People v. Kenney
| Decision Date | 13 October 1958 |
| Docket Number | No. 49,49 |
| Citation | 92 N.W.2d 335,354 Mich. 191 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the City of Detroit, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. Henry C. KENNEY, Defendant and Appellant. |
| Court | Michigan Supreme Court |
Clarence A. Reid, Detroit, Clarence A. Reid, Jr., Detroit, of counsel, for appellant.
Nathaniel H. Goldstick, Corporation Counsel, Lawrence E. Eaton, Asst. Corporation Counsel, Detroit, for appellee.
Before the Entire Bench.
Detroit policemen operating a 'speedwatch' issued a traffic ticket to defendant charging him with speeding 40 miles an hour in a 30-mile zone on February 14, 1956.
The speed of the defendant's motor vehicle was determined by the use of a speedwatch. It is to be noted that the defendant is a driver of a Detroit department of street railways bus, and the arresting officers were connected with the Detroit police department. No evidence was offered on behalf of the defendant with reference to the accuracy of the speedwatch. Very little cross-examination was carried on by defendant's attorney. This is mentioned to indicate that the factual situation might be different in a contested case.
Defendant's counsel made a motion to suppress the evidence obtained from the speedwatch for the following reasons: (1) that an unlawful arrest was made, since the charge is a misdemeanor, and no offense was committed in the presence of the arresting officer; (2) that there is no Michigan statute authorizing the use of evidence obtained from a speedwatch; (3) that the speedwatch is not scientifically or mechanically reliable and, therefore, should fall within the same category as the lie detector and drunkometer.
A speedwatch is a mechanical device by means of which speed is determined. Two rubber tubes are placed on the road 132 feet apart. These road tubes are hollow in the center, and are attached at the end upon the curb to a mercury switch. The slightest impulse by a car hitting one of these road tubes will create an impulse of air that will come into this little mercury switch, and tip the mercury tube, thus making an electrical contact between the 2 electrodes, which will complete a circuit from that tube clear back to the speedwatch.
The speedwatch itself is set anywhere from 50 to 600 feet beyond the tubes. There is a separate circuit through each tube and back to the speedwatch. In the control box there is a toggle switch. An officer observing a car approaching the first tube throws the toggle switch, and when the front wheels of a car hit the tube, that completes a circuit, which energizes a solenoid which, in turn, brings a lever down to start the watch. Then, as the officer observes a car approaching the second road tube, he throws the switch to the second tube position, which again, when the front wheels hit that tube, creates a circuit through to the control box which stops the watch. The elapsed time is mechanically computed by the speedwatch and the average speed for the 132 feet is recorded. The reading remains on the watch until removed by the officer.
The two officers testified that they had been working with the speedwatch for some 6 months, and that previously they had training in its use. They further testified that on the 14th day of February, 1956, they took the speedwatch equipment and set it up for the day, checked the cord for distance, making the road tubes 132 feet apart, nailed the hose down so that it could not be moved, connected it with the machine, returned to the car, and placed the machine in operation. Before timing any vehicles one individual operated the speedwatch in order to check it for accuracy and the partner drove the police car over the tubes at 30 miles per hour. The speedwatch registered a speed of 30 miles per hour.
Officer Moore testified that he observed the defendant for approximately 100 to 200 feet and estimated the speed of the vehicle as being over the speed limit of the street; that he then placed the speedwatch in operation, and the clock registered 41 miles per hour. He stopped the defendant and gave him a ticket for driving 40 miles per hour in a 30 mile per hour zone.
The prosecution offered the testimony of Albert Blume, a watchmaker and jeweler who had been in that business for upwards of 40 years, who testified that he was employed to check the Detroit police department speedwatches, and that he checked the one in question on January 17, 1956, February 17, 1956, and again on March 17, 1956, and that on each date the watch was accurate. He further testified that it would be impossible for the watch to be inaccurate unless it were damaged, and that there was no question in his mind as to the accuracy of the watch.
The prosecution further introduced the testimony of the manufacturer of the speedwatch. He testified that in the event anything went wrong with the...
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People v. Barbara
...scientific opinion as to their accuracy." People v. Morse, 325 Mich. 270, 274, 38 N.W.2d 322, 324 (1949). Compare, People v. Kenney, 354 Mich. 191, 196, 92 N.W.2d 335 (1958), where evidence of a speedwatch was admitted when defendant offered no evidence that the instrument was mechanically ......
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People v. Zimmerman, 43
...test applied by the Harger Drunkometer will afford an accurate index of the alcoholic content of the blood?' People v. Kenney, 354 Mich. 191, 195, 196, 92 N.W.2d 335, 337 (1958) permitting admission of the '* * * the particular method used in the operation of the speedwatch apparently is no......
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People v. Young
...325 Mich. 270, 274, 38 N.W.2d 322 (1949), it also indicated that it had not applied the strict Davis/Frye rule in People v. Kenney, 354 Mich. 191, 196, 92 N.W.2d 335 (1958), "where evidence of a speedwatch was admitted when defendant offered no evidence that the instrument was mechanically ......
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People v. Tobey, Docket No. 18301--2
...instrument's accuracy and proper use is a requisite for the admission of the results derived from such devices. People v. Kenney, 354 Mich. 191, 92 N.W.2d 335 (1958). In the case at bar, the voiceprint operators admitted that the machine used was never checked until 'nothing came out'. Neit......