Stewart v. State
Stewart v. State
Opinion of the Court
OPINION
delivered the opinion of the Court,
We withdraw our previous opinion and substitute this opinion. Dawn Kuretsch
Facts
Around midnight on April 4, 1999, Stewart and a friend were driving back to Pleasanton from a concert in San Antonio. Stewart was driving her friend’s truck. A San Antonio police officer, Jay Rodriguez, pulled Stewart over for weaving in her own lane, making an improper lane change, and making an unsafe lane change. The officer testified that Stewart’s eyes were red and glassy, and her breath smelled of alcohol. Stewart also admitted to Rodriguez that she drank a couple of beers at the concert. Officer Rodriguez conducted seven field sobriety tests on Stewart and arrested her after she failed three of them. Rodriguez related the events beginning with Stewart’s traffic violations to her arrest, which were recorded on the videotape equipment in his patrol car. The officer took Stewart to the police station, where she consented to a breath test. The test results showed Stewart’s blood alcohol concentration as 0.160 on one test and 0.154 on the other, both exceeding the legal limit of 0.10. About an hour and twenty minutes elapsed from the time Stewart was pulled over until she submitted to the breath tests, which included the time to conduct the field sobriety tests, for Officer Rodriguez to complete his paperwork, for someone to pick up Stewart’s friend at the scene, and to transport Stewart to the police station.
The Penal Code definition of intoxication in effect at the time of Stewart’s arrest was “having an alcohol concentration of 0.10 or more”
The trial judge admitted Stewart’s breath alcohol test results but refused to permit the State’s expert to give retrograde extrapolation testimony, because the State’s extrapolation expert, Mr. McDou-gall, conceded that he did not have enough information to determine what Stewart’s alcohol concentration would have been at the time she drove. He testified that the blood alcohol concentration shown by the results of the tests taken at the police station could have been higher, lower, or the same as results that would have been obtained immediately after Stewart drove, because Stewart’s body could have been absorbing or eliminating alcohol at the time of the test.
Procedural History
Stewart was convicted by a jury of driving while intoxicated. The trial judge sentenced Stewart to 120 days in jail, probated eight months, and fined her $500 plus court costs. On appeal, the Fourth Court
Analysis
The State contends in its first two grounds for review that the Court of Appeals erred in holding that the trial court improperly admitted Stewart’s breath tests results. That court found that without retrograde extrapolation evidence Stewart’s breath test results were irrelevant to show that Stewart was intoxicated at the time she drove, and the results of the breath tests were no evidence that she was intoxicated at the time she was driving, because her blood alcohol concentration level could have been more or less at the time of the test than when she drove.
The issue here is whether Stewart was intoxicated at the time she drove. Stewart’s breath test results tended to make it more probable that she was intoxicated at the time she drove under either definition of intoxication because they provided evidence that she had consumed alcohol. And, there is no evidence that she consumed alcohol after driving. The breath test results—along with Officer Rodriguez’s testimony and the videotape of Stewart—were probative evidence of her intoxication. The breath test results might not have been conclusive proof that Stewart was intoxicated at the time that she drove, but that is of no consequence. We conclude that the Court of Appeals erred in finding that the results of Stewart’s breath tests were irrelevant without retrograde extrapolation evidence.
We also agree with the State that the Court of Appeals erred in using a “no evidence” standard of review in analyzing the admissibility of the breath test results. The proper inquiry is whether evidence is relevant, and if so, whether the trial court erred in finding that the probative value was not substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice.
The State also argues that the Court of Appeals erred in finding that the admission of the breath test results without retrograde extrapolation evidence invited the jury to conduct its own crude retrograde extrapolation.
The admission of the breath test results did not necessarily encourage the jury to engage in its own crude retrograde extrapolation because the jury did not need to establish Stewart’s exact blood alcohol concentration at the time that she drove. The jury only needed to believe beyond a reasonable doubt that either her blood alcohol concentration was 0.10 or more, or that she failed to have the normal use of her mental or physical faculties by reason of introduction of alcohol into her body, at the time she drove. The breath test results were properly admitted evidence to consider with all of the other evidence of intoxication to determine if Stewart was intoxicated at the time she drove. We find that the Court of Appeals erred in finding that the trial court encouraged the jury to
Nevertheless, we disagree with the State’s argument that the Court of Appeals erred in finding that the trial court improperly admitted Stewart’s breath test results because the Transportation Code creates absolute admissibility of breath test results. The State contends that the Texas Legislature has mandated the admissibility of intoxilyzer results in driving while intoxicated cases because Section 724.064 of the Texas Transportation Code provides that evidence of alcohol concentration shown by analysis of a person’s breath taken at the request of a peace officer is admissible.
The dissent contends that “relevancy does not end the inquiry” and concludes that the evidence is barred by Rule 403.
In its third ground for review, the State argues that the Court of Appeals conducted an improper harm analysis. Because we have concluded that the trial court did not err in admitting Stewart’s breath test results without retrograde extrapolation, we need not address this ground.
Conclusion
We conclude that the Court of Appeals erred in finding that the trial court improperly admitted Stewart’s breath test results. The judgment is reversed and remanded to the Court of Appeals to address Stewart’s remaining points of error.
WOMACK, J., filed a concurring opinion, joined by MEYERS and JOHNSON, JJ.
We withdraw our previous and substitute this opinion. I join the opinion of the Court. I write only to emphasize that, because of the peculiar procedural posture of this appeal, that opinion does not resolve the problem that faces trial courts: whether to admit breath-test results without extrapolation evidence. This appeal presents only half of the problem, relevancy. As Judge Price’s opinion, post, points out, there are serious issues about the
. Stewart v. State, 103 S.W.3d 483, 487 (Tex. App.-San Antonio 2003).
. Act of Jun. 19, 1993, 73d Leg., R.S., ch. 900, § 1.01, 1993 Tex. Gen. Laws 3586, 3696, (amended 1999) (current version at Tex. Pen. Code Ann. § 49.01(2)(B) (Vernon 2003)).
.Act of Jun. 19, 1993, 73d Leg., R.S., ch. 900, § 1.01, 1993 Tex. Gen. Laws 3586, 3696 (amended 1999) (current version at Tex Pen. Code Ann. § 49.01(2)(A) (Vernon 2003)).
. Stewart, 103 S.W.3d at 486.
. Id.
. Id.
. Id.
. Tex.R. Evid. 401.
. McCormick Handbook of the Law of Evidence § 185, at 436 (2ded.l972).
. TexR. Evid. 401, 402, 403.
. Bagheri v. State, 87 S.W.3d 657, 660 n. 1 (Tex.App.-San Antonio 2002), affd on other grounds, 119 S.W.3d 755 (Tex.Crim.App. 2003).
. Commonwealth v. Jarman, 529 Pa. 92, 601 A.2d 1229, 1231 (1992); Commonwealth v. Modaffare, 529 Pa. 101, 601 A.2d 1233, 1235 (1992).
. Bagheri, 87 S.W.3d at 660-61.
. See Commonwealth v. Loeper, 541 Pa. 393, 663 A.2d 669, 674 n. 7 (1995); 75 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 3731 (2003).
. Stewart v. State, 103 S.W.3d 483, 486 (Tex. App.-San Antonio 2003).
. Id.
. See Act of Jun. 19, 1993, 73d Leg., R.S., ch. 900, § 1.01, 1993 Tex. Gen. Laws 3586, 3696, (amended 1999) ((current version at Tex Pen.Code Ann § 49.01) (Vernon 2003)).
. Tex. Transp. Code Ann. § 724.064 (Vernon 2003).
. Bagheri v. State, 119 S.W.3d 755, 760 (Tex. Crim.App. 2003).
. Id.
. TexR. Evid. 403.
. Stewart v. State, 103 S.W.3d 483, 486 (Tex. App.-San Antonio 2003).
Dissenting Opinion
filed a dissenting opinion.
I write separately for two reasons: first, because the majority does not fully discuss the law governing the admissibility of the evidence, and second, because I believe the trial court erred in allowing the State to present the breath test results without demonstrating that the appellant’s blood alcohol concentration was greater than 0.10 while she drove. I dissent because I conclude that the appellant was harmed by the admission of the breath test results into evidence.
The breath test results were inadmissible in this case because, although they were relevant under Texas Rule of Evidence 401, without retrograde extrapolation evidence, the results were substantially more prejudicial than probative under a Texas Rule of Evidence 403 analysis. Pursuant to Rule 401, “ ‘Relevant evidence’ means evidence having any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence.” This means the evidence must be both material and tend to prove the proposition for which it is offered.
Yet relevancy does not end the inquiry in determining whether the disputed evidence is admissible because the appellant objected on the basis of Texas Rule of Evidence 403, as well. In addition to being relevant, the evidence must clear the additional bar set by Rule 403. Rule 403 permits the exclusion of otherwise relevant evidence, “if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, or misleading the jury, or by considerations of undue delay, or needless presentation of cumulative issues.” The breath test results do not pass muster under Rule 403 because they present a substantial danger of unfair prejudice.
The breath test results are prejudicial because they led the jury to an inference, which the trial court found that the State could not prove through retrograde extrapolation evidence, namely, that because appellant scored greater than 0.10 on the breath tests, she was intoxicated at the time she drove. Additionally, the breath test results are prejudicial because “[t]he prosecutor repeatedly argued that because Stewart’s alcohol concentration was more than 0.10, she was intoxicated.”
A person may be convicted of driving while intoxicated only “if the person is intoxicated while operating a motor vehicle.”
Without the retrograde extrapolation evidence, the State was required to prove intoxication, not by demonstrating that she had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.10, but by demonstrating that the appellant did not the have normal use of her faculties by reason of introduction of alcohol into her body. Consequently, while the breath test results were probative of the appellant’s introduction of alcohol into her body, they were not proof of appellant’s intoxication at the time that she drove.
I agree with the Court of Appeals that the trial court erred in admitting the evidence, albeit for different reasons. Additionally, I believe that the Court of Appeals was correct in concluding that the appellant was harmed by the trial court’s error. The admission of the breath test results is nonconstitutional error, and under Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 44.2(b), a reviewing court should disregard any error that does not affect the appellant’s substantial rights. We have interpreted this to mean that the conviction should not be reversed when, after examining the record as a whole, the reviewing court has a fair assurance that the error did not influence the jury or had but a slight effect.
After reviewing the entire record, I do not believe it is a fair statement to say that the erroneous admission of the breath test results did not influence the jury or had only slight effect. The State was required to prove that the appellant was driving while intoxicated in one of three
While the breath test results were relevant evidence in tending to prove that the appellant had consumed alcohol before she drove, because the State could not prove that the appellant was intoxicated at the time she drove through the test results, their probative value was limited. The evidence should not have been admitted by the trial court because its limited probative value was substantially outweighed by the danger of the unfair prejudice associated with scoring 0.160 and 0.154 on the breath tests. Because the jury could not have avoided the prejudicial influence of the evidence, the appellant was harmed by the erroneous admission of the breath test results. For the foregoing reasons, I respectfully dissent.
. Cathleen C. Herasimchuk, Texas Rules of Evidence Handbook 194 (3d ed. 1998).
. Ibid.
. Stewart v. State, 103 S.W.3d 483, 486 (Tex. App.-San Antonio 2003).
. Ibid., (emphasis in original).
. Tex. Pen.Code § 49.04(a).
. See Act of June 19, 1993, 73d Leg., R.S., ch. 900, § 1.01, 1993 Tex. Gen. Laws 3586, 3696, (amended 1999) (current version at Tex. Pen. Code § 49.01).
. See Manning v. State, 114 S.W.3d 922, 929 (Tex.Crim.App. 2003) (Price, J., concurring).
. Johnson v. State, 967 S.W.2d 410, 417 (Tex. Crim.App. 1998).
Reference
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- Dawn Kuretsch STEWART, Appellant, v. the STATE of Texas
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