Blackwell v. State
| Decision Date | 18 February 2015 |
| Docket Number | No. CR–14–539,CR–14–539 |
| Citation | 455 S.W.3d 848,2015 Ark. App. 96 |
| Parties | Julia Elizabeth Blackwell, Appellant v. State of Arkansas, Appellee |
| Court | Arkansas Court of Appeals |
Debra J. Reece, Russellville, for appellant.
Dustin McDaniel, Att'y Gen., by: Brad Newman, Ass't Att'y Gen., Little Rock, for appellee.
A Pulaski County jury convicted Julia Blackwell of felony negligent homicide, manslaughter, and third-degree battery. The jury sentenced Blackwell to ten years' imprisonment for felony negligent homicide and fined her $500 for battery. Blackwell now appeals her conviction, arguing that the circuit court erred when it denied her motion to suppress and her motion to dismiss.1 We affirm.
On March 28, 2010, a car driven by Blackwell hit a seventy-nine-year-old man, Ralph John Friedmann, who was walking on a sidewalk alongside Breckenridge Drive in Little Rock. Friedmann sustained several injuries. Immediately following the accident, Little Rock police officers transported Blackwell to Baptist Hospital where Blackwell gave a urine sample. Blackwell was then transported to jail. At the jail, Blackwell gave a second urine sample.
On June 8, 2010, Friedmann died from his injuries, and on June 24, 2010, the State charged Blackwell with felony negligent homicide and third-degree battery. Blackwell pled not guilty to the charges.
On April 20, 2012, Blackwell filed a motion to suppress the urine samples taken at Baptist Hospital and at the jail. Blackwell argued that the samples violated her Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights and Arkansas Code Annotated section 5–65–205. Blackwell also argued that officials failed to maintain a proper chain of custody of the samples.
On August 7, 2013, the circuit court held a suppression hearing. At the hearing, the State's witnesses included Sergeant Greg Birkhead, Officer Natasha (“Tasha”) Sims, Amanda Shere, Carrie Frederick, Sarah Dugan, Andrea Swift, and Rebecca Carlisle.
Sergeant Greg Birkhead of the Little Rock Police Department testified that on March 28, 2010, he went to Baptist Hospital to retrieve a blood sample from Blackwell. He stated that when he asked Blackwell for a blood draw, she continually refused and asked to speak with her attorney.
Sergeant Birkhead told Blackwell that she was not entitled to an attorney at that time but could call her attorney once she was booked at the jail. After Blackwell refused to give a sample, Sergeant Birkhead contacted personnel in his department to try to get a search warrant to draw Blackwell's blood. However, he could not obtain a warrant. Sergeant Birkhead testified that Officer Sims heard Blackwell refuse to give samples and knew that he had tried to get a search warrant. Sergeant Birkhead also stated that he later witnessed Officer Sims and Blackwell exit a hospital bathroom with a urine sample. He could not recall whether Officer Sims had gloves or whether the cup had tape on it.
Officer Tasha Sims, an officer with the Little Rock Police Department, testified that she also went to Baptist Hospital on March 28, 2010, to obtain a blood sample from Blackwell. She explained that she read Blackwell her rights under Act 1062 and then asked Blackwell to give a blood sample. She testified that Blackwell initially agreed to give a sample; however, when the nurse entered the room to take the sample, Blackwell refused. The nurse then left the room but Officer Sims continued to speak with Blackwell about giving the blood sample. Later, the nurse reentered to try again to draw Blackwell's blood but Blackwell again refused. Officer Sims testified that Blackwell then explained that she was scared of needles. Officer Sims suggested that Blackwell give a urine sample instead, and Blackwell agreed. She took Blackwell to the restroom, and Blackwell provided her with a urine sample. Officer Sims stated that she placed a latex glove over the cup containing the sample and wrote Blackwell's name on it. Officer Sims testified that she normally places tape over the cup but did not have tape with her at that time.
Officer Sims then transported Blackwell to jail. She testified that she kept the sample with her at all times except when she entered the jail with Blackwell. At that time, she locked the sample in her vehicle. In the jail, Officer Sims took a second urine sample from Blackwell. Officer Sims testified that she wrote Blackwell's name on the cup along with the date, time, and her initials. Officers Sims stated that her initials are “T.S.”
After processing Blackwell at the jail, Officer Sims drove to the department's property room in downtown Little Rock with both urine samples. Officer Sims testified that, in the property room, she put the samples into separate plastic bags and heat-sealed them. She then assigned a tag number to the samples and placed them in a refrigerator locker. She finally wrote a request to have the samples transferred to the Arkansas State Crime Lab. She testified that she had no further contact with the samples after she placed them in the refrigerator.
On cross-examination, Blackwell's counsel questioned Officer Sims about a previous deposition in a civil case in which Officer Sims testified that she had initialed both samples and sealed both samples with tape. In response to this questioning, Sims explained that at the civil deposition, she testified to her normal practice of taking urine samples and how she remembered taking Blackwell's samples but admitted that her recollection at the civil deposition and at the current hearing could be flawed.
Amanda Shere, a property technician for the Little Rock Police Department, also testified at the suppression hearing. She stated that the urine samples remained in the refrigerator where Officer Sims placed them until March 29, 2010. Shere explained that on that day another properly technician, employee 17495, transferred the samples to the properly room where she worked. On March 30, 2010, she transported the samples to the Arkansas State Crime Lab for testing.
Shere also explained that samples must be properly sealed, initialed, and dated before the property room will accept them. She noted that if a sample is not properly sealed, she usually sends a notice to the submitting officer. In regard to the samples in this case, she did not remember whether she had sent a notice and did not recall details about the samples' packaging.
Carrie Frederick, the property-room supervisor for the Little Rock Police Department, testified that, on March 29, 2010, employee 17495 transferred the samples from the property room where Officer Sims had submitted them to the properly room down the street where she and Shere worked. She noted that employee 17495 was Ed Fisher but explained that Fisher had retired and moved to Arizona.
Sarah Dugan, a forensic technician for the Arkansas State Crime Lab, testified that her job includes taking evidence from Shere to make sure the evidence is properly sealed and has an officer's initials. She explained that she then enters the evidence into the computer, assigns barcodes to it, and places it into secure storage. Dugan testified that, according to her records, she followed that procedure with the samples in this case and no problems existed with the samples.
Andrea Swift, a forensic technician for the Arkansas State Crime Lab, stated that her job includes taking evidence out of secure storage and transferring it to analysts. She testified that, on April 1, 2010, she took samples in this case from secure storage to analyst Rebecca Carlisle. She testified that she did not notice anything unusual or make any notations about the packaging of the samples.
Rebecca Carlisle, a forensic toxicologist for the Arkansas State Crime Lab, testified that she received the samples in this case from Swift on April 1, 2010, and placed them in secure storage in the toxicology department to await testing. A few days later, on April 6, 2010, she checked out the samples for testing. After checking out the samples, she inspected their condition and packaging. She testified that the samples were in a single, sealed plastic bag. She explained that, within the plastic bag, each sample was in a latex glove. Carlisle noted that the samples were distinguished from one another by numbers written on the gloves—“1” and “2.” She stated that sample “1” had a plastic jar with the labeling “Julia Blackwell” along with the time “20:03.” She testified that no initials appeared on the jar of sample “1” and the sample had not been taped shut. She stated that sample “2” had the initials “JM” and the sample had been taped shut. After noting the appearance of the samples, Carlisle stated that she proceeded with the testing. She explained that she tested sample “1” because that sample had the earlier time on it. She testified that sample “1” tested positive for amphetamines
. She did not test sample “2.”
At the conclusion of this testimony and the hearing, the circuit court denied Blackwell's motion to suppress on all grounds. On September 4, 2013, the State amended the charges against Blackwell to include a charge for manslaughter. Blackwell filed a motion to dismiss the manslaughter charge, arguing that the statute of limitations in Arkansas Code Annotated section 5–1–109(b)(3) barred the charge. The circuit court held a hearing on the motion to dismiss, and at the conclusion of the hearing, the court denied the motion.
On November 7, 2013, a jury trial was held, and the jury convicted Blackwell of all three charges. The jury then sentenced Blackwell for the felony negligent homicide conviction and the battery conviction but did not sentence her for the manslaughter conviction.3 However, Blackwell's judgment reflects the following sentences: zero years' imprisonment for manslaughter, ten years' imprisonment for felony negligent homicide, and a $500 fine for battery. Blackwell filed a timely notice of appeal, arguing that the circuit court...
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