State v. Fleck

777 N.W.2d 233, 2010 Minn. LEXIS 10, 2010 WL 184008
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedJanuary 21, 2010
DocketA08-72
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 777 N.W.2d 233 (State v. Fleck) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Fleck, 777 N.W.2d 233, 2010 Minn. LEXIS 10, 2010 WL 184008 (Mich. 2010).

Opinion

OPINION

PAGE, Justice.

Appellant Daryl Fleck was convicted of: (1) felony first-degree being in physical control of a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol (within ten years of three or more qualified incidents), Minn. Stat. §§ 169A.20, subd. 1(1), 169A.24, subd. 2 (2006); and (2) felony first-degree being in physical control of a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration of .08 or more, Minn.Stat. §§ 169A.20, subd. 1(5), 169A.24, subd. 2 (2006). Fleck appealed his convictions and, relying on State v. Pazderski, 352 N.W.2d 85 (Minn.App.1984), argued that the evidence was legally insufficient to convict him of being in physical control of a motor vehicle when he was sleeping in his vehicle, which was parked in an assigned residential parking spot with the driver’s door open, keys in the center console, no devices of the vehicle in operation, and the vehicle had not recently been operated. The court of appeals affirmed the convictions and we granted Fleck’s petition for review. The sole issue presented on appeal is whether Fleck’s convictions are supported by sufficient evidence. We affirm.

At 11:30 p.m. on June 11, 2007, police officers responded to a call from a concerned citizen who saw a man unconscious in her apartment complex parking lot in the driver’s seat of a vehicle with its door open. The officers found Fleck asleep behind the wheel of his vehicle, which was legally parked in an assigned space at the apartment building where he lived. After being awakened by the officers, Fleck admitted to drinking 10 to 12 beers, but denied that he had been driving the vehicle. When asked why he was in the vehicle, Fleck initially told the officers that he had come to retrieve an item from the vehicle, but later told the officers that he had come outside to sit in the vehicle. The officers concluded that Fleck had not recently driven the vehicle because the vehicle was “cold to the touch,” the lights were not on, and it did not appear that the vehicle had been running. However, while questioning Fleck, the officers did observe a set of ignition keys in the vehicle’s console between the driver and passenger seats. The officers also concluded that Fleck was intoxicated based on observing Fleck’s bloodshot and watery eyes, slurred speech, poor balance, disheveled look, and the smell of alcohol emanating from him. Subsequent testing showed that Fleck had a blood alcohol concentration of .18.

The record indicates that on the night of his arrest, Fleck told one of the arresting officers that the vehicle was operable, although there is nothing in the record indicating that the officers independently verified that fact. Shortly before Fleck’s trial, one of the officers attempted to start the vehicle with the keys found in the center console the night of Fleck’s arrest. Although the key turned in the ignition, the vehicle would not start.

At his jury trial in August 2007, Fleck stipulated that he had three or more prior qualified driving incidents within ten years that constitute aggravating circumstances. See Minn.Stat. § 169A.24 (2006) (making driving while impaired a first-degree felony when the defendant has three or more qualified prior impaired-driving incidents within ten years of the offense). The jury found Fleck guilty and the trial court convicted him of both charges, sentencing him to 48 months in prison and five years of *236 conditional release based on count two of the complaint.

When the sufficiency of the evidence is challenged, the reviewing court must determine whether the evidence, when viewed in the light most favorable to the conviction, was sufficient to allow a jury to reach a guilty verdict. State v. Webb, 440 N.W.2d 426, 430 (Minn.1989). The jury is in the best position to weigh credibility and thus determines which witnesses to believe and how much weight to give to their testimony. State v. Landa, 642 N.W.2d 720, 725 (Minn.2002). We also assume that the jury disbelieved any evidence contrary to the verdict. State v. Moore, 481 N.W.2d 355, 360 (Minn.1992). The question on review is whether the facts in the record and the legitimate inferences drawn from them would permit the jury to reasonably conclude that the defendant was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the offense of which he was convicted, giving due regard to the presumption of innocence. State v. Crow, 730 N.W.2d 272, 280 (Minn.2007); State v. Ulvinen, 313 N.W.2d 425, 428 (Minn.1981).

Minnesota law provides that it is unlawful for “any person to drive, operate, or be in physical control of a motor vehicle” while under the influence of alcohol or with an alcohol concentration of .08 or more. Minn.Stat. § 169A.20, subd. 1(1), (5). The term “physical control” is more comprehensive than either the term to “drive” or to “operate.” State v. Harris, 295 Minn. 38, 43, 202 N.W.2d 878, 881 (1972). Physical control is meant to cover situations when an intoxicated person “is found in a parked vehicle under circumstances in which the [vehicle], without too much difficulty, might again be started and become a source of danger to the operator, to others, or to property.” State v. Starfield, 481 N.W.2d 834, 837 (Minn.1992). Thus, a person is in physical control of a vehicle if he has the means to initiate any movement of that vehicle, and he is in close proximity to the operating controls of the vehicle. Id. We have held that “physical control” should be given “the broadest possible effect.” State v. Juncewski, 308 N.W.2d 316, 319 (Minn.1981) (holding that the statute was amended to modify the requirement that a driver be in “actual physical control” by deleting the word “actual” so that the statute be given the broadest possible effect).

The purposes underlying the offense of being in physical control of a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol is to deter intoxicated persons from getting into vehicles except as passengers and to act as a preventive measure to “enable the drunken driver to be apprehended before he strikes.” Shane v. Comm’r of Pub. Safety, 587 N.W.2d 639, 641 (Minn.1998) (citations omitted) (internal quotation marks omitted). The offense, however, is not intended to cover situations in which an intoxicated person is a passenger, having relinquished control of the vehicle to a designated driver. Jun-cewski, 308 N.W.2d at 320. Mere presence in or about a vehicle is insufficient to show physical control; it is the overall situation that is determinative. Starfield, 481 N.W.2d at 838.

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Bluebook (online)
777 N.W.2d 233, 2010 Minn. LEXIS 10, 2010 WL 184008, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-fleck-minn-2010.