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State v. Massey4/16/1999
nt next argues that he was prevented from arguing to the jury that the failure of the officers to provide or arrange transportation to a facility for an independent blood test, as required by 23 V.S.A. § 1203a(c), allowed them to refuse to accept the breath test. See State v. West, 151 Vt. 140, 143, 557 A.2d 873, 875 (1988) (jury may consider whether test was properly administered in deciding whether to convict based on test result). In assessing this claim, we note that defendant was allowed to introduce before the jury evidence related to his claim that the officer failed to arrange or provide transportation. The issue relates to the court's instruction to the jury on how to consider the transportation evidence.
The court instructed the jury that they could consider the independent test evidence only as part of its evaluation of the credibility of the witnesses. During the charge conference, defense counsel objected, arguing that the court should instruct that the evidence about the failure to transport defendant to a facility for a blood test did not make the test inadmissible, but that the jury would be entitled to consider the test "if it found . . . the chemical analysis was worthy of being considered in accordance with the other protections." After the instruction, defense counsel "reiterate " his exception stating "the instruction should have merely related that to not affecting admissibility." Defendant's cryptic objection was inadequate to comply with V.R.Cr.P. 30 (defendant must object to instruction, "stating distinctly the matter to which he objects and the grounds of his objection"). At best, defendant was seeking an instruction that the Judge had made an admissibility ruling only and had not taken away the function of the jury to find the test result reliable in order to convict. We fail to see how defendant's added or different approach would have aided the jury which knew little about the admissibility dispute. In any event, defendant proposed no alternative instruction that would have made his position clear to the court and the jury. See State v. Crosby, 124 Vt. 294, 297, 204 A.2d 123, 125-26 (1964) (finding no error where defendant's nebulous objection to instruction did not reasonably indicate with specificity what he was requesting).
Affirmed.
Associate Justice
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