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State v. Sanchez11/7/2001
Defendant, Roberto Sanchez, appeals from the judgment and sentence of the trial court for aggravated driving while under the influence of alcohol (DWI), pursuant to NMSA 1978, Section 66-8-102(D)(3) (1999). On appeal, Defendant raises four issues. Defendant argues that (1) there was insufficient probable cause to arrest him for DWI, (2) there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction for aggravated DWI, (3) statements made to the arresting officer should have been suppressed for failure to advise Defendant of his Miranda rights, and (4) the trial court erred by not appointing new counsel for Defendant at trial. Not persuaded by Defendant's arguments, we affirm.
BACKGROUND
Defendant approached a DWI roadblock on August 22, 1999. Officer Massis was one of the officers working the roadblock. Officer Massis approached Defendant's vehicle, after Defendant had stopped at the roadblock, and asked Defendant for his driver's license, registration and proof of insurance. Instead of a driver's license, Defendant gave Officer Massis a New Mexico identification card. Further questioning by the officer revealed that Defendant was driving with a revoked license. While talking to Defendant, Officer Massis noticed that Defendant had a strong odor of alcohol on his breath, and blood-shot, watery eyes. According to the officer's testimony, when asked if he had been drinking, Defendant responded that he had consumed two beers that night. At this point, Officer Massis told Defendant to pull over to the side of the road and get out of the car so that he could administer the field sobriety testing. The officer told Defendant to move to the front of his patrol car so that the tests could be videotaped. The videotape, which was admitted into evidence, shows that Defendant flatly refused to consent to the field sobriety testing saying, "I am not going to do nothing. Let's go to jail." It is also clear, from the videotape, that Defendant was wearing a leg brace at the time. After Defendant refused to consent to the field sobriety testing, Officer Massis placed him under arrest for DWI, and for driving with a revoked license. Defendant offered no explanation for refusing to take the field sobriety tests, and only alluded to having a knee problem later, after the officers had performed a pat-down and were in the process of helping Defendant into the patrol car.
At trial, Officer Massis testified that, prior to Defendant's refusal to consent to the field sobriety testing, he thought there was reasonable suspicion, but not probable cause, to conclude that Defendant was guilty of DWI. When asked what brought him to the point of determining that he did have probable cause to arrest Defendant, the officer testified, "because [Defendant] refused to do my field sobriety tests." After Defendant refused to perform field sobriety tests, Officer Massis placed him under arrest, read him the Implied Consent Act, and asked him if he would take a blood test. See NMSA 1978, §§ 66-8-105 to -112 (as amended through 1993). Defendant also refused to consent to a blood test.
At a bench trial, Defendant testified that he told Officer Massis that he would not take the field sobriety testing because of his bad knee. However, the videotape does not show Defendant offering any such explanation. At trial, Defendant could not explain why that alleged portion of the conversation was not on the videotape. The trial judge ruled that the videotape had not been altered, and found that Officer Massis had probable cause to question and detain Defendant based on his observations. Additionally, the trial judge found that Defendant's refusal to take the field sobriety testing could indicate a consciousness o
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