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State v. West2/25/1992
49 St.Rep. 170
Submitted on briefs October 31, 1991.
Defendant Arnold West was convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol by a jury trial in the Montana Sixteenth Judicial District Court, Rosebud County. Defendant appeals the conviction. We affirm the District Court.
Defendant raises the following issues for appeal.
1. Whether the District Court erred when it denied defendant's motion in limine to prohibit two witnesses' testimony because the State failed to provide defendant with a copy of the statement of one of the witnesses.
2. Whether the District Court erred when it refused defendant's jury instruction defining a voluntary act.
3. Whether there was sufficient foundation to introduce into evidence the results of an alcohol breath test.
4. Whether the State's references to presumptions based on the results of an alcohol breath test prejudiced the defendant.
5. Whether the Justice Court had original jurisdiction because the penalty imposed for a DUI conviction exceeds the definition of a misdemeanor.
6. Whether the District Court erred when it excluded jury instructions that the State must prove that the defendant acted purposely and knowingly.
On the evening of October 18, 1989, Sharyle Lallatin and her sister Caryle Jenrich were leaving a movie theater in Colstrip, when they noticed defendant in a nearby parking lot. In an effort to gain their attention, he yelled and waved at them. The women did not understand what the defendant was saying and they quickly proceeded to their car. As they were leaving the scene, the women saw the defendant back his pickup into a parked car. Lallatin left the car in order to obtain the defendant's license number. She was able to obtain the number and reported the incident to the sheriff's office.
In the meantime, Jenrich followed the defendant so that she could report the location of the defendant. After a few minutes, the defendant pulled into the parking lot of a bowling alley. Jenrich drove to the sheriff's office and reported the incident, as well as the location of the defendant, to the dispatcher. While at the sheriff's office, Jenrich prepared and signed a written statement. She was then given a copy of her statement.
Rosebud County Deputy Sheriff Charles Hartman and Officer Mitchell Moe responded to the call. When they arrived at the bowling alley, they located the defendant's pickup in the back parking lot. The license plates of the vehicle were registered in the defendant's name. Finding the defendant sitting at a bar in the bowling alley talking to a waitress, the officers escorted him outside. After being questioned, the defendant admitted to being at the parking lot near the movie theater and driving to the bowling alley. The officers observed that the defendant's speech was extremely slurred, his walking was staggered, and he emitted an odor of an alcohol. The waitress told one of the officers that she refused to serve the defendant alcohol because of his intoxicated state.
Officer Hartman returned to the scene of the hit and run but could not find any physical evidence that a car had been struck. Except for the two women, no one else reported to the sheriff's office that a vehicle had been hit on that night.
Officer Moe performed the usual field sobriety tests on the defendant in the parking lot of the bowling alley. Defendant failed the horizontal nystagmus test and could not perform the one-leg-stand balancing test. The defendant was placed under arrest for driving under the influence of alcohol in violation of § 61-8-401, MCA
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