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State v. Coffee2/12/2004
g trial, the district court reiterated that it was taking judicial notice of its prior decision in Wong.
At trial, Officer Dowkin testified that on July 15, 1998, at about 6:45 p.m., he was on his police motorcycle stopped directly behind Coffee's vehicle at a red light on Pua Inia Street in Kaneohe. Coffee turned onto Kamehameha Highway and rapidly accelerated. Officer Dowkin followed her car. While maintaining a distance of approximately seven car lengths, Officer Dowkin clocked Coffee's vehicle for approximately two-tenth's of a mile at a speed of 56 to 58 miles per hour (MPH) in a 35 MPH zone. Officer Dowkin testified that Coffee "was weaving after the vehicle got to speed." The license plate on Coffee's vehicle read "TOKE IT," and, **1004 *195 through Officer Dowkin's training and experience, he knew the term was related to the use of marijuana. Officer Dowkin stopped Coffee's vehicle and asked Coffee to produce her driver's license, no-fault insurance card, and vehicle registration; it took Coffee about five minutes to obtain these documents. Coffee's eyes were watery and glassy with a marked reddening of the conjunctiva (which appeared as blood vessels puffing out). Coffee appeared nervous and had slurred speech and a burnt marijuana smell coming from her face.
Officer Dowkin testified that he asked Coffee if she would consent to a field sobriety test (FST) and she agreed. Prior to administering the FST, Officer Dowkin asked Coffee preliminary questions about whether she had any possible physical defects or speech impediments, whether she was taking medication or seeing a doctor or dentist, and if she had epilepsy, diabetes, or contact lenses. Coffee informed him she was taking medications for sinusitis, migraine headaches, and backaches.
The FST consisted of the horizontal gaze nystagmus (HGN), walk-and-turn, and one-leg stand tests. Coffee showed no signs of impairment under the HGN test. During the walk-and-turn test, Coffee lost her balance one time, had spaces between her steps, missed some heel-to-toe steps, raised her arms six inches from her sides throughout the test, and stepped off the line once. During the one-leg stand test, Coffee swayed in a one-to-three-inch circular manner, raised her arms, had severe leg tremors, and had to be reminded three times of the instructions.
Due to Coffee's failing the walk-and-turn and one-leg stand tests, Officer Dowkin felt Coffee was impaired to the point that she was unable to safely operate her vehicle. Coffee voluntarily took a preliminary alcohol screening test, which indicated that there was no presence of alcohol. Officer Dowkin testified he placed Coffee under arrest for DUI-Drug based on the totality of the circumstances, including "the driving, her physical appearance, her performance of the standardized field sobriety test, the, in my opinion, absence of alcoholic beverages." At the Kaneohe police station, Officer Dowkin administered the breath-alcohol test to Coffee; she registered .000 on the test. He informed Coffee of the reasons he arrested her, asked her if she wanted to participate in the matrix test, and informed her of the possible consequences.
After Coffee consented to the matrix test, Officer Dowkin asked her protocol questions pertaining to her hours of sleep, food consumption, illnesses, medication, etc., that day. Officer Dowkin's initial check of Coffee's pulse indicated that her pulse was outside the normal range. He checked Coffee's pupil sizes to see if they were equal, whether her eyes were tracking normally, and if there was an initial angle of onset--all the results were normal. Officer Dowkin checked Coffee's eyes for HGN by looking for a lack of smooth pursuit, maximum deviation and angle onset; he found no HGN. He did not find vertical n
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