The State v. Botts.
The State v. Botts.
Opinion
*227 The state appeals the trial court's grant of Sarah Beth Botts' motion in limine to exclude evidence of her blood test in this prosecution for driving under the influence of drugs and endangering a child. The state argues that the trial court erred in conclusively ruling Botts' blood test inadmissible instead of reserving *104 ruling until trial. The trial court's pretrial ruling was within his discretion, so we affirm.
Botts filed several pretrial motions, including a motion in limine to exclude evidence of the results of her blood test. She argued, among other things, that under OCGA § 40-6-392 (c) (2), the person who drew her blood was not qualified to do so. The trial court scheduled a hearing on her motion in limine as well as on her motion to suppress. In spite of Botts' allegations in her motion in limine of an insufficient foundation to admit the blood-test results, the state presented no evidence regarding the blood draw; its only witness at the hearing was the arresting officer, who testified about stopping Botts and conducting field sobriety tests. The trial court granted the motion in limine and the state filed this appeal.
The state argues that a trial court's ruling on a motion in limine is only a preliminary ruling subject to being revisited at trial, so the court may not definitively rule on the admissibility of evidence challenged in a motion in limine. In effect, the state argues that it could ignore Botts' motion, decline to present evidence at the hearing on the motion, and instead address Botts' motion at trial. We disagree.
"In considering a pre-trial motion in limine ..., the trial court may defer any ruling until trial, issue a conditional ruling, or make a definitive ruling admitting or excluding evidence."
State v. Battle
,
Citing
State v. Johnston
,
We do not read the Johnston court's use of the word "thereafter" as creating some kind of obligation on the court's part to notify the state of its intent to rule on the admissibility issue. In any event, the state had notice of the issue before the court. The state was served with the motion in limine "seeking to exclude in evidence blood test results" in which Botts requested the court to issue an order "holding inadmissible any blood tests drawn from the defendant," a permissible use of a motion in limine. And the state does not dispute that it was given notice of the hearing date. Further, as the trial court found in the order granting the motion in limine, at the beginning of the hearing, Botts announced the issues she expected to address, including the motion in limine to exclude the evidence because "the state can't lay a proper foundation," and the state nonetheless announced that it was ready to proceed. Under these facts, the state has not shown that it lacked notice.
For these reasons, the trial court did not abuse his discretion in granting Botts' motion in limine to exclude evidence of her blood test.
Judgment affirmed.
Ray and Rickman, JJ., concur in judgment only.*
* THIS OPINION IS PHYSICAL PRECEDENT ONLY. SEE COURT OF APPEALS RULE 33.2(a).
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.