Mayes v. City of Irondale
Mayes v. City of Irondale
Opinion
Allen Paul Mayes was convicted of DUI in violation of Ala. Code 1975, §
Irondale police officer Jim Kennedy arrested the defendant for DUI and took him to the Leeds police department, where the defendant was given a breath test on the Intoxilyzer 5000. Kennedy took the defendant to Leeds because the Irondale intoxylizer operator "was not on duty that night."
Leeds police sergeant William Washington was a certified operator of the Intoxilyzer 5000. He testified that the Intoxylizer 5000 "has been approved and adapted" by the Leeds police department as the machine to be used in administering breath tests. There was no testimony as to what test had been adopted by the police department of the City of Irondale.
In pertinent part, §
"The test or tests shall be administered at the direction of a law enforcement officer having reasonable grounds to believe the person to have been driving a motor vehicle upon the public highways of this state while under the influence of intoxicating liquor. The law enforcement agency by which such officer is employed shall designate which of the aforesaid tests shall be administered."
(Emphasis added.)
The emphasized portion of §
Therefore, the proper predicate for the admission of a chemical test pursuant to §
After the defense had presented its case and defense counsel had made his motion for a judgment of acquittal, the following occurred:
"MR. ENNIS [prosecutor]: Judge, for the record, before we bring the jury in we have an adopting ordinance attached to the original complaint in this case. I don't remember, and forgive me for not remembering, but I believe it was stipulated to by Mr. Parker [defense counsel] and myself that we do not need the city clerk to authenticate that particular adopting ordinance.
"MR. PARKER: Right.
"THE COURT: All right. Then it is considered a part of it."
At the hearing on the defendant's post-trial motion for judgment of acquittal, with regard to this issue defense counsel stated, "All I stipulated was that the ordinance wouldn't have to have the clerk come up here and testify to its validity. But he never offered it into evidence." The prosecutor replied that defense counsel "was thinking one thing and I was thinking another."
In his "order denying motion for judgment of acquittal," the trial judge stated:
"After the jury had been selected and prior to commencement of opening statement and testimony, the attorney for the city of Irondale, Mr. John Ennis advised the Court as to an agreed stipulation concerning an adopting ordinance by the city of Irondale concerning certain sections of the Code of the State of Alabama. The motion and response by Mr. Arthur Parker, attorney for the Defendant, are contained with the transcript of the proceedings attached to the order.1
"The Court has further reviewed the taperecording of the portion of the proceedings as made by the Court Reporter during the course of the trial. The issue addressed in ground one of the Motion for Judgment of Acquittal by the Defendant, concerns the admission of the municipal ordinance which adopted the State Code. In reviewing the transcript of the proceedings and the tape-recording of same, the Court concluded that it was the intent of the Court at the time the stipulation was stated to the Court and it was the impression of the Court that the attorneys for the City of Irondale and for the Defendant, Alan Paul Mayes, were stipulating as to the admissibility of the municipal ordinance and the authenticity of same. It was with that stipulation that the Court accepted the adopting ordinance and considered at that time. . . . Even though not perfectly set out in the colloquy between the Court and the attorneys for the city and the Defendant, it was the intention of the Court when the Court said "alright then it is considered a part of it," that, that was an order that the adopting ordinance be admitted as an exhibit for the city." (Footnote added.)
Other than the above-quoted exchange between the prosecutor, defense counsel, and the trial judge and the written order of the trial court, the record is silent on this issue.
"[I]n the absence of the evidence and proceedings on the trial, all presumptions must be indulged in favor of the trial court. Error cannot be presumed." Thomas v. State,
The judgment of the circuit court is affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
All Judges concur.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Alan Paul Mayes v. City of Irondale.
- Cited By
- 3 cases
- Status
- Published