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Woods v. State4/7/1999
NOTICE: Memorandum decisions of this court do not create legal precedent. See Alaska Appellate Rule 214(d) and Paragraph 7 of the Guidelines for Publication of Court of Appeals Decisions (Court of Appeals Order No. 3). Accordingly, this memorandum decision may not be cited for any proposition of law, nor as an example of the proper resolution of any issue.
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND JUDGMENT
No. 4034
Appeal from the District Court, Third Judicial District, Palmer, Suzanne H. Lombardi, Judge.
Following a jury trial, Cindy K. Woods was convicted of driving while intoxicated (DWI) and resisting arrest. She now appeals, asserting that District Court Judge Suzanne H. Lombardi committed various errors during the trial. We affirm.
On June 19, 1997, at approximately 7:00 p.m., Trooper David DeCoeur contacted a man and a woman sitting in a Chevrolet Impala in the parking lot of the Motor Room Subaru shop off Bogard Road in Wasilla. DeCoeur testified that he approached the couple because he had, on other occasions, been dispatched to the Motor Room for theft investigations. He said that he did not notice when the vehicle had entered the parking lot.
He contacted Woods, who was in the driver's seat. Her companion was James Pointer. Pointer's brother owned the Motor Room. James Pointer lived in a small travel trailer parked on the lot. The engine of the Impala was not running; a set of keys lay on the dashboard above the steering wheel.
After determining that Woods and Pointer had a legitimate reason to be on the Motor Room lot, DeCoeur began a DWI investigation. During his contact with Woods, he had noticed that her eyes were red and watery, that she smelled of alcohol, and that her speech was thick and slurred. When he called in her license, DeCoeur was advised by dispatch that Woods was mentally unstable and "could be combative to officers." He testified that he did not understand this to mean that Woods was mentally ill. He later found a partial twelve-pack of beer, still cool to the touch, in the car.
When DeCoeur questioned Woods about her alcohol consumption that evening, Woods at first denied having had anything to drink. She agreed to submit to the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN) test, which she failed. Although Woods was able to recite the alphabet and count backwards without difficulty, she failed these tests because she continued past the point at which she had been instructed to stop. DeCoeur attempted to administer balance tests, but Woods refused.
As DeCoeur continued his investigation, Woods became extremely upset and started crying, screaming, and cursing. When he turned Woods around and attempted to place handcuffs on her, she twisted her torso and kicked back at him several times, striking him in the legs. Eventually he arrested her for DWI and resisting arrest, and transported her to Palmer Post for an Intoximeter test. The test result showed that Woods had a blood-alcohol content (BAC) of .098 percent.
Woods remained hysterical during the entire DWI processing. At one point she yelled that she had high blood pressure and had had a stroke, and that she needed her medication. She also told the officer that she had a hearing problem and "a memory loss."
Woods' hospital records, which were introduced at trial, showed that she had suffered a stroke, had suffered from seizures, and had high blood pressure.
Prior to trial, Woods' attorney announced at two different trial calls that the defense was ready for trial. Woods filed no motions in limine, nor did she provide any notice of proposed expert witnesses.
During trial, Woods requested
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