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State v. Albrecht5/16/1991
field:pagenum-->
jury may have given the tests undue significance as scientific truths, when, in fact, they measure only gross neurological impairment. We have concern about the misleading influence of such speculative conclusions unsupported by controlled experiments may have on a jury. We adopt the cautions articulated in United States v. Brown, 557 F.2d 541 (6th Cir. 1977):
A courtroom is not a research laboratory. The fate of a defendant in a criminal prosecution should not hang on his ability to successfully rebut scientific evidence which bears an "aura of special reliability and trustworthiness," although, in reality the witness is testifying on the basis of an unproved hypothesis in an isolated experiment which has yet to gain general acceptance in its field.
557 F.2d at 556.
c. Conclusion
We conclude that the superior court reached the correct result in vacating the jury verdict on the A.R.S. § 28-692 (B) charge. However, it reached the correct result for the wrong reason. The superior court misapplied Desmond in its determination that Williams' BAC results were inadmissible and irrelevant. Under Desmond the defendant's BAC is admissible once a qualified expert relates the BAC back to the time of driving. However, the superior court correctly determined that the trial court erred in permitting the criminalist to estimate Williams' BAC based on his field sobriety tests. When a lower court comes to the proper conclusion for the wrong reason we are obliged to affirm the ruling if it was legally correct for any reason. State v. Perez, 141 Ariz. 459, 687 P.2d 1214 (1984).
Conclusion
The superior court's ruling on the A.R.S. § 28-692 (A) charge is vacated and the original jury verdict is reinstated. The superior court's ruling which vacated the A.R.S. § 28-692 (B) verdict is affirmed. The case is remanded to the trial court for proceedings in accordance with this opinion.
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