Opinion ID: 1277506
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Preservation of the HGN Issue

Text: {21} Before turning to the merits of Torres's contentions, we address the State's argument that Torres failed to preserve his evidentiary challenges below. Absent a question of jurisdiction, general public interest, or fundamental error, this Court reviews an alleged error in a trial court's evidentiary ruling only when the party alleging error makes a timely objection or motion to strike that states the specific ground of objection, if that ground is not apparent from the context. See Rules 11-103(A)(1), 12-216 NMRA 1999. {22} The State contends that Officer Bowdich testified at length before any defense objection was voiced and that, as a consequence, [t]his failure to timely and specifically object bars appellate review. We disagree for two reasons. First, the record shows that Torres made his objection while the State was laying the foundation for Officer Bowdich's HGN testimony. Torres specifically objected to both the officer's expertise and the reliability of the HGN test at the time the State was eliciting foundational matters from the officer, such as his HGN training and the manner in which he administered the test upon Torres. Second, the trial court considered Torres's objections at that time, inquired as to the grounds for his objections, and ruled on the issue. We therefore conclude that this objection was timely, and hence the issue of the admissibility of the HGN testimony was preserved for appellate review. Cf. Nasser v. State, 646 N.E.2d 673, 676 (Ind.Ct.App.1995) (concluding that a party opposing admission of an officer-expert's testimony regarding intoxilyzer results preserved specific foundational challenges on appeal by objecting, at trial, that the officer was not qualified as an expert because of his lack of expertise and his failure to comply with appropriate intoxilyzer-testing procedures). In reviewing this issue, however, we may affirm on grounds upon which the trial court did not rely unless those grounds depend on facts that Torres did not have a fair opportunity to address in the proceedings below. See State v. Franks, 119 N.M. 174, 177, 889 P.2d 209, 212 (Ct.App.1994).