People v. Dougal

• Decision Date: 04 November 1999
• Citation: 266 A.D.2d 574,698 N.Y.S.2d 66
• Parties: THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, Respondent,<BR>v.<BR>ROBERT DOUGAL, Appellant.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

266 A.D.2d 574

698 N.Y.S.2d 66

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, Respondent,

v.ROBERT DOUGAL, Appellant.

Peters, J.

Decided November 4, 1999.

Mercure, J. P., Crew III, Carpinello and Graffeo, JJ., concur.

Peters, J.

On the evening of April 5, 1997, Police Officer Michael Smith was dispatched by radio to the scene of an accident in the City of Rensselaer, Rensselaer County. He observed an unoccupied pickup truck which had driven into a row of parked cars.

Individuals standing in the vicinity of the accident identified defendant, who was walking down the street, as the driver of the truck. Smith called loudly for him to stop but defendant ignored him. Smith then radioed that he had a property damage hit-and-run accident and that the driver was leaving the scene. After being provided with a brief description of defendant, Sergeant John Dunn observed him stepping into a driving lane about a half a block away from the accident scene. After his instructions to defendant to return to the sidewalk were ignored, Dunn and his canine partner caused defendant, now mumbling and insisting on crossing the street, to get out of harm's way.

Smith proceeded to the area where Dunn and defendant were located and administered the "walk and turn" and "one leg stand" field sobriety tests, which defendant was unable to successfully complete. During this time, defendant admitted to Dunn that he was the driver involved in the accident and made additional comments such as "Just do what you have to do" and "Just take me to jail." Upon further observation of his glassy eyes, slightly slurred speech, unusual gait and odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath, Dunn placed him under arrest. At the police station, after being advised of DWI warnings, defendant refused to submit to a breathalyzer chemical test. He was thereafter indicted and ultimately found guilty by a jury of driving while intoxicated, aggravated unlicenced operation of a motor vehicle in the first degree and leaving the scene of an incident without reporting property damage.

On this appeal, defendant contends, inter alia, that the verdict was against the weight of the evidence and that the trial evidence was legally insufficient to establish his guilt. Upon considering the proffer to the jury of the testimony of both Dunn and Smith who recounted defendant's demeanor at the accident scene and his failed attempts to pass the field sobriety tests, coupled with that of a third police officer who observed him immediately after his arrival at the police station, we find a "valid line of reasoning and permissible inferences which could lead a rational person to the conclusion reached by the jury on the basis of the evidence at trial * * * and as a matter of law satisfy the proof and burden requirements for every element of the crime charged" (People v Bleakley, 69 NY2d 490, 495, lv denied 72 NY2d 856). In further performing a weight-of-the-evidence review, we find that since the trial evidence did not include any medical testimony regarding injuries sustained by defendant as a result of the accident, a different finding would not have been reasonable (see, id., at 495).

We similarly reject any contention of error in the denial of defendant's speedy trial motion (see, CPL 30.30). The record reveals that on April...