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Dodge v. State12/6/2001
ON MOTION FOR REHEARING, REHEARING EN BANC, CERTIFICATION OF QUESTION OF GREAT PUBLIC IMPORTANCE, CERTIFICATION OF CONFLICT
We grant appellee's motion for rehearing, withdraw our prior opinion, and substitute the following in its place.
Following a jury trial, appellant was convicted of DUI manslaughter, DUI with serious bodily injury to another, and two counts of driving under the influence resulting in property damage. He appeals the trial court's denial of his motion in limine to exclude the results of blood tests. After reconsideration, we hold that the results of appellant's blood tests were properly admitted, and affirm his convictions.
The charges against appellant resulted from an accident in which his vehicle drifted over the center line on the Florida Turnpike into the vehicle occupied by the Bell family. Two of the passengers in the Bells' vehicle were injured; a third was killed.
Prior to trial, appellant filed a motion in limine to exclude the blood and the results of the analysis performed on the blood which was extracted from him at the hospital. He argued that the process by which the blood was drawn and preserved was not scientifically reliable and compromised the reliability of the results obtained.
At the hearing on the motion in limine, F. Thomas Carroll (Carroll), a forensic toxicologist at the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office's crime laboratory, discussed the effects of having an anti-coagulant mixed in with the blood sample, and explained that the only way the anti-coagulant could affect the reliability of the testing is if there is none at all in the vial. On cross-examination, Carroll admitted that he was not at the hospital when the blood was drawn and had no way of knowing the reliability of the test. He assumed an anti-coagulant had been introduced into the samples of appellant's blood because it was not clotted. The court denied the motion in limine stating only that "the record speaks for itself."
Prior to trial, defense counsel also objected to a late witness being added to the state's list. The state sought to have the nurse's supervisor, Mary Nevels (Nevels), testify that the nurse who drew appellant's blood was certified to draw the blood, and also to verify the nurse's signature on the Implied Consent form. The form had been filled out by the state trooper and signed by the nurse when he drew appellant's blood. Defense counsel argued that because Nevels was not the person who had drawn appellant's blood, she was an improper person through whom to introduce the blood test results. The court denied the request to exclude the supervisor's testimony.
At trial, trooper Kelly Hildreth Bagnardi (Bagnardi), a traffic homicide investigator with the Florida Highway Patrol, testified that she met appellant's ambulance at the hospital and requested that a nurse draw his blood. Bagnardi identified the blood kit which she had taken to the hospital and which was ultimately used to draw appellant's blood. She stated that it is her practice to initial the stickers which go on the vials of blood, and to have the nurse or paramedic who actually draws the blood place his or her initials on the package as well. Bagnardi observed appellant's blood being drawn that night and then took the vials of his blood and initialed the stickers. She had the nurse, Donald Cook (Cook), initial the stickers as well and then placed the vials in a bag and sealed the bag. Bagnardi delivered the bag to Corporal Ratliff who was at the scene of the accident.
Nevels testified that Cook is authorized to draw blood and that, over the past ten years of supervising him, Nevels has seen his signature many times. She then
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