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Clement v. State12/10/2001
okor's driving privilege after he refused to submit to a portable breath test at the scene of a motor vehicle accident. The trial court admitted evidence of the portable breath test, but found that it was entitled to no weight. The court found that the trooper did not have probable cause to believe Bokor was driving under the influence of alcohol and reversed the license revocation. The court on appeal agreed that evidence of the portable breath test was entitled to no weight on the probable cause issue because there was no evidence that the trooper understood how the device worked or had assurances of its reliability from an expert or that he had a reasonable basis for believing the device would produce reasonably reliable results under the circumstances in which it was used. The court held, however, that Bokor's uncontradicted testimony established the existence of probable cause for the arrest and that the license revocation was, therefore, not erroneous.
In Peterson, the defendant was convicted of speeding and challenged his conviction on the ground that radar evidence was improperly admitted. At trial, no evidence was presented to authenticate the radar unit as a device that, properly operated, produced an accurate measure of the speed of a passing vehicle. The municipal court judge stated that he was satisfied that the radar was accurate. The superior court judge stated that the process or system of a particular method of traffic radar was a proper subject of judicial notice. This court held that the superior court erred by taking judicial notice that the radar unit was reliable because the subject is not one of common knowledge. So, the court held that the trial court erred by admitting the radar result as proof that Peterson had been speeding and reversed the conviction.
Neither case disposes of the issue presented here, namely, whether the troopers could rely on the radar reading to establish probable cause to stop Clement for speeding when Clement was arrested for DUI, and not speeding. Peterson involved a prosecution for speeding, but Clement was not prosecuted for speeding. In Bokor, the issue was whether the officer had probable cause to arrest the defendant for DUI, while here, the issue was whether there was probable cause to stop Clement for speeding. Nor do the cases compel an affirmance of the superior court's order.
Conclusion
We hold that the Department met its burden of proving that Trooper Coglizer's stop of Clement's vehicle was valid. The Department was not required to produce foundational evidence to support Trooper Rodriguez's radar reading. Accordingly, we reverse the superior court's order and direct that the Department's order revoking Clement's driver's license be reinstated.
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