Case Title: State v. Many

Citation: 163 Vt 595, 653 A.2d 780

Docket Number: 

State: vermont

Court: Vermont Supreme Court

Date: 1994-12-13T00:00:00Z

Document:
STATE_V_MANY.94-241; 163 Vt 595; 653 A.2d 780

[Filed 13-Dec-1994]

                           ENTRY ORDER

                 SUPREME COURT DOCKET NO. 94-241

                       NOVEMBER TERM, 1994


State of Vermont             }          APPEALED FROM:
                             }
                             }
     v.                      }          District Court of Vermont,
                             }          Unit No. 2, Addison Circuit
Scott P. Many                }
                             }          DOCKET NO. 738-12-93Ancr

        In the above entitled cause the Clerk will enter:

  Defendant appeals the district court's order denying his motion to suppress
or exclude evidence of a breath alcohol test in his criminal prosecution for
operating a vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor, 23
V.S.A.  1201(a)(2).  In the civil suspension proceeding, the court denied
suspension of defendant's license after determining that the breath alcohol
testing methods were invalid and the test results were unreliable and
inaccurate.  In that proceeding, the State offered the police officer's live
testimony and the chemist's affidavit.  In the criminal proceeding, the State
offered to introduce the chemist's live testimony regarding the reliability
of the breath alcohol test.  Defendant claims that collateral estoppel, or
issue preclusion, bars the evidence from the subsequent criminal prosecution.

 Issue preclusion does not apply between summary civil suspension proceedings
and criminal prosecutions where the State did not have a fair and full
opportunity to litigate and where it would be unfair to apply issue
preclusion.  State v. Stearns, 159 Vt. 266, 272, 617 A.2d 140,