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Walsh v. State2/9/2005
NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION
AFFIRMED
Appellant, Jason Walsh, was charged with the offenses of driving while intoxicated and driving on a suspended driver's license (not DWI related). He was tried by a jury and found not guilty of the DWI charge, but guilty of the driving on a suspended license charge. He was sentenced to serve ninety days in the county jail and fined $500. In this appeal, appellant challenges the trial court's denial of his motion for directed verdict and its denial of his motion to sever the two offenses. We affirm.
At the trial of this matter, Officer Jason Eddie, a certified law enforcement officer with the Fayetteville Police Department, testified that around 12:30 a.m. on February 23, 2003, he responded to a call from his sergeant to go to "The Electric Cowboy," a bar in Fayetteville. He explained that his sergeant had received an anonymous call reporting that a maroon Corvette, with a specified tag number, had marijuana inside of it and was located at The Electric Cowboy. Officer Eddie stated that he located the car but that nobody was in it. He said that he checked the vehicle tag and then left to take care of other calls. He testified that he later returned and observed two people walk to the car. He explained that he observed appellant get into the driver's seat and a female get into the passenger's seat.
Officer Eddie testified that The Electric Cowboy is located on Sixth Street in Fayetteville and that the maroon Corvette was initially parked next to the entrance/exit, very close to Sixth Street. He said that when the car first pulled out of its parking space, it did not turn directly onto Sixth Street. Rather, he stated that the car turned south, traveling down an aisle of the parking lot; that it then turned right, or west; and that it then turned north, remaining in the parking lot the entire time. He said that the car then stopped and that the occupants switched places. He testified that when they began moving again the female was driving, and that he followed them out of the parking lot.
Officer Eddie said that he observed the car make a lane change without signaling; that his previous check of the license tag had returned a brown Oldsmobile rather than a maroon Corvette; and that he therefore made a traffic stop. He testified that he noticed an odor of intoxicating alcohol when he talked to the occupants; that he asked appellant if he had been drinking; and that appellant said yes, explaining that was the reason he had a designated driver. Officer Eddie explained that he then asked appellant to step out of the car to take some field-sobriety tests, which he did. He testified that he then charged appellant with DWI. He said that he also charged him with driving on a suspended driver's license because when he "ran him through the NCIC and ACIC it showed that his driver's license was suspended." The State then introduced as an exhibit a certified, redacted copy of appellant's driving record.
At the conclusion of the State's case, appellant made several motions, including the motion for a directed verdict with respect to the charge of driving with a suspended license. The trial court denied the motion.
Appellant then testified in his own behalf. He stated that on or about February 22, 2003, he drove from his place of work to The Electric Cowboy, where his girlfriend was. He stated that his girlfriend also had a car on the parking lot, and that she wanted to drive it rather than his Corvette because she was unfamiliar with the Corvette. He explained that he did not want to leave his car parked near the front door of the establishment because at closing time everyone gathers there. He said tha
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