Court Opinion

ID: 9884050
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-06 02:32:47.086479+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:48:34.674571
License: Public Domain

LANSING, Judge
(dissenting).
I dissent. I would hold the trial court erred as a matter of law in concluding the Commissioner failed to meet his burden of proving the petitioner failed an Intoxilyzer test. The court relied solely on the discrepancy in dates for the “factual inference” that the May 17 test record may not be the one that corresponds to the May 18 arrest. The test record, admitted into evidence without objection, was identified by Trooper Swanson as a copy of the test record he used “on Mr. Montpetit.” Swanson testified that he filled in the top, Montpetit’s date of birth and other information. He identified his initials on the test record and identified his signature where he signed after the test. He acknowledged on cross-examination that of the eight arrests he had made in the last month, he did not remember the exact test record of each defendant and refreshed his memory by reviewing the test records. He also testified that he independently recalled the situation involving Mr. Montpetit.
The first paragraph in the transcript of this implied consent hearing contains the following stipulation:
MR. McCLOUD [attorney for petitioner]: Your Honor, on this particular matter, we are going to pick this case up from the point of reading the Implied Consent Advisory. Essentially, what we will stipulate to is in that in this case there was speeding. There was a proper basis for the stop, and he smelled the odor of alcohol. Therefore, there was a proper basis for DWI or probable cause DWI. Mr. Montpetit was, in fact, driving the car. We will pick up the case from the point of reading the Implied Consent Advisory.
By this stipulation the petitioner acknowledged that there was one incident at issue. In light of the stipulation and the officer’s undisputed testimony, the trial court’s “finding” that the test record is not from any test that may have been given to the petitioner following his arrest on May 18 is contrary to the facts.
*668The Commissioner met his burden of proving that petitioner took a test, that the results indicated an alcohol concentration of 0.10 or more at the time of testing, and that the test was reliable.