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State v. Cluley11/12/2002
The law may be a blunt instrument, but it is not an exact science. This driving-under-the-influence (DUI) case illustrates that point, and, at the same time, provides an object lesson on why the law does not concern itself with trifles ("de minimis non curat lex").
Petitioning for certiorari, the state asks us to reverse a District Court decision suppressing certain breath-test results attributable to respondent, motor-vehicle operator David Cluley (Cluley). After a pretrial hearing in connection with the state's DUI case against Cluley, the District Court suppressed the test results. It did so because it found that the Department of Health (DOH) failed to comply with an applicable DOH regulation when it attempted to validate the accuracy of certain breath-testing equipment that the police later used to gauge the alcohol content of Cluley's blood. The state contends that the trial judge erred in suppressing the breath-test results because it duly established that DOH had checked the breath-test equipment for accuracy "no more than thirty (30) days prior to the test," G.L. 1956 § 31-27-2(c)(5), and that its validation efforts complied with the applicable DOH regulation because the tested equipment "indicate[d] the same alcohol percent as the standard alcohol solution used in the test."
Department of Health, Food and Drug Control Division Rules and Regulations Pertaining to Preliminary Breath Testing and Standards for the Determination of the Amount of Alcohol and/or Drugs in a Person's Blood by Chemical Analysis of the Breath, Blood and/or Urine or Other Bodily Substances, § 7.0 D.1 (2001) (DOH Rules and Regulations). Because the accuracy of Cluley's breath-test results was not called into question by the results of DOH's challenged validation process and because the District Court failed to defer to DOH's reasonable interpretation of its own regulation pertaining to the validation of the testing equipment, we reverse, quash the order suppressing the results of Cluley's breath test, and remand the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Travel and Facts
On May 19, 2001, the state police stopped Cluley's vehicle for speeding. Suspecting him of driving his vehicle while under the influence of some intoxicating substance, the police administered two field sobriety tests to Cluley, and then obtained his consent to conduct breath tests. These latter tests resulted in blood-alcohol-content readings of 0.136 in the first testing phase and 0.113 in the second phase *fn1 -- well over the 0 .08 legal limit established by § 31-27-2(a) and (b)(1). *fn2 As a result, the police charged Cluley with DUI in violation of this statute.
Eventually, Cluley moved to suppress the test results, arguing that DOH had not complied with either § 31-27-2(c)(4) and (5) *fn3 or with an applicable DOH regulation implementing this statute. *fn4 The District Court judge granted Cluley's motion to suppress, ruling that the tests DOH had used on May 1, 2001, to determine the accuracy of the breath-testing equipment did not result in readings "indicat[ing] the same alcohol percent as the standard alcohol solution used in the test," as required by § 7.0 D.1 of the DOH Rules and Regulations. The judge also noted that the machine used to test Cluley's breath had been out of service eight times since 1992. Lastly, he pointed to the fact that DOH failed to certify the accuracy of the machine after a DOH tester, on or about May 8, 2001, had moved a lever on the equipment from the "off" to the "on" position.
Analysis
In any DUI prosecution, before breath-test results can be admitted as evidence of a driver's alleged intoxication, qualified DOH agents must have tested the eq
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