 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Lewellyn v. State5/26/1999
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND JUDGMENT [No. 4053 - May 26, 1999]
District Court Judge Mark I. Wood convicted Christopher Lewellyn at a court trial on a charge of driving while intoxicated (DWI). Lewellyn appeals, alleging various errors. We affirm.
Facts and proceedings
On March 15, 1997, Lewellyn was involved in an automobile accident when he failed to yield to oncoming traffic. Because Lewellyn was injured, the fire department transported him to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital. There, Lewellyn received treatment for a scalp laceration on the back of his head and for a minor injury on the inside of his lip.
Fairbanks Police Officer William Buchanan (who did not investigate the accident) went to the hospital to serve Lewellyn with a traffic ticket for failing to yield to the other vehicle. He contacted Lewellyn in an emergency treatment room - a room with beds for more than one patient, although Lewellyn was the only patient at the time. Once he contacted Lewellyn, Buchanan saw signs that Lewellyn was intoxicated.
Based on his observations of Lewellyn, and before arresting him, Buchanan administered a preliminary breath test, which showed that Lewellyn had a .149 blood alcohol content (BAC). Buchanan arrested Lewellyn, and transported him to the police department for an Intoximeter test. Although they videotaped the fifteen-minute observation period, there was no sound due to mechanical problems. During most of this waiting period, Lewellyn, who had an injury to his lip, kept a cloth over or near his mouth. According to the Intoximeter, Lewellyn's BAC was .155.
Lewellyn made several pre-trial motions to suppress evidence on various grounds. He first moved to suppress evidence of the breath tests claiming Buchanan lacked probable cause to arrest. On June 26, 1997, during an evidentiary hearing on this motion, he argued for the first time (and later brought a separate motion) that the court should suppress the evidence because of Buchanan's warrantless entry into the hospital's emergency treatment room. After the June 26 hearing, Judge Wood issued a written decision that denied Lewellyn's probable cause motion. Judge Wood held a separate evidentiary hearing on the motion that objected to Officer Buchanan's entry into the hospital treatment room without a warrant. Lewellyn argued at that hearing that the contact in the hospital amounted to custodial interrogation for purposes of Miranda.
On June 30, 1997, at a related license revocation hearing, an administrative hearing officer issued a decision stating that Buchanan lacked probable cause to administer the preliminary breath test. Lewellyn then moved the district court to reconsider its June 26 decision under the doctrine of collateral estoppel. Judge Wood denied this motion, ruling that he had entered a final decision on that issue before the administrative decision. Judge Wood decided the other motions by September 1997. On February 7, 1998, Judge Wood convicted Lewellyn at his court trial.
Lewellyn appeals, contending that Judge Wood erred by not applying the doctrines of collateral estoppel and double jeopardy; by concluding that the police had probable cause to arrest him; by failing to suppress the evidence seized in the hospital emergency treatment room; by failing to suppress statements he made to the police while in the hospital treatment room because of a purported Miranda violation; by failing to suppress the Intoximeter result because the police did not substantially comply with the required testing procedures and because Lewellyn did not waive his right to an independent chemical test.
Discussion
Collateral estoppel
Page 1 2 3 4 5 Alaska DUI Attorneys
DUI Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|