Santen v. Tuthill

• Decision Date: 17 April 2003
• Docket Number: Record No. 021781.
• Citation: 578 S.E.2d 788,265 Va. 492
• Parties: Michael SANTEN v. Robert TUTHILL, t/a Winchester Family Billiards, et al.
• Court: Virginia Supreme Court

578 S.E.2d 788

265 Va. 492

Michael SANTEN v. Robert TUTHILL, t/a Winchester Family Billiards, et al.

Record No. 021781.

Supreme Court of Virginia.

April 17, 2003.

Christopher M. Dove (Daniel J. Travostino, on brief), Leesburg, for appellant.

Robert L. Garnier, Falls Church; Richard Thorsey (E. Eugene Gunter; Garbier & Garnier; Kalbaugh, Pfund & Messersmith, Fairfax, on briefs), for appellees.

Present: HASSELL, C.J., LACY, KEENAN, KOONTZ, KINSER and LEMONS, JJ., and COMPTON, S.J.

OPINION BY Justice CYNTHIA D. KINSER.

The primary issues in this appeal concern the admissibility of certain evidence in a civil proceeding, specifically: (1) a defendant's guilty plea in general district court when the defendant subsequently appeals the conviction to circuit court; (2) the result of a preliminary breath test; and (3) testimony of an expert toxicologist. Because the guilty plea was annulled by the appeal to circuit court and because there was not an adequate foundation to support the admissibility of the other evidence, we find no error in the circuit court's refusal to admit this evidence.

This case arose out of an alleged altercation between Michael Curtis Santen, Sr., and Glenn Richard Wilfong. The incident occurred when Wilfong was assisting Robert Tuthill, Jr. (Tuthill, Jr.), in delivering and assembling a billiard table at the home of Santen and Norma Katherine DeSantos. Santen and DeSantos had purchased the billiard table from Robert Tuthill, Sr. (Tuthill, Sr.), t/a Winchester Family Billiards. Tuthill, Sr., had asked Wilfong to accompany Tuthill, Jr., on this occasion. Wilfong had previously assisted the Tuthills in installing billiard tables.

Approximately 20 minutes after arriving at the Santen-DeSantos residence, Tuthill, Jr., realized that he needed to return to the store to obtain the correct piece of slate for the billiard table. While Tuthill, Jr., was away, a disagreement arose between Santen and Wilfong which resulted in DeSantos calling Tuthill, Sr., and informing him that he needed to "get [Wilfong] out of [her] basement and take the pool table pieces back." Tuthill, Sr., instructed DeSantos to tell Wilfong to pack up his tools and wait outside until Tuthill, Jr., returned. After DeSantos told Wilfong to leave, the situation escalated, and Wilfong allegedly struck Santen in the face with a hammer.

Local law enforcement officers were dispatched to the residence. They found Santen and Wilfong in the basement of the house, with Wilfong lying on the floor and Santen "over top of him." One of the officers subsequently administered a preliminary breath test to Wilfong, using a "department issued . . . alcosensor."

Wilfong was charged with a misdemeanor as a result of the altercation. He pled guilty to the charge in general district court. Wilfong, however, subsequently appealed his conviction to circuit court where he pled not guilty.¹

Santen then filed an amended motion for judgment against Wilfong and Tuthill, Sr., t/a Winchester Family Billiards, seeking monetary damages for his injuries allegedly resulting from the altercation with Wilfong. Prior to trial, the defendants filed motions in limine asking the court, among other things, to exclude not only testimony from Richard McGarry, an expert in the field of toxicology, but also evidence that Wilfong had pled guilty to the misdemeanor charge in general district court and that his blood alcohol content, as measured by the preliminary breath test, was 0.209.²

After hearing argument on the motions, the circuit court initially stated from the bench that it would allow the numerical result of the preliminary breath test to be admitted. However, the court revisited the motions on the morning of trial and learned, for the first time, that Wilfong's blood alcohol content had been measured by a preliminary breath test. Noting that the results of such tests are inadmissible in a criminal prosecution, see Code § 18.2-267(E), the court observed that the issue here was whether a different rule should apply in a civil case. The circuit court concluded that results of preliminary breath tests are inadmissible because "they're not deemed to be sufficiently reliable," and that, therefore, the numerical result of Wilfong's preliminary breath test could not be admitted into evidence. However, the court stated that "[the officer] can testify that the test indicated that [Wilfong] had consumed alcohol, ... [b]ut the number and readings ... [are] inadmissible for any purpose[.]"

With regard to the other issues raised in the motions in limine, the circuit court held that Santen could not introduce evidence that Wilfong had pled guilty in general district court to the misdemeanor charge. Finally, the court concluded that Santen could "call Richard McGarry to testify concerning, and limited to, the matters designated by [Santen] in his expert designation herein." Continuing, the court held that "[a]lthough Richard McGarry [could] testify concerning the effects of alcohol on the central nervous system in general, he [would] not be permitted to testify as to the effects alcohol did or may have had on Defendant Wilfong specifically." Despite the court's ruling that McGarry could testify with regard to certain matters, Santen elected not to call him as a witness at the trial.

At the conclusion of Santen's evidence, counsel for Tuthill, Sr., moved to strike the evidence, arguing that Santen had not established the existence of an employer/employee relationship between Tuthill, Sr., and Wilfong. After hearing argument from counsel, the court granted the motion. The trial then proceeded against only Wilfong. A jury ultimately returned a verdict in favor of Wilfong.

On appeal, Santen first argues that the circuit court erred in excluding evidence concerning Wilfong's guilty plea in general district court. Santen contends that, if Wilfong had not appealed his conviction to circuit court, the guilty plea would have been admissible against him in this subsequent civil proceeding pursuant to Code § 8.01-418.³ According to Santen, the appeal to circuit court "merely vacat[ed] the judgment of the general district court—it [did] not eradicate the record of the proceedings." Further, Santen asserts that, even if evidence of the guilty plea was not admissible pursuant to Code § 8.01-418, such evidence should have been admitted either as a party admission or as a prior statement that was inconsistent with Wilfong's trial testimony that he had acted in self-defense. We do not agree with Santen's position.

"Any person convicted in a district court of an offense not felonious shall have the right ... to appeal to the circuit court" even when the conviction was based on a plea of guilty. Code § 16.1-132. The appeal is heard de novo in the circuit court. Code § 16.1-136. The purpose of these statutes is to give an accused the benefit of a new trial in the circuit court "unhampered and unprejudiced" by the guilty plea entered in the district court. Baylor v. Commonwealth, 190 Va. 116, 120, 56 S.E.2d 77, 79 (1949) (decided under former corresponding statutes).

This Court has repeatedly held that the effect of an appeal to circuit court is to "annul[] the judgment of the inferior tribunal as completely as if there had been no previous trial." Gaskill v. Commonwealth, 206 Va. 486, 490, 144 S.E.2d 293, 296 (1965); accord Buck v. City of Danville, 213 Va. 387, 388, 192 S.E.2d 758, 759 (1972)

; Baylor, 190 Va. at 119-20, 56 S.E.2d at 78-79; Gravely v. Deeds, 185 Va. 662, 664, 40 S.E.2d 175, 176 (1946). In other words, the appeal to circuit court "annuls or wipes out the former plea of guilty." Baylor, 190 Va. at 120, 56 S.E.2d at 79. Thus, it is reversible error to permit the former guilty plea and the judgment of the district court to be introduced into evidence in the trial of the criminal charge on appeal. Id.; Gravely, 185 Va. at 664, 40 S.E.2d at 176.

Since an appeal under Code § 16.1-132 "annuls or wipes out" a guilty plea entered in the district court, there no longer exists a guilty plea that, otherwise, would be admissible in a subsequent civil proceeding under the provisions of Code § 8.01-418. We draw a distinction between a guilty plea, which forms the basis of a district court's judgment, and a defendant's statements made while testifying before the district court. That testimony, unlike a guilty plea, is not "wiped out" by an appeal and is, therefore, admissible in the subsequent trial of the case. Harbaugh v. Commonwealth, 209 Va. 695, 700, 167 S.E.2d 329, 334 (1969).

Thus, we hold that a guilty plea entered in district court that has been annulled by virtue of an appeal to circuit court is not admissible in a civil proceeding, either under the provisions of Code § 8.01-418, or as a party admission or prior inconsistent statement. Consequently, the circuit court did not err in excluding evidence of Wilfong's guilty plea.

Santen next argues that the circuit court erred in excluding both the numerical result of Wilfong's preliminary breath test and McGarry's testimony.⁴ According to Santen, this evidence, taken together, was...