State v. Tierney
This text of 708 P.2d 879 (State v. Tierney) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.
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Richard A. Tierney appeals from a district court order affirming the suspension of his driver’s license. Tierney’s driver’s license was suspended after Tierney refused to take the alcohol concentration test required by I.C. § 49-352.1 The version of [476]*476I.C. § 49-352 at issue here was repealed in 1984.
In the early morning hours of September 8,1983, Tierney was stopped by a Lewiston police officer after failing to stop for a stop sign. Because Tierney smelled of alcohol, he was given a set of field sobriety tests, which he failed to complete satisfactorily. Tierney was then arrested and taken to the police station. At the station, Tierney refused to submit to the evidentiary test for alcohol concentration, required under I.C. § 49-352, after being given an explanation of the consequences of his refusal. Because Tierney refused to submit to the evidentiary test, Tierney’s driver’s license was seized and subsequently suspended. Tierney was also charged with driving while under the influence pursuant to I.C. § 49-1102.
After a magistrate’s order suspending Tierney’s driver’s license for refusal to submit to the alcohol concentration test was issued, Tierney requested a show cause hearing. At this hearing Tierney testified that he did not take the test because he was not intoxicated and because he was on medication which he felt might affect the outcome of the test. A videotape of Tierney’s interview at the police station was offered into evidence by Tierney, but was not admitted by the court. An order finding that Tierney’s license was properly suspended was filed October 4, 1983.
Tierney then appealed from this order to the district court. The district court affirmed suspension of Tierney’s driver’s license. This appeal followed. The suspension of Tierney’s driver’s license has been stayed pending this appeal.
Most of the issues raised by Tierney in this appeal were addressed in State v. Ankney, 109 Idaho 1, 704 P.2d 333 (1985). In that opinion, we upheld I.C. § 49-352 in the face of a procedural due process challenge and determined that an individual is not constitutionally entitled to counsel prior to submitting to an evidentiary test for intoxication. We also held that I.C. § 49-352 and the version of Idaho Misdemeanor Criminal Rule 9.2 effective at the time of Tierney’s arrest provided authority to seize and suspend a driver’s license.
Tierney also argues that, at the post-seizure hearing, he was able to show cause, as required by I.C. § 49-352, for his refusal to take the evidentiary test. Tierney contends that he refused the evidentiary test because he was not intoxicated and because he was on medication which he felt might affect the test’s outcome. Tierney points toward the corroborating testimony of a girlfriend and an acquaintance as supporting his position that the magistrate erred in finding his refusal to take the evidentiary test to be without cause.
The findings of fact of the trier of fact will not be disturbed on appeal if they are supported by substantial competent, although conflicting evidence. I.R.C.P. 52(a); Rueth v. State, 103 Idaho 74, 77; 644 P.2d 1333, 1336 (1982). This standard of appellate review reflects the view that deference must be accorded to the trial judge’s special opportunity to assess and weigh the credibility of the witnesses who appear. Rueth v. State, supra; Jensen v. Bledsoe, 100 Idaho 84, 87, 593 P.2d 988, 991 (1979).
Having fully reviewed the record, we conclude that the magistrate’s findings are not clearly erroneous. Both Tierney [477]*477and his girlfriend testified at the hearing that Tierney had been drinking prior to the stop. Tierney also testified that at the time of the stop “I probably smelled like a bar ...,” and that he had admitted to the officer that he had been drinking. Tierney further admitted that he had been unable to satisfactorily complete the field sobriety test. While it is true that two witnesses testified on Tierney’s behalf, the magistrate, as the trier of fact, had the responsibility to assess and weigh the credibility of these witnesses. We will not now, from a cold record, attempt to reassess the credibility of these witnesses — whose testimony so clearly may be biased in Tierney’s favor.
In any event, Tierney’s own evidence established that he had been drinking and that he smelled of alcohol. That evidence, together with the observations of the officer of Tierney’s conduct, including the failure to stop at the stop sign, provided the officer with the requisite “reasonable grounds” to demand that Tierney take the alcohol concentration test. Tierney’s explanation that he was on medication which he felt might affect the test results, and his other witnesses who testified that he was not intoxicated, could not remove the “reasonable grounds” which the officer acquired as a result of his observations of Tierney, the smell of alcohol on Tierney, and his admission of having consumed alcohol earlier in the evening. The issue before the magistrate was not whether Tierney was driving while under the influence. The issue was whether or not the officer had “reasonable grounds” to require Tierney to submit to the alcohol concentration test to determine whether or not he was driving under the influence. We agree with the magistrate and the district court that there was more than ample evidence to require Tierney to submit to the alcohol concentration test. We also agree that Tierney’s justifications for refusing to submit to the test do not'constitute “cause” for refusal to submit to the test. See State v. Ankney, supra.
Finally, Tierney argues that the magistrate erred in refusing to admit into evidence the videotape taken at the police station after Tierney’s arrest. A trial court has broad discretion in the admission of evidence at trial, and its judgment will only be reversed when there has been a clear abuse of discretion. State v. Terry, 98 Idaho 285, 561 P.2d 1318 (1977). We find no abuse of discretion here. The videotape could only have proven Tierney’s sobriety, which was not at issue at this show cause hearing.
The order of the district court is affirmed. Costs to respondent.
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack
708 P.2d 879, 109 Idaho 474, 1985 Ida. LEXIS 531, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-tierney-idaho-1985.