Court Opinion

ID: 9779876
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 00:53:54.616342+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:33:44.391426
License: Public Domain

BRADFORD, Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
While I agree that the State is required to present evidence beyond mere intoxication in order to prove endangerment, I conclude that the State has done so here. As such, I respectfully dissent from the majority's reversal of Dorsett's Class A misdemeanor operating a vehicle while intoxicated conviction.
I coneur with my colleagues' conclusion that the State may not rely solely on evidence of intoxication to establish endangerment. I agree that the General assem*534bly's decision to amend our operating a vehicle while intoxicated statutes by creating a Class C misdemeanor and shifting "endangerment" from the definition of intoxicated to the Class A statute raises the evidentiary bar somewhat, making it more difficult to obtain Class A misdemeanor drunk driving convictions in Indiana. Still, the law as written is clear, and I find myself in agreement with my colleagues that the State must do more than show mere intoxication if it wishes to secure a Class A misdemeanor operating a vehicle while intoxicated conviction.
That said, I believe the State has cleared that hurdle here, because it presented ample evidence that Dorsett was much more than minimally intoxicated and that his operation of the vehicle created a risk of endangerment. In my view, a fact-finder should be free to conclude, based on a high level of intoxication alone, that a driver endangered himself or others when he operated a vehicle, even if no direct evidence of dangerous operation was presented. Sergeant Ferguson found Dorsett slumped over the steering wheel of his car in the middle of a parking lot with his lights on and the motor running. It took thirty seconds of banging on the car window and oral hailing before Dorsett responded to Sergeant Ferguson. Once roused, Dorsett was speaking slowly, had red eyes, and had a strong odor of alcoholic beverage about him. Dorsett failed a field sobriety test and his blood aleohol concentration was tested at 0.12 percent. A reasonable conclusion to be drawn from this evidence is that Dorsett was so drunk that he was not even capable of maneuvering his car to a parking space or turning the engine or lights off before passing out in the middle of the CVS parking lot, slumped over the steering wheel. It is fortunate that Dorsett did not injure himself or another when he was operating his vehicle shortly before passing out, but it seems clear that anyone operating a vehicle in his condition poses a serious threat to public safety. In addition, it is equally plausible that Dorsett could have unintentionally placed his car into gear in his drunken, passed-out state. Concluding that the State produced sufficient evidence to support a finding of endangerment, I would affirm Dorsett's conviction for Class A misdemeanor operating a vehicle while intoxicated.