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State v. Hicks7/16/1982
ime he made the statement will not, without more, prevent the admission of his statement. Before such a statement will be held to be inadmissible, it must be shown that the accused was intoxicated to such an extent that he was unable to understand the meaning of his comments. State v. Laffoon, 125 Ariz. 484, 610 P.2d 1045 (1980); State v. Porter, supra; State v. Clark, 102 Ariz. 550, 434 P.2d 636 (1967). Of course, the jury may consider intoxication in determining whether the statements are true or false. State v. Laffoon, supra.
Appellant had a .26 percent blood alcohol level just after the interrogation. The rather high level of alcohol in his system is not, by itself, determinative. We have previously held that certain confessions made while the accused had a high blood alcohol level were admissible. State v. Magby, 113 Ariz. 345, 554 P.2d 1272 (1976) (.26 percent blood alcohol); State v. Clark, supra (.38 percent blood alcohol). Blood alcohol level is just one factor to consider in the totality of the circumstances. Appellant had suffered from chronic alcoholism for over 20 years. The record before us contains the testimony of an expert witness to the effect that an alcoholic develops "a greater capacity . . . to tolerate greater and greater amounts" of alcohol. Therefore, we need not assume that a blood alcohol level of .26 percent would affect appellant the same way it would a less practiced drinker.
In the course of the interrogation, appellant expressed his perceptions about his own state of intoxication. That portion of the statement reads:
Q. How intoxicated are you tonight?
A. Not that God damn intoxicated.
Q. Could you tell me what do you mean by that? Just clarify it to me what you mean by that statement?
A. I know I'm talking to you but my hands are sticky. You got a tape recorder here. You got a white shirt with blue stripes. You got a blue jacket with maroon lining. He have a police uniform. There's a circle here, there's a box here. A light switch over there. You wanta know anymore?
Q. So what you're saying is you're pretty sober?
A. I think I am, yes.
Q. You think you're sober enough to drive?
A. I know I'm sober enough to drive.
Q. So right now if you were out driving around the car you wouldn't feel like you were drunk driving ?
A. No, I won't say that either. What I'm saying . . . is that without you people around, I can get home. But if I got stopped, yes, I think I would be stopped for drunken driving. But I live close enough to the 37 Club, that normally I don't worry about it.
Q. OK, would you . . . So in other words you consider yourself pretty much in control of your coordination?
A. Yeah, I . . . I . . . I consider myself pretty much in control of my facilities [ sic ].
The above exchange is indicative of appellant's ability to understand his statements. He was able to draw a distinction between what the police consider to be "drunk driving" and what he considers to be "drunk driving." He was aware of his surroundings, cooperative, and responsive to questioning in an appropriate manner. We note that appellant had some difficulty answering certain questions; for example, he could not remember his address and at one point he confused his name with that of the victim. Nonetheless, appellant's understanding of the meaning as well as the importance of his answers is illustrated by a consideration of the matters present
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