station a short time.

Defendant’s first summarized assignment of error alleges that the trial court erred in overruling defendant’s objections to the admitting of the results of the chemical test performed on defendant’s urine and the expert testimony regarding the results. It is within the trial court’s discretion to admit or exclude evidence, and such ruling will be upheld absent an abuse of discretion. State v. Hayden, 233 Neb. 211, 444 N.W.2d 317 (1989). “Judicial abuse of discretion results when reasons or rulings of the trial judge are clearly untenable, unfairly depriving a litigant of a substantial right and denying just results in matters submitted for disposition.” State v. Schall, ante p. 101, 106, 449 N.W.2d 225, 229 (1989).

Defendant contends that the trial court erred in admitting the urine test results because the urine tested was not from urine that was in defendant’s body at the time he was operating his vehicle and was irrelevant to the charge that defendant operated a vehicle when he had a concentration of ten-hundredths of 1 gram or more by weight of alcohol per 100 milliliters in his urine.

Defendant was charged with violating subsection (1) or (4) of Neb. Rev. Stat. § 39-669.07 (Supp. 1987). Section 39-669.07 provides in part:

[687]*687It shall be unlawful for any person to operate or be in the actual physical control of any motor vehicle:
(1) While under the influence of alcoholic liquor or of any drug;
(2) When such person has a concentration of ten-hundredths of one gram or more by weight of alcohol per one hundred milliliters of his or her blood;
(3) When such person has a concentration of ten-hundredths of one gram or more by weight of alcohol per two hundred ten liters of his or her breath; or

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Related

State v. Roenfeldt
486 N.W.2d 197 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1992)
State v. Salyers
480 N.W.2d 173 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1992)
State v. Baltimore
463 N.W.2d 808 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1990)
State v. Donaldson
452 N.W.2d 531 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1990)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
452 N.W.2d 531, 234 Neb. 683, 1990 Neb. LEXIS 74, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-donaldson-neb-1990.