State v. Welch

115 So. 3d 490, 2013 WL 1182072
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 22, 2013
DocketNo. 2012 KA 1531
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 115 So. 3d 490 (State v. Welch) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Welch, 115 So. 3d 490, 2013 WL 1182072 (La. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinions

WHIPPLE, C.J.

[¿The defendant, Dennis M. Welch, was charged by amended bill of information with one count of fourth-offense operating a vehicle while intoxicated1 (DWI), a violation of LSA-R.S. 14:98, and pled not guilty. Following a bench trial, the defendant was found guilty as charged. He was fined $5,000.00 and sentenced to twenty-five years at hard labor, with the first two years of the sentence to be served without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence. He now appeals, contending the trial court: (1) abused its discretion in denying the motion to suppress AIT Laboratories’ certificate of analysis; (2) erred in allowing the testimony of Dr. George Behoniek; (3) erred in admitting into evidence AIT Laboratories’ certificate of analysis; (4) erred in finding the evidence of record sufficient to support a conviction without AIT Laboratories’ certificate of analysis; (5) erred in considering predicate DWI offenses older than ten years; and (6) abused its broad discretion by imposing an excessive sentence. For the following reasons, we affirm the defendant’s convic[494]*494tion and sentence, and remand for an evi-dentiary hearing on the issue of waiver of a jury trial.

FACTS

St. Tammany Parish Sheriffs Office Deputy Jamie Raquet testified at trial. On March 17, 2011, at approximately 6:00 p.m., he investigated a vehicle crash on Louisiana Highway 437 at North Fitzmor-ris Road, north of Covington. The crash involved one vehicle, driven by the defendant. Deputy Raquet noted that the | ¿vehicle was off the east side of the roadway, overturned on its passenger side. The vehicle had travelled through a ditch, impacted on the driver’s side, overturned on its side, and rotated counterclockwise, finally coming to a stop in a barbed wire fence. Deputy Raquet detected a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating from the vehicle’s interior. Deputy Ra-quet did not see the emergency brake on the vehicle pushed down.

Covington Police Department Sergeant Jimmy Slade had witnessed the crash. He saw the vehicle travelling forty miles per hour as it ran through a stop sign. He saw the defendant lose control of the vehicle as the defendant attempted to turn southbound and cross two lanes of traffic before the vehicle entered a ditch.

The defendant had no observable signs of injury and stated he was not hurt. According to Deputy Raquet, the defendant’s speech was slurred, the defendant stuttered, and the defendant’s movements were lethargic and slow. The defendant claimed he had only “drank a beer at lunch time,” but he also stated that he had taken the prescription medications Paxil, Klono-pin,2 Fioricet, and another medication “morning and lunch.” The defendant claimed his vehicle had defective brakes and that he had pushed the emergency brake, but it had not worked.

The defendant stated he had been trav-elling from River Forest subdivision to Fairhaven Road, a distance of approximately twelve miles. The defendant claimed he left at 3:30 p.m. The defendant thought the accident had occurred at 4:00 p.m., when, in fact, he actually had crashed the vehicle at approximately 5:45 p.m. The defendant consented to a blood and urine test in the hospital, but he could not stand up without swaying back and forth. The defendant staggered on |4the way to the bathroom to provide a urine sample and complained of a pain in his side. Also, at the time of the accident, his driver’s license was suspended.

Based on observations of the defendant, the manner in which he was speaking, his lethargic movements, and his problem with normal motor skills, Deputy Raquet concluded that the defendant was operating the vehicle while under the influence of his prescription medications. Thus, Deputy Raquet arrested him for DWI.

DISCUSSION

Admissibility of AIT Laboratories’ Certifícate of Analysis

(Assignment of Error No. 1)

In assignment of error number 1, the defendant argues the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress the certificate of analysis by AIT Laboratories (“AIT”) because his blood sample was not transported for analysis in accordance with La. Administrative Code, Title 55, part I, § 581.

[495]*495A motion to suppress is available to question the admissibility of chemical test results that can result in the legal presumption of intoxication. State v. Shirley, 2008-2106 (La.5/5/09), 10 So.3d 224, 232. Before the State may avail itself of the statutory presumption of the defendant’s intoxication arising from chemical analysis of his blood, it is incumbent on the State to show strict compliance with the detailed procedures adopted to secure the efficacy and reliability of the chemical test. Id.

Prior to amendment in May of 2011, La. Administrative Code, Title 55, part I, § 581 provided, in pertinent part:

C. The sample taken for analysis should be refrigerated and delivered to a designated collection site within 24 hours following the end of the collecting officer’s shift. It shall then be transported to the laboratory utilized for analysis at the earliest opportunity after collection, not to exceed 7 days.

| fiPrior to trial, the defendant moved to suppress the results of the analysis of his blood sample, arguing that the documentation from the State indicated that twenty-two days had passed between the drawing of the blood and its receipt for testing. At the hearing on the motion, the defense introduced a report from AIT indicating the sample tested was collected on March 17, 2011, and received on April 8, 2011. The State introduced documentation indicating that the sample was received by the Louisiana State Police Crime Laboratory on March 23, 2011. Additionally, the State presented the testimony of Louisiana State Police Crime Laboratory Forensic Analyst Robert Spinks, who stated that the sample was received by the Louisiana State Police Crime Laboratory on March 23, 2011. He conducted a blood alcohol test on the sample, which was negative. He further indicated the Louisiana State Police Crime Laboratory had a contract with AIT, a toxicology firm from Indianapolis, to help reduce the backlog of items to be tested. At the conclusion of the trial, the trial court denied the motion to suppress.

When a trial court denies a motion to suppress, factual and credibility determinations should not be reversed in the absence of a clear abuse of the trial court’s discretion, i.e., unless such ruling is not supported by the evidence. See State v. Green, 94-0887 (La.5/22/95), 655 So.2d 272, 280-81. However, a trial court’s legal findings are subject to a de novo standard of review. See State v. Hunt, 2009-1589 (La.12/1/09), 25 So.3d 746, 751.

The trial court did not err or abuse its discretion in denying the motion to suppress the results of the analysis of the blood sample obtained from the defendant. La. Administrative Code, Title 55, part I, § 581 was not violated. The record demonstrates that the sample at issue was “transported to the laboratory utilized for analysis” within 7 days of collection. While the sample was subsequently tested for Rthe presence of other drugs by AIT later than 7 days after collection, this testing occurred at a laboratory subcontracted with the State Police laboratory due to a backlog at the Louisiana State Police Crime Laboratory.

Thus, this assignment of error lacks merit.

Admissibility of Dr. George Behonick’s Testimony

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
115 So. 3d 490, 2013 WL 1182072, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-welch-lactapp-2013.