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State v. Crawford4/29/2003
Heard: April 29, 2002
Submitted: May 14, 2002
Michael Duane Crawford (Crawford) was charged with five separate driving-related offenses, including felony driving under the influence (DUI). He pled guilty to three of these offenses--driving on a revoked license, failure to have motor vehicle insurance and failure to use a seat belt. The jury found him guilty of the other two--felony DUI and violating a red traffic signal. He appeals the felony DUI conviction. We affirm in part and reverse and remand for a new trial.
ISSUES
A restatement of the issues Crawford presents is:
1. Did the District Court erroneously deny Crawford's motion in limine to preclude the use of the results of the preliminary breath test (PBT)?
2. Did the District Court erroneously allow Officer Malhiot to testify as an expert on the scientific basis for the horizontal gaze nystagmus (HGN) test?
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
Crawford was stopped by Officer Sorenson just before midnight on December 2, 1999, for failing to stop at a red flashing light. At Crawford's trial, Sorenson described, without objection, his observations and actions that ultimately led him to conclude that Crawford was driving while under the influence of alcohol. He explained that after he initiated the traffic stop and asked Crawford for his license, registration and proof of insurance, he noticed Crawford's fingers "were rather clumsy," he smelled of alcohol, his eyes were "glazed and somewhat bloodshot," and his "speech was somewhat slurred and thick tongued." Also, according to Sorenson, Crawford admitted to having had two beers.
Sorenson asked Crawford to get out of his car and to perform field sobriety tests. Crawford told Sorenson that he had bad knees, so Sorenson did not ask Crawford to perform any balancing maneuvers. He asked Crawford to perform the HGN maneuver and Crawford showed four of the six HGN indicators of possible alcohol impairment. Sorenson then asked Crawford to recite the alphabet. Crawford could successfully recite the alphabet to the letter "G" only. Sorenson, with Crawford's permission, administered a PBT that showed a breath alcohol concentration (BAC) of .153. These observations and tests provided probable cause for Sorenson to arrest Crawford for DUI and transport him to the Cascade County Detention Center, where Crawford refused further processing and testing, including specifically refusing to take an Intoxilizer test.
Crawford was charged by Information with felony DUI, among other charges. The District Court issued an Omnibus Hearing Memorandum and Order on March 8, 2000, and ordered that all pretrial motions be filed no later than four weeks before trial. On April 17, 2000, the first day of his trial, Crawford pled guilty to driving on a revoked license, failing to have motor vehicle insurance and failing to use a seat belt. Crawford also filed a written motion in limine to suppress evidence of his PBT results. The District Court denied the motion on the merits. Additionally, the State made an oral motion to qualify Matt Malhiot as an expert witness for the purpose of laying scientific foundation testimony regarding HGN. The court granted the motion over Crawford's objection.
On April 18, 2000, the jury returned a guilty verdict on both felony DUI and failing to stop for the red flashing traffic signal. On June 13, 2000, the District Court sentenced Crawford to the Department of Corrections for nine months for placement in a pre-release center, to be followed by three years probation, for felony DUI. Crawford received suspended sentences and fines for the misdemeanor charges.
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