Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 06A05-1404-CR-144 | April 17, 2015 Page 1 of 10

MEMORANDUM DECISION

Pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 65(D), this 

Memorandum Decision shall not be regarded as 

precedent or cited before any court except for the 

purpose of establishing the defense of res judicata, 

collateral estoppel, or the law of the case.

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT

John D. Fierek

Indianapolis, Indiana

ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE

Gregory F. Zoeller

Attorney General of Indiana

Brian Reitz

Deputy Attorney General

Indianapolis, Indiana

I N T H E

COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA

Andrew C. Stevens,

Appellant-Defendant,

v.

State of Indiana,

Appellee-Plaintiff.

April 17, 2015

Court of Appeals Cause No.

06A05-1404-CR-144

Appeal from the Boone Superior 

Court; The Honorable Rebecca S. 

McClure, Judge;

06D02-1102-CM-128

May, Judge.
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[1] Andrew Stevens was convicted after a bench trial of Class A misdemeanor 

operating a vehicle with an alcohol concentration equivalent to at least fifteenhundredths gram of alcohol per one hundred (100) milliliters of blood or two 

hundred ten liters of breath.

1

 He argues on appeal his Fourth Amendment 

rights were violated when police entered his garage without a warrant or his 

consent after he committed a traffic infraction, and the trial court should not 

have admitted his blood test results. 

[2] We affirm. 

Facts and Procedural History

[3] On February 17, 2011, a Zionsville police officer noticed Andrew Stevens’ 

vehicle approaching him from behind at a high rate of speed that the officer 

estimated was faster than the twenty mile-per-hour speed limit in that area. The 

officer turned onto a side road, then after Stevens went past him he followed 

Stevens with his lights activated. Stevens approached a stop sign and slowed to 

ten-to-fifteen miles per hour but did not stop. Stevens maintained that speed 

until he turned into his driveway and pulled into his garage. 

[4] The officer pulled into Stevens’ driveway and approached Stevens, entering the 

garage and identifying himself as a police officer. Stevens did not invite the 

 

1

 Ind. Code § 9-30-5-1(b). 
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officer into the garage, and the officer did not have a warrant to enter it.2 The 

officer asked Stevens for his license and registration. While he was helping 

Stevens find his registration, the officer noticed Stevens had the odor of an 

alcoholic beverage on his breath, glassy, bloodshot eyes, and poor manual 

dexterity. 

[5] Stevens asked the officer if he could go inside the house to let his dogs out. The 

officer told Stevens to remain outside, but Stevens entered his house anyway. 

Stevens returned from the house with his dogs. The officer told him to remain 

outside, but Stevens again went back into the house. He returned and the 

officer told Stevens to sit in the police car, but Stevens turned to go inside the 

house again. The officer blocked his path and had Stevens sit in the police car. 

[6] Two Whitestown police officers arrived, and when the Zionsville officer left his 

car to speak with them, Stevens exited the police car. The officers told him to 

stay in the car but Stevens tried to exit it again. The officers then asked Stevens 

 

2

 In his Statement of Facts, Stevens says the officer “testified . . . he didn’t have probable cause to arrest 

Stevens for anyting [sic] when he entered the garage (Tr. p. 37).” (Appellant’s Br. at 3.) Nothing on that 

page of the transcript supports counsel’s statement the officer “didn’t have probable cause to arrest Stevens.” 

That misrepresentation is of particular concern because it might, if true, directly affect the propriety of 

Stevens’ conviction. See Haley v. State, 696 N.E.2d 98, 101 (Ind. Ct. App. 1998) (warrantless search can be 

justified only by probable cause and an exception to the warrant requirement; “[a]lthough an exception may 

justify proceeding without a warrant, it does not eliminate the need for probable cause”), trans. denied. And

see Young v. Butts, 685 N.E.2d 147, 151 (Ind. Ct. App. 1997) (finding factual misrepresentations “particularly 

offensive because they would, if true, directly affect the propriety of the trial court grant of judgment on the 

evidence”).
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to perform a field sobriety test but he would not. Stevens refused a chemical 

test, and the officers obtained a search warrant for a blood draw. 

[7] The officers took Stevens to a hospital where a blood sample was obtained. In 

such a situation, the hospital takes two samples. One, which is placed in a tube 

with a red stopper (“the red tube”), contains no additives and is used as a 

preliminary test and analyzed immediately. The other, which is placed in a 

tube with a gray stopper (“the gray tube”), contains an additive and is analyzed 

later and used as a confirmatory test. The gray tube used for Stevens’ blood 

draw was three years past its expiration date, but the expiration date refers only 

to the guarantee of the tube’s vacuum. The confirmatory test showed Stevens’ 

alcohol concentration equivalent (“ACE”) was .23 grams of alcohol per 100 

milliliters of blood, and the red tube test indicated a concentration between .18 

and .22. Stevens was charged with operating a vehicle with an ACE over .15. 

Both blood draws were admitted into evidence and the trial court determined 

the Zionsville officer was justified in entering Stevens’ garage because Stevens 

was fleeing and the officer was in pursuit. 

Discussion and Decision

[8] Admission of evidence at trial is left to the discretion of the trial court. Clark v. 

State, 994 N.E.2d 252, 259-60 (Ind. 2013). We review its determinations for 

abuse of that discretion and reverse only when admission is clearly against the 

logic and effect of the facts and circumstances and the error affects a party’s 

substantial rights. Id. at 260. The standard used to review rulings on the 

admissibility of evidence “is effectively the same whether the challenge is made 
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by a pre-trial motion to suppress or by a trial objection.” Rush v. State, 881 

N.E.2d 46, 50 (Ind. Ct. App. 2008). We will not reweigh evidence and we 

consider conflicting evidence most favorable to the trial court’s ruling. Id. We 

will also consider any uncontested evidence in favor of the nonmovant. Id. We 

will affirm the decision if it is supported by substantial evidence of probative 

value. Id. The trial court’s ruling will be upheld if it is sustainable on any legal 

theory supported by the record, even if the trial court did not use that theory. 

Id. Harm arising from evidentiary error is “lessened if not totally annulled”

when, as in the case before us, the trial is by the court sitting without a jury. 

Loman v. State, 265 Ind. 255, 260, 354 N.E.2d 205, 209 (1976). 

Police Entry into Stevens’ Garage 

The Fourth Amendment generally prohibits warrantless searches. Id. The 

purpose of the Fourth Amendment is to protect the privacy and possessory 

interests of individuals by prohibiting unreasonable searches and seizures. Id. 

The touchstone of the Fourth Amendment is reasonableness, and 

reasonableness is measured in objective terms by examining the totality of the 

circumstances. Id. 

If a warrantless search is conducted, the burden is on the State to prove that, at 

the time of the search, an exception to the warrant requirement existed. Id. 

That is, searches conducted without a warrant are per se unreasonable, subject to 

a few well-delineated exceptions. Id. Whether a warrantless search violates the 

guarantees of the Fourth Amendment depends on the facts and circumstances 

of each case. Id. 
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[9] The existence of exigent circumstances falls within the exception to the warrant 

requirement. Id. In essence, the warrant requirement becomes inapplicable 

when the exigencies of the situation make the needs of law enforcement so 

compelling that the warrantless search is objectively reasonable under the 

Fourth Amendment. Id. Such circumstances include “hot pursuit.” Id.

[10] In denying Stevens’ motion to suppress, the trial court determined the officer 

was in pursuit of Stevens after he saw Stevens “speeding through his residential 

neighborhood, and failing to stop for a stop sign and signal to turn into his 

driveway. Further, Stevens was fleeing from [the officer] after the officer 

activated his emergency lights.” (App. at 99.) The officer was not required to 

obtain a warrant to enter Stevens’ garage because he was in “pursuit.” 

[11] A suspect “may not defeat an arrest which has been set in motion in a public 

place . . . by the expedient of escaping to a private place.” United States v. 

Santana, 427 U.S. 38, 43 (1976). We acknowledge the United States Supreme 

Court’s statement in Welsh v. Wisconsin, 466 U.S. 740, 750 (1984), that 

hesitation in finding exigent circumstances, especially when 

warrantless arrests in the home are at issue, is particularly appropriate 

when the underlying offense for which there is probable cause to arrest 

is relatively minor. Before agents of the government may invade the 

sanctity of the home, the burden is on the government to demonstrate 

exigent circumstances that overcome the presumption of 

unreasonableness that attaches to all warrantless home entries. See 

Payton v. New York, supra, 445 U.S. [573, 586 (1980)]. When the 

government’s interest is only to arrest for a minor offense, that 

presumption of unreasonableness is difficult to rebut, and the 

government usually should be allowed to make such arrests only with 
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a warrant issued upon probable cause by a neutral and detached 

magistrate. 

[12] While we are mindful of that hesitation, we have explicitly held that where 

there is immediate or continuous pursuit from the scene of a misdemeanor 

crime to the door of the defendant’s home, a warrantless home arrest is 

permitted. See State v. Blake, 468 N.E.2d 548, 553 (Ind. Ct. App. 1984) (“[a]

police officer in continuous pursuit of a perpetrator of a crime committed in the 

officer’s presence, be it a felony or a misdemeanor, must be allowed to follow 

the suspect into a private place, or the suspect’s home if he chooses to flee there, 

and effect the arrest without a warrant”). Admission of evidence obtained after 

the officer followed Stevens into his garage was not error. 

Admission of Confirmatory Blood Test Results

Stevens argues the gray tube evidence should have been excluded as unreliable 

because the tube was three years past its expiration date when Stevens’ blood 
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was drawn.3 As the challenge Stevens raises addresses only the weight of the 

gray tube evidence and not its admissibility, we find no error.4 

[13] Ind. Code § 9-30-6-6(a) provides blood samples may be obtained by a 

“physician or a person trained in obtaining bodily substance samples and acting 

under the direction of or under a protocol prepared by a physician,” and such 

“samples, test results, and testimony may be admitted in a proceeding in 

accordance with the applicable rules of evidence.” Ind. Code § 9-30-6-6(c)(2). 

Once the trial court has ruled a witness qualified as a matter of law5to give 

expert scientific testimony, 

subsequent evaluation of that evidence goes only to its weight as a 

matter of fact. Any . . . conflict as to the reliability of evidence is to be

resolved by the trier of fact, whose finding in this regard will be upheld 

 

3

 Stevens also notes a blood test, to be admitted, must be conducted by a “physician or a person . . . acting 

under the direction of or under protocol prepared by a physician.” Ind. Code § 9-30-6-6(a). Stevens asserts 

the phlebotomist who conducted the blood draw “testified that she does not work under the direction of” the 

physician who is medical director for the facility because “[the physician] works a day shift and [the 

phlebotomist] works a night shift.” (Appellant’s Br. at 15.)

Stevens does not direct us to anyplace in the record where such testimony might be found, nor does he offer 

legal authority to support the premise a person cannot act “under the direction of” another unless both work 

the same shift. We are therefore unable to address that argument. See, e.g., Thomas v. State, 965 N.E.2d 70, 

77 n.2 (Ind. Ct. App. 2012) (a court that must search the record and make up its own arguments because a 

party has not adequately presented them runs the risk of becoming an advocate rather than an adjudicator; on 

review, we will not search the record to find a basis for a party’s argument nor will we search the authorities 

cited by a party in order to find legal support for its position), trans. denied. 

4

 As admission of the gray tube evidence was not error, we need not address whether admission of the red 

tube evidence was error as it was cumulative of the gray tube evidence. 

5

 Stevens does not argue on appeal the phlebotomist who drew Stevens’ blood was not “qualified as a matter 

of law” to give expert scientific testimony. He does assert, without explanation or citation to the record, that 

Dr. Scott Krieger, the acting director of the state Department of Toxicology, was “the only expert witness to 

present evidence.” (Appellant’s Br. at 18.)
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on review as long as the favorable evidence adequately supports it, as 

with any sufficiency question. 

Hopkins v. State, 579 N.E.2d 1297, 1303-04 (Ind. 1991). That scientific testing 

may be subject to error if not properly conducted is not a reason for rejecting 

evidence adduced thereby. Burp v. State, 612 N.E.2d 169, 173 (Ind. Ct. App. 

1993). The persuasiveness of evidence produced by such a test depends in large 

part on the expertise of the witness who conducted it and is to be determined by 

the trier of fact. Id. 

[14] The phlebotomist testified she had been a laboratory phlebotomist for twelve 

years and had done “[h]undreds” of blood draws and at least one hundred 

“legal” blood draws. (Tr. at 99-100.) She testified she conducted Stevens’ 

blood draw pursuant to the hospital’s protocol. 

[15] The gray tube was three years past its expiration date, and the phlebotomist 

testified using an expired tube would not be “proper equipment selection.” (Id. 

at 114.) While she had testified at one point that she conducted Stevens’ blood 

draw pursuant to the hospital’s protocol, she later agreed that “part of the 

protocol, one of the steps is proper equipment selection.” (Id. at 113.) 

[16] Even if the phlebotomist violated hospital protocol by using an expired tube, we 

decline to find reversible error in light of evidence the use of an expired tube did 

not affect Stevens’ blood sample. Dr. Krieger testified the expiration date 

referred only to whether the tube had a vacuum, which is necessary to cause 

enough blood to flow into the tube to obtain an adequate sample. He testified 

the vacuum “won’t affect [the sample result] at all.” (Id. at 267.) In State v. 
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Bisard, 973 N.E.2d 1229, 1237 (Ind. Ct. App. 2012), trans. denied, we addressed 

similar allegations a blood draw protocol was not followed: “There is no 

contention on appeal that this mattered in any real-world sense, much less any 

medical evidence so suggesting. Indeed, the only medical evidence in the 

record is from a physician who testified that it did not.” Admission of evidence 

Stevens’ ACE was .23 grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood was not 

reversible error. 

Conclusion

[17] Stevens’ Fourth Amendment rights were not violated when police entered his 

garage because the officer was in pursuit of Stevens, and admission of the blood 

draw evidence was not error even though the gray tube had passed its 

expiration date. We accordingly affirm. 

[18] Affirmed.

Vaidik, C.J., and Friedlander, J., concur.