State v. Rochelle

609 So. 2d 613, 1992 WL 171115
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedNovember 18, 1992
Docket91-3398
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 609 So. 2d 613 (State v. Rochelle) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Rochelle, 609 So. 2d 613, 1992 WL 171115 (Fla. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

609 So.2d 613 (1992)

STATE of Florida, Appellant,
v.
Sydney ROCHELLE, Kenneth Comrey, and Alex Atchison, Appellees.

No. 91-3398.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.

July 22, 1992.
Opinion Modified on Motion for Rehearing and/or Clarification November 18, 1992.

*614 Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Melynda L. Melear, Asst. Atty. Gen., West Palm Beach, for appellant.

Alan H. Schreiber, Public Defender, and Diane M. Cuddihy, Asst. Public Defender, Fort Lauderdale, for appellee-Comrey.

PER CURIAM.

The county court entered an order stating findings of fact and conclusions of law, as well as three issues of great public importance, and certified the order for review in this court pursuant to Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.160. This court determined the subject matter could be reviewed under rule 9.030(b)(4)(B) because it would have been reviewable in the circuit court under rule 9.140(c)(1)(B), and by earlier order accepted the appeal.

Primarily, the appeal concerns the admissibility at trial, in driving-while-under-the influence proceedings, of breathalyzer test results obtained during the period after February 1986 and prior to August 1, 1991, when the agency administering the tests was using as the template or guideline for periodic testing of the equipment a form *615 that varied somewhat from that which had been incorporated in the pertinent rules as then written. The county court determined that such test results were not admissible in evidence. We reverse and remand.

The questions certified by the county court as questions of great public importance, together with the county court's answers to them, are as follows:

I.A. Are rules 10D-42.023 and 10D-42.024, Florida Administrative Code, as they existed prior to August 1, 1991, void for vagueness? Yes.
B. If so, does this preclude the State's use of results from tests using breath-testing instruments in a criminal trial? Yes.
II. A. Is the use of different (not uniform) forms, reflecting different monthly maintenance procedures, for testing breath-testing equipment a denial of equal protection? Yes.
B. If so, does this preclude the State's use in a criminal trial of test results from the breath-testing instruments so tested? Yes.
III. Should revised rules 10D-42.023 and 10D-42.024, effective August 1, 1991, be applied retroactively? No.

We agree with the county court's conclusion on Issue III, cf. Drury v. Harding, 461 So.2d 104 (Fla. 1984), but disagree on all others. The conclusion regarding Issue III has no impact on admissibility of the test results in the instant case, however, when the county court's conclusions on the other issues are determined to be incorrect. Accordingly, we reverse the county court's conclusion that breathalyzer test results are not admissible into evidence which were obtained before the amended administrative rules went into effect on August 1, 1991; and while a form other than that previously promulgated for the purpose was used in Broward County for monthly checking of test equipment.

Other issues raised by the state in its briefs are without merit, and we shall not discuss them, other than to observe that a DUI defendant may raise in the trial court issues relating to the adequacy of the rules governing testing of breath-testing equipment for accuracy and reproducibility, and the admissibility of test results obtained with equipment periodically tested by a given procedure. State v. Reisner, 584 So.2d 141, 142 (Fla. 5th DCA), rev. denied, 591 So.2d 184 (Fla. 1991).

I

The Issue of Void for Vagueness

As a sister court noted in State v. E.L., 595 So.2d 981, 983 (Fla. 5th DCA), juris. accepted, 601 So.2d 551 (Fla. 1992), the United States Supreme Court described the void-for-vagueness doctrine in Kolender v. Lawson, 461 U.S. 352, 357, 103 S.Ct. 1855, 1858, 75 L.Ed.2d 903, 909 (1983), as follows:

As generally stated, the void-for-vagueness doctrine requires that a penal statute define the criminal offense with sufficient definiteness that ordinary people can understand what conduct is prohibited and in a manner that does not encourage arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement.

(Citations omitted.)

Accordingly we agree with the well-reasoned opinion of the Honorable David A. Demers in State v. Westerberg, 16 F.L.W. 149 (Fla. Pinellas Cty. Ct. July 19, 1991), that void-for-vagueness doctrine is inapplicable in the present circumstances, where the issue is the adequacy of administrative rules to give guidance to professionals testing equipment which is used for blood-alcohol testing for evidentiary purposes. We conclude, as did Judge Demers, as well as the Second District Court in its recent opinion in State v. Berger, 605 So.2d 488 (Fla. 2d DCA 1992), that the administrative scheme is sufficient to ensure reliability of results although the standards set forth for monthly and annual testing are not specifically stated in the rules. In this respect we disagree with the court in Reisner.

Moreover, we think that if void-for-vagueness doctrine were applicable, the rules and equipment testing procedures actually used would still pass muster, as the following analysis will show.

*616 Rule 10D-42.023 requires proper calibration and accuracy checking by authorized personnel of breath testing machines. Rule 10D-42.024 calls for at least monthly checking of such equipment by a technician to assure general cleanliness, appearance and accuracy. In September 1982 the Department of Health and Rehabilitative services incorporated into the rule a form 1514 which serves as a guide for the steps that are taken in the monthly checking of the equipment.

Rules 10D-42.023 and 10D-42.024 as they existed between February 1991 when a revised form is said to have come into use in many parts of the state, and before the August 1, 1991, amendment promulgating the new form, were not void for vagueness. We do not think we are in conflict with State v. Reisner, 584 So.2d 141 (Fla. 5th DCA), rev. denied, 591 So.2d 184 (Fla. 1991), when we reach this seemingly contrary conclusion.

The Reisner court held that with the original form 1514 incorporated, rule 10D-42.024, the rule adopted pursuant to section 316.1932(1)(f)1. to govern monthly and annual testing of intoxilyzer equipment for accuracy and reproducibility, was sufficiently specific. The difficulty the Reisner court perceived lay in the fact that the machine used in that case was tested, not by application of the original form 1514, but the revised and unpromulgated form. This form was essentially the same as the promulgated form, with the exception that it had three added spaces for testing of the machine for its ability to distinguish acetone from grain alcohol. The Reisner court found that since the rule without the promulgated form could not pass constitutional muster, and since the unpromulgated form could not be considered to be part of the rule, the blood alcohol test results obtained with the machine whose accuracy and reproducibility had been checked using the new form were properly excluded.

Key to this conclusion in Reisner

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609 So. 2d 613, 1992 WL 171115, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-rochelle-fladistctapp-1992.