Opinion ID: 1249371
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: admissibility of the hgn-related testimony

Text: In State v. Garrett, 119 Idaho 878, 811 P.2d 488 (1991), this Court recognized the admissibility of HGN-related testimony. State v. Garrett is a plurality opinion. It is authoritative on the issue of the scientific reliability of HGN test evidence, however it is not authority for the appropriate test against which such scientific reliability is to be measured. In Garrett, Justice Bistline developed a foundational test for the prosecution to satisfy in order to admit HGN evidence. First the prosecution must establish that the HGN test is independently reliable under the Frye standard (generally accepted theory in the scientific community that persons who are intoxicated exhibit nystagmus), and second that the officer is competent and reliable enough to introduce HGN evidence and testify that nystagmus may be an indication of intoxication. Garrett, 119 Idaho at 882, 811 P.2d at 492. Chief Justice Bakes concurred, while Justice McDevitt concurred in the result only. Justice Boyle specially concurred, rejecting the use of the Frye standard as the measure of scientific reliability. Id. at 883, 811 P.2d 488. Justice Johnson penned a dissent in which he objected to the use of the Frye standard, advocating a standard of independent reliability, and found the trial court's use of HGN test results as indicative of a particular BAC level, to be prejudicial error. Id. at 884, 811 P.2d 488. This Court reaffirms that the appropriate test for measuring the scientific reliability of evidence is I.R.E. 702. [1] Garrett allows the use of HGN test evidence only in conjunction with evidence from other field sobriety tests, and permits the arresting officer to testify only that nystagmus may be an indicator of intoxication, not that it is conclusive evidence. Garrett limits the scope of the admissibility of HGN-related evidence, forbidding its use to establish or infer any particular correlative BAC level, because nystagmus does stem from causes other than the ingestion of alcohol. The trial court in this case did not venture beyond the permissive bounds of Garrett when it allowed Deputy Wolfinger to testify that based on Gleason's performance on the HGN and other tests, Deputy Wolfinger was of the opinion that Gleason was intoxicated. It is true that Wolfinger also testified that nystagmus was an indicator of BAC over .10 percent, however, this testimony was elicited on cross-examination. Appellant cannot now be heard to denounce testimony that he roused. This constitutes invited error. State v. Owsley, 105 Idaho 836, 837-38, 673 P.2d 436, 437-38 (1983). Deputy Wolfinger's testimony relating to the HGN test results was not offered as independent scientifically sound evidence of Gleason's intoxication. Rather, it was offered and admitted for the same purpose as other field sobriety test evidence  a physical act on the part of Gleason observed by the officer contributing to the cumulative portrait of Gleason intimating intoxication in the officer's opinion.