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State v. Jackson10/14/2005
I. Background
Deputy Jason Taylor with the Greene County Sheriff's Department was dispatched to the Davy Crockett Truck Stop on December 20, 2002 to investigate an accident. A tractor-trailer had been backed into another trailer that was parked at a garage on the truck stop's premises. Defendant told Deputy Taylor that she was the driver of the truck that caused the accident. Deputy Taylor said that Defendant's eyes were bloodshot, and he detected the smell of alcohol about her person. He said that Defendant consented to a search of her truck's cab. Deputy Taylor found a half empty bottle of beer behind the passenger seat in the cab, and an unopened bottle of beer in a refrigerator in the truck. Deputy Taylor then arrested Defendant for DUI and transported her to the Greene County Detention Center. Deputy Taylor read Defendant her rights under the implied consent law, and Defendant signed the consent form, agreeing to take a blood alcohol test. A nurse at the detention center drew two samples of blood from Defendant. One of the vials was placed in a box and sealed; the other vial was given to Defendant. Deputy Taylor placed the sealed box in the "evidence bin" at the detention center.
On cross-examination, Deputy Taylor said that he arrived at the truck stop around 1:30 p.m. He could not recall if Defendant was crying. Deputy Taylor said that he did not take any notes of the incident, and his videotape equipment was inoperable. Deputy Taylor could not recall if the refrigerator inside the truck was turned on or off or whether the beer bottles he found were cold or hot. He said that the evidence bin at the detention center was accessible to other employees.
Brett Trotter, a forensic scientist with the T.B.I, tested Defendant's blood sample on February 7, 2003 with a head space gas chromatography. Mr. Trotter said that, in accordance with the laboratory's procedure, he ran a series of calibrations prior to testing to verify the equipment's proper operation. He then ran a series of control standards. Mr. Trotter said that his test showed that Defendant's blood sample had a concentration of 0.20 percent ethanol.
On cross-examination, Mr. Trotter said that he is assigned to the T.B.I. laboratory in Chattanooga. Defendant's blood sample was one of 436 samples that were transported from Knoxville to Chattanooga for testing because of a backlog in the Knoxville laboratory. Mr. Trotter said that he received the samples on January 8, 2003, and stored them in a locked refrigerator. Mr. Trotter said that he did not run a second test of Defendant's blood sample to confirm his initial results.
Virginia Gluck testified for the defense. Ms. Gluck said that she is a medical laboratory technologist with Takoma Adventist Hospital. Ms. Gluck said that Defendant called and asked her to perform a blood alcohol test on the blood sample that was given to Defendant at the detention center. Ms. Gluck said that Defendant's sample was in an unsealed vial, and the hospital usually did not perform tests on unsealed samples. Ms. Gluck said that hospital procedures required tape to be placed over the top and around the vial when a legal blood alcohol sample was taken. Nonetheless, Ms. Gluck tested Defendant's sample which showed a concentration of 0.051 percent ethanol.
Defendant testified that she had been a truck driver since 1978. She said that at the time of the accident, her tractor-trailer was parked at the truck stop for the duration of her Christmas vacation. Defendant said she cleaned the truck's cab on December 9, 2002, and put two beers in the truck. She drank one-half of one of the beers as she cleaned. Defendant said she returned to the truck stop o
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