State v. Johnson

931 S.W.2d 760, 326 Ark. 189, 1996 Ark. LEXIS 540, 1996 WL 567581
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedOctober 7, 1996
DocketCR 95-1119
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 931 S.W.2d 760 (State v. Johnson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Johnson, 931 S.W.2d 760, 326 Ark. 189, 1996 Ark. LEXIS 540, 1996 WL 567581 (Ark. 1996).

Opinion

BRADLEY D. Jesson, Chief Justice.

The appellee, John L. Johnson Jr., was charged by misdemeanor information in circuit court with driving while intoxicated, first offense, operating a motor vehicle without a driver’s license, making an illegal turn, disorderly conduct, and no proof of liability insurance. At trial, the State elected to proceed only on the DWI charge. The case never reached the jury because, at the close of the State’s case, the trial court directed a verdict in appellee’s favor. The State has filed this appeal, asserting that the trial court erred in granting the directed verdict and in disallowing its proof of appellee’s intoxication by ingestion of a controlled substance.

We must first decide whether this appeal is properly before us. The State claims that the correction of the trial court’s error in this case is essential to the administration of the criminal law. See Ark. R. App. P. — Crim. 3(c). Because we conclude that the trial court erroneously weighed the credibility of the State’s evidence instead of determining the sufficiency of the evidence and refused to consider intoxication under Ark. Code Ann. § 5-65-103(a) (Repl. 1993), we hold that the State is permitted to appeal this case. See State v. Long, 311 Ark. 248, 844 S.W.2d 302 (1992); State v. Taylor, 180 Ark. 588, 22 S.W.2d 34 (1929).

The State’s case against appellee included the following evidence. At approximately midnight on August 25, 1994, appellee was stopped by Russellville Police Patrolman William Ridenhour for failing to activate his turn signal when making a right turn. Ridenhour approached appellee’s vehicle and observed that he was eating a taco from Taco Bell. When appellee finished the taco and began talking, Ridenhour noticed that his speech was slurred. The officer told appellee that he thought he had been drinking, to which appellee replied that he had been on the lake and had “had a few.” Ridenhour further observed that appellee’s eyes were extremely red and glossy. Officer Stewart Condley, who was riding with Ridenhour, also noticed appellee’s slurred speech and glassy red eyes.

Ridenhour asked appellee to exit the vehicle for purposes of conducting field sobriety tests. Appellee, a local attorney, explained that he was taking his passenger and legal secretary, Terri Nail, to her apartment. As appellee became argumentative, Ridenhour smelled an odor of an intoxicant on his person. He began conducting the horizontal gaze and nystagmus test, but appellee refused to cooperate. The officer placed appellee under arrest and transported him to a local hospital, where he submitted to a blood test. While the result of the test indicated the presence of .06 percent of alcohol in appellee’s blood, both officers testified that there was “no doubt” in their minds that appellee was intoxicated.

In granting appellee’s motion for directed verdict at the close of the State’s case, the trial court commented that appellee’s .06 percent blood-alcohol content was “terribly low” and observed that there were no field sobriety tests given at the time of the stop. While the trial court made mention of the “subjective” observations of the officers, it concluded that the low blood-alcohol level and the absence of “objective” tests mandated granting a directed verdict in appellee’s favor.

We have reviewed the distinction between the credibility and sufficiency of the evidence as follows:

[A] conviction rests upon insufficient evidence when, even after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, no rational factfinder could have found the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. A reversal based on the weight of the evidence, on the other hand, draws the appellate court into questions of credibility. The “weight of the evidence” refers to “a determination [by] the trier of fact that a greater amount of credible evidence supports one side of an issue or cause than the other.”

State v. Long, 311 Ark. at 250-251, 844 S.W.2d at 304; citing Tibbs v. Florida, 457 U.S. 31, 37-38 (1982) (quoting Tibbs v. State, 397 So.2d 1120 (1981)). Stated another way, a directed verdict is given in cases only where no issue of fact exists. Smith v. State, 302 Ark. 459, 790 S.W.2d 432 (1990).

Officers Ridenhour and Condley both testified there was no doubt in their minds that appellee was intoxicated. Opinion testimony regarding intoxication is admissible. Long v. State, 284 Ark. 21, 680 S.W.2d 686 (1984). The officers further observed appellee’s slurred speech and red and glassy eyes. Particularly, Officer Ridenhour smelled an odor of an intoxicant on appellee, who admitted to him that he had “had a few.” These observations constitute competent evidence supporting the DWI charge. Gavin v. State, 309 Ark. 158, 827 S.W.2d 161 (1992). While the trial court emphasized that the officers’ observations were “subjective” evidence, it was the province of the jury to determine the weight and credibility of this evidence. State v. Long, supra; Jones v. State, 305 Ark. 95, 805 S.W.2d 642 (1991).

The trial court was also concerned with the fact that appellee’s blood-alcohol content was .06 percent. However, we have said that a DWI conviction is not dependent upon evidence of blood-alcohol content in view of sufficient other evidence of intoxication. Tauber v. State, 324 Ark. 47, 919 S.W.2d 196 (1996). This is so because our legislature has provided that there are two different ways of proving a DWI violation. See Ark. Code Ann. § 5-65-103 (a) and (b). A person can be found guilty of the offense if he or she (1) operates a motor vehicle while intoxicated; or (2) operates a motor vehicle while having a blood-alcohol content of .10 percent or more. Tauber v. State, supra. Moreover, Ark. Code Ann. § 5-65-206(a)(2) (Repl. 1993) provides that if there was at the time in excess of one-twentieth of one percent (.05%) but less than one-tenth of one-percent (.10%) by weight of alcohol in the defendant’s blood, this fact may be considered with other competent evidence in determining the guilt or innocence of the defendant. In describing appellee’s .06 percent blood-alcohol content as “terribly low,” the trial court again invaded the jury’s province, as the jury should have been permitted to consider this evidence. In light of this competent evidence and the testimony of the officers, we cannot agree that there was no issue of fact for the jury to decide. Under these circumstances, we hold that the trial court erred in directing a verdict in appellee’s favor.

The State’s remaining assignment of error pertains to the trial court’s pretrial ruling that the State would not be allowed to offer evidence that appellee’s intoxication occurred as a result of his ingesting a controlled substance. Citing A.R.E. 103 (a)(2), the appellee maintains that this issue is not preserved because the State failed to proffer the evidence it claims was erroneously excluded.

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Bluebook (online)
931 S.W.2d 760, 326 Ark. 189, 1996 Ark. LEXIS 540, 1996 WL 567581, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-johnson-ark-1996.