State v. Giard

2005 VT 43, 871 A.2d 976, 178 Vt. 544, 2005 Vt. LEXIS 73
CourtSupreme Court of Vermont
DecidedMarch 23, 2005
DocketNo. 04-034
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 2005 VT 43 (State v. Giard) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Vermont primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Giard, 2005 VT 43, 871 A.2d 976, 178 Vt. 544, 2005 Vt. LEXIS 73 (Vt. 2005).

Opinion

¶ 1. Defendant Shawn Giard appeals from a district court order suspending his automobile operator’s license following a civil license suspension hearing pursuant to 23 V.S.A. § 1205. We reverse.

II2. On September 8, 2003, at approximately 9:30 p.m., defendant struck an oncoming vehicle while backing onto a busy road from his driveway. After checking [545]*545on the other motorist and leaving his license with her, defendant left the scene and proceeded to the home of his wife, from whom he was separated. A third party witness to the accident called the Colchester police department, and two officers arrived at the scene shortly after the accident. No witness to the accident reported any suspicion that defendant was intoxicated at that time. The first officer located defendant at his wife’s home at approximately 9:50 p.m., spoke with defendant about the accident, and observed defendant’s damaged truck. The second officer arrived at the residence at approximately 10:06 p.m.

¶3. Defendant was drinking a beer when the first officer arrived, and he continued drinking in the presence of the police until the second officer asked him to stop several minutes after his arrival. After questioning defendant about the accident and his drinking, the officers took defendant into custody at approximately 10:30 p.m. for operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. At the police station, defendant submitted to a breath test and registered a BAC level of 0.188% at 11:12 p.m.

¶ 4. The testimony and evidence presented at the civil suspension hearing yielded an unclear picture of how much alcohol defendant consumed on the evening of the accident. On direct examination, defendant testified that he drank two sixteen-ounce beers and one twelve-ounce beer earlier in the evening prior to the accident, approximately between the hours of 7:00 and 8:30 p.m. Defendant farther testified that he consumed a minimum of a quarter-pint of vodka and five twelve-ounce beers between the time he arrived at his wife’s home and the time he left in police custody. On cross-examination by the State, defendant testified that he drank a maximum of seven twelve-ounce beers and nearly a half-pint of vodka. Defendant’s wife testified that she witnessed him drink at least four beers while at her house. According to police affidavits, defendant claimed to have consumed between four and seven beers and roughly a half pint of vodka after arriving at his wife’s home. No one witnessed him drink the vodka, and, although defendant advised the officers that he threw the bottle into the woods behind his wife’s home, they did not attempt to locate it.

¶5. During the hearing the State called an expert chemist, Theodore Manazir, and asked him to calculate the BAC levels of a 165-pound male who had consumed alcohol in three hypothetical situations. In the first, the male consumed 44 ounces of beer from 7:00 to 8:45 p.m., then operated a vehicle at 9:15. Mr. Manazir calculated a BAC at 9:15 of approximately 0.068%. The second hypothetical was limited to post-operation consumption — assuming that the male consumed 84 ounces of beer and 5 ounces of vodka between 9:30 and 10:25 p.m., Mr. Manazir calculated an approximate BAC of 0.185% at 11:13 p.m. The third hypothetical combined the first two, assuming that the male consumed 44 ounces of beer from 7:00 to 8:45 p.m. and 84 ounces of beer and 5 ounces of vodka between 9:30 and 10:25 p.m. In this instance, Mr. Manazir calculated the BAC to be approximately 0.253% at 11:13 p.m. Notably, Mr. Manazir did not calculate defendant’s BAC at the time he was driving the ear based on his BAC of 0.188% from the breath test at 11:12 p.m.,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2005 VT 43, 871 A.2d 976, 178 Vt. 544, 2005 Vt. LEXIS 73, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-giard-vt-2005.