State v. Hopkins
| Decision Date | 15 December 1987 |
| Docket Number | No. 16431,16431 |
| Citation | 747 P.2d 88,113 Idaho 679 |
| Parties | STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Kenneth A. HOPKINS, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | Idaho Court of Appeals |
Jess B. Hawley III, Boise, for defendant-appellant.
Jim Jones, Atty. Gen., Myrna A.I. Stahman, Deputy Atty. Gen., for plaintiff-respondent.
A jury convicted Kenneth Hopkins of driving under the influence. During the trial, Hopkins attempted to qualify a witness to testify as an expert regarding the Intoximeter 3000, a device used to analyze blood alcohol concentration by sampling a person's breath. The magistrate determined that the witness was not qualified to testify as an expert concerning this machine, but that he could testify as an expert on other matters. The district court affirmed the decision on appeal. The sole question presented here is whether the magistrate abused his discretion in refusing to accept the witness as a qualified expert on the Intoximeter 3000. We reverse and remand for a new trial.
In the early morning hours of December 8, 1984, Kenneth Hopkins was stopped by a Boise Police Officer for suspicion of driving under the influence. In response to questioning, Hopkins admitted to having had five beers that night. The police officer administered field sobriety tests and, based on his observations, arrested Hopkins for driving under the influence. At the Ada County jail, Hopkins was administered a breath test on the Intoximeter 3000. The result showed .16 percent blood alcohol concentration.
Hopkins pled not guilty to the DUI charge and proceeded to trial. As part of his defense he intended to establish the unreliability of the Intoximeter 3000. To introduce this evidence, Hopkins sought to qualify Loring Beals, a toxicologist, as an expert on the Intoximeter 3000. The magistrate, however, found that Beals was not qualified to testify as an expert on that particular device. The trial continued without Beals' intoximeter testimony, and the jury found Hopkins guilty as charged. On appeal, the district court affirmed the magistrate's decision, finding that Beals lacked firsthand knowledge of the Intoximeter 3000 or sufficient knowledge from other sources. Hopkins now asks us to determine whether the magistrate abused his discretion in refusing to qualify Beals as an expert. When reviewing a district court's decision rendered in that court's appellate capacity, we review the record before the magistrate independently of the district court's determination. State v. Allison, 112 Idaho 572, 733 P.2d 793 (Ct.App.1987).
This Court considered the scientific acceptance of the Intoximeter 3000 in State v. Hartwig, 112 Idaho 370, 732 P.2d 339 (Ct.App.1987). There we held that the Intoximeter 3000 is sufficiently recognized that it is not necessary for the state in each DUI case to adduce expert testimony on the machine's design and methodology in order to establish a foundation for evidence of a blood alcohol concentration test result. We did not hold that a defendant is precluded from introducing his own evidence to challenge the scientific soundness of the Intoximeter 3000 result. Here, Hopkins anticipated using Beals' expert opinion testimony to cast doubt on the reliability of the scientific methodology underlying the design of the Intoximeter 3000, as well as questioning whether the particular machine used here was functioning properly. These challenges may be maintained. Id.
To give expert opinion testimony, a witness must first be qualified as an expert on the matter at hand. See IHC Hosp., Inc. v. Board of Commissioners, 108 Idaho 136, 697 P.2d 1150 (1985); I.R.E. 702. Whether a witness is sufficiently qualified as an expert is a matter largely within the discretion of the trial court. Sidwell v. William Prym, Inc., 112 Idaho 76, 730 P.2d 996 (1986). Once the witness is qualified as an expert, the trial court must determine whether such expert opinion testimony will assist the trier of fact in understanding the evidence. Id.; I.R.E. 702. If the testimony is thus competent and relevant, it may be admissible; the weight given to the testimony is left to the trier of fact. IHC Hosp., Inc. v. Board of Commissioners, supra. The admissibility of expert opinion testimony is discretionary with the trial court and will not be...
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