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State v. Anderson4/29/2005
Factual Background
On September 28, 2002, at approximately 5:30 a.m., Officer Jackie Attkisson of the Tennessee Highway Patrol was working stationary radar on I-65 South in Williamson County at mile marker 73.3 when he clocked the appellant traveling eighty-seven (87) miles per hour in a seventy (70) mile per hour speed zone. Officer Attkisson observed the appellant cross the fog line as he rounded a curve where he was parked in his patrol car. Officer Attkisson pulled onto the interstate behind the appellant, started his monitoring camera, and followed the appellant off the exit ramp at Concord Road. At this time, Officer Attkisson activated his blue lights. The appellant crossed the fog line to the left as he traveled up the exit ramp, and came to a stop at the red light at the intersection of Concord Road and the exit ramp. Officer Attkisson did not immediately exit his vehicle because he expected the appellant to drive through the intersection and pull his vehicle off the road on the right shoulder. When he realized that the appellant was not going to move his vehicle from the middle of the road, Officer Attkisson exited his vehicle and walked up to the appellant's driver's side window. Officer Attkisson detected the odor of alcohol coming from within the vehicle. The appellant admitted to Officer Attkisson at that time that he had been working earlier in the evening for Budweiser, and he admitted to drinking a couple of beers prior to being pulled over.
The appellant produced a Michigan driver's license to Officer Attkisson. When Officer Attkisson radioed the driver's license in to dispatch, it came back as revoked. Officer Attkisson then requested that the appellant exit the vehicle to perform several field sobriety tasks. Officer Attkisson asked the appellant to pace ten (10) steps heel to toe, turn around and then take ten (10) steps back to his original position. When attempting to complete the task, Officer Attkisson noticed that the appellant could not touch his heel to his toe, and was unsure about himself when he turned on the tenth step. Officer Attkisson then asked the appellant to stand on one leg with his foot extended in front of him and count from one to thirty. Officer Attkisson was mainly interested in whether the appellant could count from one to thirty. The appellant was unable to count from one to thirty, pausing and restarting several times, and was unable to keep his foot elevated as instructed. Lastly, Officer Attkisson asked the appellant to touch his finger to his nose. The appellant was successful in performing the final task as instructed.
At that time, Officer Attkisson arrested the appellant on suspicion of DUI, based on the results of the field sobriety tasks. The appellant refused to submit to a blood-alcohol test.
In January of 2003, the appellant was indicted by the Williamson County Grand Jury for DUI, speeding, driving with a revoked driver's license, and DUI fourth offense. The indictment indicated that the appellant had three prior DUI convictions - two on July 1, 1997 and one on August 24, 1999.
At the jury trial, the State introduced the testimony of Officer Attkisson. During his testimony, Officer Attkisson opined that the appellant's driving ability was impaired due to the fact that he had too much to drink. Officer Attkisson admitted on cross-examination that he was unaware of the guidelines established by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for driving under the influence and that he failed to ask the appellant if he had any physical impairments prior to administering the field sobriety tasks. Further, Officer Attkisson admitted that he did not fully demonstrate the one-legged-stand t
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