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State v. Belgarde6/16/1998
APPEAL FROM: District Court of the Fifth Judicial District,
In and for the County of Jefferson, The Honorable Robert J. Boyd, Judge presiding.
Submitted on Briefs: September 11, 1997
Clerk
Justice James C. Nelson
Defendant Myron Belgarde (Belgarde) appeals from the sentence and judgment of the Fifth Judicial District Court, Jefferson County, entered after a jury convicted him of driving while under the influence of alcohol, as well as from the District Court's denial of both his motion to dismiss and motion to suppress. We affirm.
We restate the following issues on appeal:
1. Did the District Court err in denying Belgarde's motion to dismiss for the State's failure to preserve exculpatory evidence in the form of a videotape made at the time of his arrest?
2. Did the District Court err by denying Belgarde's motion to suppress statements he made at the time of his arrest and prior to being given his Miranda warnings?
3. Is Belgarde entitled to a new trial due to the State's alleged failure to disclose a document contained in the court record?
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
On May 29, 1995, Officer Mitch Tuttle, a Montana Highway Patrol Officer, was on patrol in Jefferson County, near Boulder, Montana. At approximately 2:45 a.m., Officer Tuttle was traveling south on Interstate 15 towards Boulder when he observed Belgarde traveling north at a high rate of speed. Officer Tuttle activated his radar unit and obtained a speed of 82 miles per hour. In response, Officer Tuttle drove through the median, activated his overhead lights and pursued Belgarde for almost four miles; however, Belgarde did not slow down or stop. After Officer Tuttle activated his siren, Belgarde stopped and pulled his vehicle over to the side of the road at an angle so that the vehicle's left rear corner failed to clear the fog line and remained in the lane of traffic.
Upon approaching Belgarde, Officer Tuttle noticed the smell of alcohol. Concerned that Belgarde was driving while under the influence of alcohol, Officer Tuttle asked Belgarde to come back to the patrol car. Belgarde took a seat in the front of the patrol car where Officer Tuttle further noticed that Belgarde had bloodshot eyes and slurred speech. Officer Tuttle administered the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus test (HGN test) which Belgarde failed. After completing the HGN test, Officer Tuttle arrested Belgarde and transported him to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department.
Upon arrival at the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department, Officer Tuttle drove the patrol car into the "sally port," or garage, and the door shut behind him. Officer Tuttle exited the patrol car, retrieved Belgarde from the passenger side and escorted him to the entrance of the jail facility. In the booking area, Belgarde failed to perform the walk-and-turn test and refused to perform the one-legged stand test. After reading to Belgarde Montana's implied consent advisory form, Officer Tuttle asked Belgarde to take a breath test, which Belgarde refused to do. Subsequently, Officer Tuttle read Belgarde his Miranda rights which Belgarde refused to waive, responding that he wished to have an attorney present.
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Department has video cameras to record activities occurring in both the sally port and the booking area. A video camera is activated when a patrol car enters the sally port and records when someone exits the patrol car and proceeds to the door of the booking area. After leaving the sally port area, a second camera, located in the booking area, is to be activated by a Sheri
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