Tidwell v. Director of Revenue

931 S.W.2d 488, 1996 Mo. App. LEXIS 1678, 1996 WL 580932
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 8, 1996
Docket20842
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 931 S.W.2d 488 (Tidwell v. Director of Revenue) 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
Tidwell v. Director of Revenue, 931 S.W.2d 488, 1996 Mo. App. LEXIS 1678, 1996 WL 580932 (Mo. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

SHRUM, Judge.

This appeal involves judicial review of the administrative revocation of the driving privileges of Phillip Harris Tidwell (Tidwell) under §§ 302.500-.540, 1 for driving with a blood alcohol content of at least .10% by weight. After a trial de novo the trial court ordered reinstatement of Tidwell’s driving privileges. The Director of Revenue (Director) appeals. The judgment is reversed and we order the reinstatement of Director’s revocation of Tid-well’s driving privileges.

On June 25, 1995, Tidwell was arrested for driving while intoxicated by Officer Michael Williams of the Sikeston police department. The following summarizes Officer Williams’ testimony at the de novo trial. He had been a “public safety officer” for Sikeston for two and one-half years, had gone through “the *490 academy,” and was “590 certified.” Early on the morning of June 25, 1995, Williams was dispatched to investigate a motor vehicle accident. When Williams arrived on the accident scene, he spoke with Tidwell, who identified himself as the driver of one of the vehicles involved. Concerning his observations of Tidwell, Williams testified that Tid-well’s “balance was a little unstable!,]” there was a “slight odor ... of alcoholic beverage” about him, his speech was “somewhat slurred!,]” and his eyes were “watery and bloodshot.” Williams then instructed Tidwell on certain field sobriety teste that he wanted Tidwell to perform. Tidwell attempted to perform the tests as directed, but failed in all endeavors. From the foregoing, Williams formed the opinion that Tidwell had been driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcoholic beverages, whereupon he arrested him for violating an ordinance of the city of Sikeston. Officer Williams took Tid-well to the Sikeston police department, where a breath analysis was performed utilizing an “Intoxilyzer 5000.” After Williams performed “each and every one of the steps in [the] checklist!,]” he directed Tidwell to blow into the breathalyzer and Tidwell complied with such request. Once the breathalyzer test procedure was completed, the printout recorded Tidwell’s test result as .17%.

After the foregoing testimony was elicited without objection, Director attempted to have admitted into evidence these exhibits: “A,” ordinance of city of Sikeston; “B,” breathalyzer check-off list and implied consent form; “C,” breathalyzer print-out, “D,” affidavit regarding routine “maintenance report” on breathalyzer machine; and “E,” unidentified Department of Revenue records. When the exhibits were first offered, Tidwell’s counsel objected to their admission on various grounds. Initially, the trial judge announced he would rule on the admissibility of the exhibits after the cross-examination of Officer Williams. However, when the questioning of Williams ended, Director rested without re-offering Exhibits A-E. Consequently, the exhibits were not received in evidence and Director never procured a ruling on their admissibility. The trial court then entered its judgment, without findings of fact or conclusions of law, in which it set aside Director’s decision to suspend Tidwell’s license and ordered Director to reinstate Tidwell’s driving privileges. This appeal by Director followed.

In her single point, Director maintains that the trial court erred in setting aside the revocation of Tidwell’s driver’s license. Director contends that Tidwell was properly subject to revocation because “uncontrovert-ed evidence” adduced by Director established all elements of an administrative driver’s license revocation under §§ 302.500-.540. This court agrees.

When reviewing the revocation or suspension of a driver’s license pursuant to the administrative D.W.I. law, §§ 302.500-.540, the trial court must ordinarily determine only the following: (1) whether the person was arrested; (2) whether the arreste tag officer had probable cause for the arrest; and (3) whether the person’s blood alcohol content was at least .10% by weight. §§ 302.505 and .535; Gleason v. Director of Revenue, 859 S.W.2d 189, 190[1] (Mo.App.1993). If the arrest is by a non-elected law enforcement officer for violation of county or municipal ordinance, § 302.510.3 requires that the trial court make the further finding that the arresting officer has been certified by the director of the Missouri Department of Public Safety pursuant to the provisions of §§ 590.100-.150.

When a breathalyzer test is the method used to establish a prima facie case on the blood-alcohol content issue, the proponent for its admission usually has to meet all foundational prerequisites to its admission. Thomas v. Director of Revenue, 875 S.W.2d 582, 583 (Mo.App.1994). Thus, when timely objection is made to the admission of the test result, the proponent must establish the following: (1) that a maintenance check has been performed on the breathalyzer machine within 35 days before the test, (2) that the test was performed by following approved techniques and methods of the Division of Health, (3) that the operator held a valid permit, and (4) that the equipment and devices used were approved by the Division of Health. Id. at 583[l-3]

*491 Contrarily, proof of such foundational facts is wholly unnecessary where the test result is admitted in evidence without objection. Reinert v. Director of Revenue, 894 S.W.2d 162, 164 (Mo.banc 1995); Sellenriek v. Director of Revenue, 826 S.W.2d 338, 341 (Mo.banc 1992). “When evidence of one of the issues in the case is admitted without objection, the party against whom it is offered waives any objection to the evidence, and it may be properly considered even if the evidence would have been excluded upon a proper objection.” Reinert, 894 S.W.2d at 164[2],

Here, as in most court-tried civil cases, the scope of our review is that of Murphy v. Carron, 536 S.W.2d 30, 32 (Mo.banc 1976); namely, we will affirm the decision of the trial court unless there is no substantial evidence to support it, unless the decision is contrary to the weight of the evidence, or unless the trial court erroneously declared or misapplied the law. Hampton v. Director of Revenue, 890 S.W.2d 364, 366 (Mo.App.1994). Nevertheless, such standard does not permit this court to affirm the judgment of the trial court by merely disregarding all uncontradicted evidence that supports Director’s contention that all elements for an administrative revocation of Tidwell’s license were proven. See Epperson v. Director of Revenue, 841 S.W.2d 252, 254 (Mo.App.1992).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Martise v. Director of Revenue, State
160 S.W.3d 407 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2005)
Mayridis v. Director of Revenue
155 S.W.3d 775 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2005)
Siehndel v. Russell-Fischer
114 S.W.3d 449 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2003)
Brown v. Director of Revenue
85 S.W.3d 1 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 2002)
Innis v. DIRECTOR OF REVENUE, STATE OF MO.
83 S.W.3d 691 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2002)
Orr v. Director of Revenue
54 S.W.3d 201 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2001)
Sutton v. Director of Revenue
20 S.W.3d 918 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2000)
Krieger v. Director of Revenue
14 S.W.3d 697 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2000)
Sullivan v. Director of Revenue
980 S.W.2d 339 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1998)
Soutee v. Director of Revenue
977 S.W.2d 313 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1998)
Holley v. Lohman
977 S.W.2d 310 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1998)
Lunsford v. Director of Revenue
969 S.W.2d 833 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1998)
Keaveny v. Director of Revenue
962 S.W.2d 904 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1998)
Ledbetter v. Director of Revenue
950 S.W.2d 656 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1997)
Kienzle v. Director of Revenue
944 S.W.2d 326 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1997)
Roach v. Director of Revenue
941 S.W.2d 27 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1997)
Sherrod v. Director of Revenue
937 S.W.2d 751 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1997)
Matthews v. Director of Revenue
938 S.W.2d 279 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1997)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
931 S.W.2d 488, 1996 Mo. App. LEXIS 1678, 1996 WL 580932, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tidwell-v-director-of-revenue-moctapp-1996.