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Ballard v. State12/21/2001
-5A-195(h), Ala. Code 1975, provides, in pertinent part: `Every court having jurisdiction over offenses committed under this article or any other law of this state ... regulating the operation of motor vehicles on highways, shall forward to the Director of Public Safety within 10 days a record of the conviction of any person in said court for a violation of any said laws.' The ticket and record of conviction in the hand of DPS is a public record. See § 32-6-14, Ala. Code 1975; Ex parte Wright, 586 So. 2d 901, 903 (Ala. 1991); cf. Snavely v. City of Huntsville, 785 So. 2d 1162, 1168 (Ala. Crim. App. 2000); Farmer v. Town of Daphne, 782 So. 2d 808, 809 (Ala. Crim. App. 2000). Rule 902(4) of the Alabama Rules of Evidence provides that ` xtrinsic evidence of authenticity as a condition precedent to admissibility is not required with respect to ... (4) ... copy of an official record ... or of a document authorized by law to be recorded or filed and actually recorded or filed in a public office.'" (Emphasis added in Hicks).
The Alabama Supreme Court, in Ex parte Wright, 586 So. 2d 901, 903 (Ala. 1991), held that § 32-5A-195(h), Ala. Code 1975, provides that the Department of Public Safety is to maintain a record of convictions for moving violations or driving violations. The Court held that the Department of Public Safety could not maintain a record of a conviction for a pedestrian under the influence or a DUI charge. Id. Therefore, as a public record, copies of court records maintained in the Department of Public Safety's files would be admissible in court to prove a prior DUI under § 32-5A-195, Ala. Code 1975.
Evidence of one prior DUI, CC-85-5118, was certified by the court clerk and admitted into evidence, without objection. The State provided copies of court records, certified by Roscoe Howell, Major, Driver's License Division of the Alabama Department of Public Safety, to prove Ballard's remaining DUI convictions. The documents provided by the Department of Public Safety, as public records, were properly admitted.
Additionally, this Court notes that § 32-5A-191(h), Ala. Code 1975, requires the Director of Public Safety to suspend or revoke Ballard's driving privilege or driver's license. The record does not indicate that the trial court seized Ballard's driver's license to forward to the Department of Public Safety to enforce this suspension. The trial court is directed to note for the record that Ballard's driving privileges should be suspended by the Director of the Department of Public Safety as provided in § 32-5A-191(h), Ala. Code 1975. See Harris v. State, [Ms. CR-99-1439, August 25, 2000] ___ So. 2d ___ (Ala.Crim.App. 2000). A return to remand shall be filed with this Court within 21 days of the date of this opinion.
AFFIRMED IN PART, REMANDED IN PART WITH INSTRUCTIONS.
McMillan, P.J., and Baschab, Shaw, and Wise, JJ., concur.
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