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State v. Ruiz8/18/1995
BLACK, Judge.
1. Defendant appeals his convictions for careless driving and driving while intoxicated. Defendant maintains that, in admitting the calibration log and printout of the Intoxilyzer 5000, the district court admitted impermissible hearsay, which in turn violated Defendant's constitutional right to confront his accusers. Based on our recent decision in ), cert. denied , 119 N.M. 514, 892 P.2d 961 (1995), we disagree.
2. Defendant also argues that the district court erred in: (1) denying Defendant's motion to suppress evidence based on an illegal arrest, (2) failing to require the State to extrapolate the results of Defendant's breath test backward to the time of his arrest, (3) asking questions to establish the foundation for the breath tests, and (4) finding sufficient evidence to convict Defendant. Finding no error, we affirm.
I. FACTS
3. Officer Byers testified that he was stopped at a traffic light on Louisiana Boulevard in Albuquerque when he saw a car approaching from behind. The car was weaving into another lane and the median. Officer Byers testified that he was afraid the car would hit him because it was moving too fast to stop at the light. When the light changed, Officer Byers engaged his emergency equipment and attempted to pull the car over to the curb. He followed the car for approximately four blocks before it finally pulled over and stopped. During this pursuit, the car continued to weave. When Officer Byers approached the driver, he noticed that the driver had watery, bloodshot eyes, smelled of alcohol, and had slurred speech. When Officer Byers asked the driver if he had been drinking, the driver responded affirmatively. Officer Byers called a member of the Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) Unit to continue the investigation. In court, Officer Byers identified the driver of the car as Eric Ruiz, although he indicated that Ruiz had given him a false name at the scene.
4. The DWI Unit officer, Officer Martinez, testified that, when he arrived at the scene, he also smelled "the odor of alcohol on [Ruiz's] breath" and noticed that Ruiz had bloodshot, watery eyes. Officer Martinez administered field sobriety tests that produced mixed results. Officer Martinez then transported Defendant to the Breath Alcohol Testing Unit. Approximately fifty minutes after he was first stopped, Defendant was given a breath test on an Intoxilyzer 5000 machine.
5. At trial, Officer Martinez testified that he was certified to administer a blood-alcohol test using the Intoxilyzer 5000 and described the procedure used in administering the test. Officer Martinez further testified that, on the night in question, the Intoxilyzer 5000 appeared to be working properly and he followed the proper procedure in administering the test to Defendant.
6. After a defense objection that Officer Martinez was not qualified to testify that the machine was properly calibrated, the State called Mr. Walton, a forensic scientist employed by the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) Criminalistics Section. Mr. Walton testified that, in addition to holding a master's degree in biology, he had been tested and certified by the Scientific Laboratory Division of the New Mexico Department of Health (SLD) as both a key operator and an instructor on the Intoxilyzer 5000. One of his duties, along with the other APD scientists, was to check and calibrate the APD's Intoxilyzer 5000 machines on a weekly basis. Mr. Walton further testified that the calibration immediately prior to Defendant's arrest had been performed by another APD scientist, Mr. Atencio, whom Mr. Walton had trained. Based on the testimony of Officer Martinez and Mr. Walton, and over defense couns
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