Commonwealth v. Hourican

• Decision Date: 04 June 2014
• Docket Number: No. 13–P–212.,13–P–212.
• Citation: 85 Mass.App.Ct. 408,10 N.E.3d 646
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH v. Pauric HOURICAN.
• Court: Appeals Court of Massachusetts

85 Mass.App.Ct. 408

10 N.E.3d 646

COMMONWEALTH

v.Pauric HOURICAN.

No. 13–P–212.

Appeals Court of Massachusetts,

Suffolk.

Argued Jan. 6, 2014.

Decided June 4, 2014.

Brian J. Lenfest, Boston, for the defendant.

John P. Zanini, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth.

Present: GREEN, SIKORA, & CARHART, JJ.

SIKORA, J.

On April 20, 2012, a complaint issued from the Boston Municipal Court charging the defendant, Pauric Hourican, with operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol (OUI) in violation of G.L. c. 90, § 24(1)( a )(1). Before trial, the defendant moved to suppress evidence of a postarrest breathalyzer test. A Boston Municipal Court judge denied the motion, and a single justice of the Supreme Judicial Court allowed the defendant's application for leave to pursue an interlocutory appeal. See Mass.R.Crim.P. 15(a)(2), as appearing in 422 Mass. 1501 (1996). For the following reasons, we reverse.

Factual background.¹ At approximately 2:45 a.m. on April 20, 2012, Officer David Mammone of the Boston police department heard a “loud bang” and turned to see that the defendant had driven his black pickup truck into a police patrol wagon. The officer observed that the defendant had “glassy eyes” and smelled of alcohol. After he failed two of three field sobriety tests, police placed him under arrest. The ensuing voluntary breathalyzer test produced two breath samples measuring .121 and .143 percent blood alcohol content by weight (a difference of .022). The breath testing instrument was the Alcotest 9510; it employed a gas calibration standard. A result of .08 percent, if credited by the factfinder, establishes guilt of OUI. G.L. c. 90, § 24(1)( a )(1), first par.

Motion to suppress. Before trial, the defendant moved to suppress evidence of the breathalyzer test. He argued that the test was invalid because .022 percent blood alcohol content units separated his two breath samples. Title 501 Code Mass. Regs. § 2.14(4) (2010) provides that, if the administration of a prescribed sequence “does not result in breath samples that are within +/- 0.02% blood alcohol content units, a new breath test sequence shall begin” ² (emphasis added). The judge deniedthe defendant's motion in a ruling from the bench. She reasoned that the regulation required rounding the differential of .022 percent to .02 percent because it “simply says 0.02. It doesn't take it out to the third decimal point.” She explained, “If [the differential] were [for example] 0.026, then I'd say we have an issue here because we can round it off to 0.03. But you're 0.022.”

Discussion. 1. Standard of review. The interpretation of a regulation is a question of law which we review de novo. See Commonwealth v. B & M Fitzgerald Builders, Inc., 71 Mass.App.Ct. 486, 491, 883 N.E.2d 328 (2008), citing GPT–Acton, LLC v. Department of Envtl. Protection, 64 Mass.App.Ct. 103, 106, 831 N.E.2d 396 (2005). See also Corsetti v. Stone Co., 396 Mass. 1, 12, 483 N.E.2d 793 (1985). “We interpret a regulation in the same manner as a statute, and according to traditional rules of construction.” Warcewicz v. Department of Envtl. Protection, 410 Mass. 548, 550, 574 N.E.2d 364 (1991). “When the language of a regulation is ‘plain it must be given its ordinary meaning, and the language used constitutes the principal source of insight into regulatory purpose.’ ” Young v. Patukonis, 24 Mass.App.Ct. 907, 908, 506 N.E.2d 1164 (1987), quoting from Morin v. Commissioner of Pub. Welfare, 16 Mass.App.Ct. 20, 24, 448 N.E.2d 1287 (1983). See Mullally v. Waste Mgmt. of Mass., Inc., 452 Mass. 526, 535–536, 895 N.E.2d 1277 (2008). “Where reasonably possible, no portion of the language of a regulation should be treated as surplusage.” Warcewicz v. Department of Envtl. Protection, 410 Mass. at 551, 574 N.E.2d 364, quoting from Bottomley v. Division of Administrative Law Appeals, 22 Mass.App.Ct. 652, 657, 496 N.E.2d 458 (1986). “Language in a regulation, like language in a statute, must be considered in light of the other words surrounding it, and its scope and meaning must be determined by reference to context.” Knapp Shoes, Inc. v. Sylvania Shoe Mfg. Corp., 418 Mass. 737, 744, 640 N.E.2d 1101 (1994) (quotation, citations, and brackets omitted). These canons are advisory, not mandatory; we do not apply them mechanically or dogmatically; and we inspect the results of their application for rationality and practicality. See Commonwealth v. Buccella, 434 Mass. 473, 481, 751 N.E.2d 373 (2001) (refusing to interpret a regulation in a manner that “would be utterly absurd and ... clearly not what the [authoring agency] intended”).

2. Evolution of the regulations. The Legislature has charged the Secretary of the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (Secretary) “with promulgating rules and regulations ‘regarding satisfactory methods, techniques and criteria for the conduct of breathalyzer tests.’ ” Commonwealth v. Steele, 455 Mass. 209, 212, 914 N.E.2d 886 (2009) (brackets omitted), quoting from G.L. c. 90, § 24K.³ For a breathalyzer test result to be valid and admissible in evidence, the Commonwealth must demonstrate compliance with those regulations that “go to the accuracy of the [breath testing] device or manner in which the [breathalyzer] test was performed.” Commonwealth v. Kelley, 39 Mass.App.Ct. 448, 453, 657 N.E.2d 1274 (1995). See Commonwealth v. Barbeau, 411 Mass. 782, 786, 585 N.E.2d 1392 (1992); Commonwealth v. Zeininger, 459 Mass. 775, 778–780, 947 N.E.2d 1060 (2011).

In 2006, the Secretary promulgated regulations requiring that “[a]ll breath sample and calibration sample results shall be recorded in the two decimal mode. Any third or subsequent decimal place is to be truncated prior to the comparison of the results.” 501 Code Mass. Regs. § 2.56(5) (2006). The regulations provided further that, “[u]pon completion of a valid test, the test results shall be made available to the individual under arrest. If the two adequate breath samples, expressed in the two decimal mode, differ within +/- 0.02 blood alcohol content units, the lower of the two adequate breath samples shall be taken as the individual under arrest's blood alcohol level.” 501 Code Mass. Regs. § 2.57 (2006).

In 2010, the Secretary promulgated new regulations “to accommodate advancements/improvements in applicable technology.” See 1155 Mass. Reg. 78 (April 30, 2010); 501 Code Mass. Regs. §§ 2.00 et seq. (2010). Those regulations, which govern here, no longer require the recording of all breath samples in the “two decimal mode.” Instead, “[t]he results of the analysis of each breath sample and calibration standard shall be reported to at least two decimal places if the test was administered using a liquid calibration standard. The results of the analysis of each breath sample and calibration standard shall be reported in three decimal places, if the calibration standard is gas [as here]” (emphasis supplied). 501 Code Mass. Regs. § 2.15(1) (2010).

Despite this change, the 2010 regulations still provide that, if administration of a prescribed breath test sequence “does not result in breath samples that are within +/- 0.02% blood alcohol content units, a new breath test sequence shall begin.” 501 Code Mass. Regs. § 2.14(4) (2010). The regulations also retain the requirement that “the lower of the two breath sample results shall be truncated to two decimal places and reported as the arrestee's [percentage of blood alcohol content by weight].” 501 Code Mass. Regs. § 2.15(2)(b) (2010).

3. Interpretation of 501 Code Mass. Regs. § 2.14(4) (2010). The decisive issue on appeal is the correct interpretation of 501 Code Mass. Regs. § 2.14(4) (2010). The defendant argues that the regulation establishes that a breathalyzer test is invalid unless breath samples agree within . 020 percent. See 501 Code Mass. Regs. § 2.13(4) (2010) (a “breath test shall be valid and the results admissible in a court of law if it complies with 501 [Code Mass. Regs. §] 2.14”). The Commonwealth, by contrast, argues that the regulation requires truncation to two decimal places of any differential between breath samples. Truncation means a cutoff of the measurement at two decimal places without regard to the value of any number in the third decimal place. It differs from the colloquial meaning of “rounding off” the second decimal place downward or upward by consideration of the third decimal place number. ⁴ Thus, according to the Commonwealth, the regulation would permit a differential of up to .029 percent to be truncated to .02 percent.

Each rationale has some support. On the one hand, .02 percent and .020 percent are mathematically equivalent. Accordingly, the defendant's contention that any percentage above .020 is not “within .02%” has force. In addition, the theory of truncation advanced by the Commonwealth would appear to render meaningless the requirement that “the results of the analysis of each breath sample and calibration standard shall be reported in three decimal places, if the calibration standard is gas.” 501 Code Mass. Regs. § 2.15(1) (2010). See Bottomley v. Division of Administrative Law Appeals, 22 Mass.App.Ct. at 657, 496 N.E.2d 458 (“Where reasonably possible, no portion of the language of a regulation should be treated as surplusage”). Further, the Commonwealth's view fails to acknowledge that the 2010 promulgation omits any requirement of truncation to two decimal places for comparison of the two predicate readings. Finally, as noted by the defendant, the record contains the “Breath Test Report Form” reporting his test results. It reads, “Test Results: Test Not Completed: TESTS OUTSIDE TOL[ERANCE].” The training manual for the Alcotest 9510 provides: “If first two [breath] samples DO NOT agree within +/- 0.02% ‘TEST OUTSIDE +/- TOL’ will appear on display briefly.” See Jones & Geraghty, Drunk Driving Defense App. B–2, at 795 (2013–2014 ed.).⁵

On the other hand, the Commonwealth correctly observes, as...