Court Opinion

ID: 9719592
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 07:56:44.493295+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:08.377808
License: Public Domain

RANDALL, Judge,
dissenting.
When the state appeals a pretrial order in a criminal prosecution, the state must demonstrate “clearly and unequivocally, first, that the trial court erred in its judgment and, second, that unless reversed, the error will have a critical impact on the outcome of the trial.” State v. Joon Kyu Kim, 398 N.W.2d 544, 547 (Minn.1987) (citing State v. Webber, 262 N.W.2d 157, 159 (Minn.1977)). If there is no critical impact, appellate review stops because the claimed error becomes irrelevant. I find no critical impact on the state’s case by the trial court’s suppression of the alcohol concentration test. This appeal should be dismissed.
The state has the following strong evidence of intoxication. In a normal prosecution under Minn.Stat. § 169.121, subd. 1(a) (1990), the state should be delighted to have this record. Respondent brought herself to the officer’s attention because she was driving the wrong way on a divided road. The officers activated their red lights and siren, and only then did respondent turn into a correct lane. Respondent then drove several blocks while the officers followed her with red lights and siren on *800before she stopped. The officers noted her speech was hard to understand, her eyes were watery, and her footing was shaky. She admitted to having consumed alcohol, and she failed certain field sobriety tests. The suppressed alcohol concentration test result was only .11. In the course of my experience, I suggest the state ought to be able to make this case under section 169.-121, subdivision 1(a) without that test.
On critical impact, the standard that the suppressed evidence “significantly reduces the likelihood of a successful prosecution” was not met. State v. Ronnebaum, 449 N.W.2d 722, 724 (Minn.1990) (quoting Joon Kyu Kim, 398 N.W.2d at 551). This appeal should have been dismissed for failure of the state to reach the threshold of critical impact.
I respectfully dissent.