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Kinsman v. Director of Revenue7/24/2001
ed, purported to know nothing about the crash.
There is a difference between reviewing a probable cause determination, and reviewing whether the Director showed that in fact Kinsman was driving. Kinsman's out-of-court bare denial that he had been driving, under these circumstances, in the midst of unanswered and improbable circumstances, simply was not enough to move the analysis beyond the probable cause issue. This was not a hearing in a criminal DWI case. It was a civil case. There was no requirement of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Wilcox v. Dir. of Revenue, 892 S.W.2d 240, 255 (Mo. App. 1992). The issue was whether the officer had probable cause to believe Kinsman was driving. The Director presented evidence showing that the officer had probable cause to believe Kinsman had been driving. If Kinsman had been the unfortunate victim of unusual circumstances, he certainly could have presented evidence to show that things were not as they appeared. As already noted, the statute must be interpreted to allow Kinsman the opportunity to come forward with exculpatory evidence once the Director has shown that the officer had reasonable grounds. But the failure of Kinsman to present evidence in his own behalf in this case left the trial court with nothing but the Director's evidence. Because this was a civil case, the normal inference from Kinsman's decision to waive the presentation of evidence is that Kinsman had nothing to offer which would tend to show he was not driving on the night in question.
The practical considerations of everyday life on which reasonable people act, not the hindsight of legal technicians, govern the probable cause determination. Probable cause is evaluated from the vantage point of a prudent, cautious, and trained police officer at the scene at the time of arrest. In examining the existence of probable cause, courts consider the information possessed by the officer before the arrest and the reasonable inferences drawn therefrom. To form a belief amounting to probable cause, the arresting officer need not possess all the information concerning the offense and the arrestee's participation in it. Wilcox v. Dir. of Revenue, 842 S.W.2d 240, 255 (Mo. App. 1992) (internal citations omitted).
Because the trial court held that the Director had failed to show that the officer had reasonable grounds to believe Kinsman was driving, and because that conclusion was not supported by substantial evidence and was against the weight of the evidence, we reverse the judgment of the trial court and remand the case with directions to the trial court to enter judgment upholding Kinsman's suspension. Berry v. Dir. Of Revenue, 885 S.W.2d at 328.
Conclusion
We reverse the decision of the trial court and remand the case to the trial court with directions to enter judgment upholding the suspension.
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