Morris v. Department of Revenue, 58163
| Decision Date | 26 December 1990 |
| Docket Number | No. 58163,58163 |
| Citation | 800 S.W.2d 806 |
| Parties | Loreen L. MORRIS, Appellant, v. DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE, Respondent. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Lawrence E. Manion, Jr., William W. Holland, Clayton, for appellant.
Van M. Pounds, Jatha B. Sadowski, Jefferson City, for respondent.
Loreen Morris appeals from the judgment of the trial court affirming an administrative decision by the Director of Revenue to suspend her driving privileges pursuant to Section 302.505, RSMo (1986). We affirm.
Officer Paszkiewicz, the arresting officer, testified at trial that at approximately 2:45 a.m. on the morning of February 12, 1989, he responded to a report of an automobile accident. Upon arriving at the scene, he observed that a vehicle had run off the road and crashed into a telephone pole. Paszkiewicz, Morris, and another police officer were the only persons present at the site of the accident. Morris was bleeding about her face and nose. Morris told Paszkiewicz that she had left an oyster bar at about "3:15 a.m." and had been run off the road by another car. Morris's breath smelled of alcohol, her eyes were glassy, her speech was slurred, and she swayed when she walked and stood. Paszkiewicz performed one field sobriety test: Morris recited the alphabet, but mumbled so that her speech was barely understandable. Paszkiewicz arrested Morris for driving while intoxicated; and after informing her of her Miranda rights, requested that she submit to blood alcohol analysis. A blood sample was drawn at the hospital and given to Paszkiewicz who took it to the police crime lab. Subsequent analysis of the blood sample indicated that Morris's blood alcohol concentration was .21.
Morris's driving privileges were suspended as a result of her arrest. The suspension was upheld following an administrative hearing by the Director of Revenue. Morris then requested and obtained a trial de novo in the circuit court which affirmed the decision to suspended Morris's driving privileges.
Although Morris raises three separate allegations of error, those claims of error can be condensed into one. Morris claims in essence, that the trial court erred in upholding the suspension of her driving privileges because the police officer did not have probable cause to arrest her for driving while intoxicated.
Section 302.505.1, RSMo (1986) provides in pertinent part:
The department shall suspend or revoke the license of any person upon its determination that the person was arrested upon probable cause to believe he was driving a motor vehicle while the alcohol concentration in the person's blood or breath was thirteen-hundredths of one percent or more by weight of alcohol in his blood....
The burden of proof is on Director to prove by a...
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