State v. Rawlins

932 S.W.2d 449, 1996 Mo. App. LEXIS 1657, 1996 WL 570813
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 8, 1996
DocketNo. WD 51165
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 932 S.W.2d 449 (State v. Rawlins) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Rawlins, 932 S.W.2d 449, 1996 Mo. App. LEXIS 1657, 1996 WL 570813 (Mo. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

BRECKENRIDGE, Judge.

Marbis D. Rawlins appeals from a conviction of speeding, in violation of § 304.010, RSMo 1994. Ms. Rawlins contends that the trial court erred by allowing a state trooper to testify that he used a radar device to determine the speed of Ms. Rawlins’ vehicle without a showing that the device had been adequately tested; that the trial court erred by submitting a jury instruction which authorized a guilty verdict on a finding of any speed exceeding 70 miles per hour, and which improperly allowed the jury to set the fine; and that the trial court erred by allowing the prosecutor to assert, during closing argument, that Ms. Rawlins could pursue a separate civil action to assert her claim that the trooper acted improperly when he stopped her, as such argument was outside the scope of the record in this case.

The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.

On September 24, 1994, Trooper Eric Criss of the Missouri State Highway Patrol was traveling on eastbound Interstate 70 when he observed Ms. Rawlins’ vehicle traveling westbound at what he believed to be an excessive speed. When Trooper Criss [451]*451checked Ms. Rawlins’ speed with his radar unit, she was traveling at 86 miles per hour.

Trooper Criss crossed the median, stopped the vehicle which Ms. Rawlins was driving, and asked her for her driver’s license. A radio check of the driver’s license which Ms. Rawlins gave him indicated that it was not on file with the issuing state, the State of New Jersey. Also, Trooper Criss received conflicting answers when he asked Ms. Rawlins and her passenger about the purpose of their trip, which made him suspicious that she might be a drug courier. Trooper Criss informed Ms. Rawlins that she was under arrest for operating a vehicle without a valid driver’s license.

Trooper Criss placed Ms. Rawlins in handcuffs and waited for a drug-sniffing dog to arrive for a search of the vehicle. No drugs were found during the search, and Ms. Raw-lins was released after being given a speeding ticket for traveling 86 miles per hour in a 65 miles per hour zone. The traffic stop lasted a total of two and a half hours.

At the ensuing trial for speeding, Trooper Criss described the procedures he used to ensure that the radar device was operating accurately. Trooper Criss testified that he tested his radar device with tuning forks each day, both at the beginning and at the end of his shift, as well as after each enforcement. In addition, Trooper Criss testified that he used the internal calibration within the device to test its accuracy. Trooper Criss also stated that he had followed these procedures prior to his stop of Ms. Rawlins. Trooper Criss further testified that he had received training in the use and testing of both the radar device and the tuning forks, and that he had received a certificate in connection with this training.

When Trooper Criss was then asked how fast Ms. Rawlins was driving when he checked her speed with the radar device, Ms. Rawlins’ counsel objected on the ground of a “lack of foundation concerning time, nature, extent, and location of test to ensure opera-bility and accuracy of the device on this occasion.” The trial court overruled the objection, and Trooper Criss testified that the radar device clocked Ms. Rawlins at 86 miles per hour.

The jury found Ms. Rawlins guilty and assessed a fine in the amount of $150.00. At the time of sentencing, the trial court followed the recommendation of the jury and ordered Ms. Rawlins to pay a fine of $150.00 and court costs. Ms. Rawlins appeals.

In her first point on appeal, Ms. Rawlins claims that the trial court erred by allowing Trooper Criss to state the speed recorded by his radar device without having established a sufficient foundation for such testimony. According to Ms. Rawlins, the State failed to establish the accuracy of the radar device by showing that it had been tested at a time sufficiently close to the stop or at a location near the scene of the stop.

Ms. Rawlins argues that her conviction should be reversed because this case is controlled by City of St. Louis v. Boecker, 370 S.W.2d 731, 737 (Mo.App.1963); State v. Weatherwax, 635 S.W.2d 34, 35 (Mo.App.1982), and City of Jackson v. Langford, 648 S.W.2d 927, 929 (Mo.App.1983), which hold that a speeding conviction cannot be based upon a radar device reading without proof that the device was tested and found to be functioning properly at the site of the alleged violation and reasonably close to the time it occurred.

In Boecker, the officer tested the radar device with a tuning fork before he left the police station to go on duty. 370 S.W.2d at 734. In Weatherwax, the officer tested the radar device with tuning forks while parked in the driveway of his home prior to going on duty. 635 S.W.2d at 34-35. In Langford, there was no evidence of the time and place of testing. 648 S.W.2d at 929. In these cases, the courts held the evidence to be insufficient to support a conviction.

These cases, however, are not controlling. First, they involve a stationary radar device, not moving radar as we have here. As the Missouri Supreme Court noted in State v. Calvert, 682 S.W.2d 474, 478 (Mo. banc 1984), a site test is of questionable utility in the case of a moving radar device, and therefore when moving radar is at issue, the controlling principle is that the State must prove the operational accuracy of the [452]*452radar device at the time, not site, of its use in the stop at issue.

With respect to the requirement that the radar device be shown to be operating accurately at the time of its use relative to the violation, the Calvert court looked to the facts of the case. Id. at 477-78. There, the arresting officer tested the radar device at the beginning and end of his shift on the day of the arrest; he was aware of the possibility of external interference with the radar readings, but had never experienced any interference in the area where he arrested the defendant; he was trained to evaluate the accuracy of the radar unit and could detect and correct for any spurious readings; and he periodically cheeked the radar readings with his calibrated speedometer. Id. In finding that this evidence was sufficient proof that the radar unit was operating accurately at the time of arrest, the Missouri Supreme Court effectively rejected the more stringent requirement of Boecker and Weatherwax that the radar unit be tested reasonably close to the time of the stop. Id. at 478.

Other courts have utilized the Calvert standard to affirm the admission of radar test results where there was no proof of a test of the radar unit at the site of the traffic stop or reasonably close in time to the stop. State v. Shoemake, 798 S.W.2d 191, 193 (Mo.App.1990); City of Berkeley v. Stringfellow, 788 S.W.2d 501, 504 (Mo.App.1990); State v. Guenther, 744 S.W.2d 564, 565 (Mo.App.1988).

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932 S.W.2d 449, 1996 Mo. App. LEXIS 1657, 1996 WL 570813, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-rawlins-moctapp-1996.