State v. Starfield

• Citation: 481 N.W.2d 834
• Decision Date: 13 March 1992
• Docket Number: No. C5-90-2182,C5-90-2182
• Parties: STATE of Minnesota, Petitioner, Appellant, v. Sandra Sylvia STARFIELD, Respondent.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

Page 834

481 N.W.2d 834

STATE of Minnesota, Petitioner, Appellant, v. Sandra Sylvia STARFIELD, Respondent.

No. C5-90-2182.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

March 13, 1992.

Syllabus by the Court

Where the issue is physical control of a disabled motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, a supplementary instruction on the factors relevant to physical control including operability is appropriate. Here, no such instruction was requested nor was it error not to give the instruction in the absence of a request.

Hubert H. Humphrey, III, Atty. Gen., and Douglas B. Meslow, Sweeney and Borer, P.A., St. Paul, for petitioner, appellant.

John M. Stuart, State Public Defender, Mark F. Anderson, Asst. State Public Defender, Minneapolis, for respondent.

James C. Wicker, Minneapolis, for amicus curiae, Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Heard, considered, and decided by the court en banc.

SIMONETT, Justice.

There may be circumstances where operability of a vehicle is relevant on the issue of whether a person has physical control of a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol. In this case failure to give a supplementary instruction on physical control factors was not requested, nor was it error not to have given such an instruction. The "physical control" conviction is, therefore, reinstated and the court of appeals' decision vacating such conviction is reversed.

On February 24, 1989, at around 1:47 a.m., Ramsey County deputy sheriffs responded to a report of a car in the ditch in Gem Lake. The car was stuck in a snow-filled ditch. The headlights were on, but the motor was not running. Deputy Lopez approached the driver's side of the car and testified he found defendant Sandra Starfield sitting in the driver's seat. Through a closed window, Lopez asked Starfield if she was okay. Starfield replied that she was not hurt. Lopez then testified he opened the car door and asked for Starfield's driver's license. Starfield could not find it in her purse. From the odor of alcohol and bloodshot eyes, Lopez believed that Starfield was intoxicated. Lopez noticed the keys were not in the ignition, so he asked for them. Starfield replied that the keys were "in the car," but Lopez could not find them.

Minutes later more deputies arrived. A pick-up truck came by and the driver offered to pull Starfield's car out of the ditch, but the offer was not accepted. After being given an implied consent advisory, Starfield refused to submit to a blood alcohol test. While in the squad car, when asked if she was operating the car, she replied, "Nope," but did not elaborate. At the Ramsey County Jail, a set of car keys was found in Starfield's coat pocket. While being booked, Starfield contended she was not driving the car; but she never mentioned that she was waiting in the car for her son.

Eventually, Starfield's car was removed from the ditch by a tow truck. One of the deputies testified that the car was stuck in the snow, and that Starfield could not have driven the car out of the snow.

The next day, Starfield was questioned (after a Miranda warning) and, for the first time, said that her son was driving the car when it went into the ditch. She said her son had gone for help and had left her in the car. An officer also testified that Starfield told him she had tried to drive the car out of the ditch.

At trial, Starfield testified that her son had driven the car into the ditch, had then gone for help, and that the deputies arrived while the son was gone. Starfield's son, Scott, corroborated his mother's story. He said the car had a tire blow-out, causing the car to go into the ditch, and that he had then walked to a Perkins restaurant to call a friend for help. On cross-examination, the prosecution inquired of Scott why he had left his intoxicated mother in the car to walk to Perkins one-half mile away rather than seek help at a house near the car; why he had shut off the motor and heater in sub-zero temperatures before going to Perkins; and why he would walk through a snow-filled field to get to Perkins rather than walk along the road.

Defendant was charged under Minn.Stat. § 169.121, subd. 1(a) (Supp.1989), making it a crime to "drive, operate, or be in physical control of any motor vehicle * * * when the person is under the influence of alcohol." At the close of the State's case, the trial judge granted defendant Starfield's motion to acquit on the charge of "driving" under the influence of alcohol, reasoning that the evidence was insufficient to support such a conviction. Consequently, the case went to the jury solely on the question whether Starfield was in "physical control" of a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.

Defense counsel requested the following instruction on physical control:

The purpose behind Minn.Stat. § 169.121, subd. 1 is to deter drunken individuals from getting into their vehicles except as passengers. The State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the Defendant was at or near her vehicle for the purpose of operating it or controlling it. Further, the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the Defendant's car was capable of being operated.

The trial court denied the requested instruction and instead gave an instruction based on 10A Minnesota Practice, CRIMJIG 29.02 (3d ed. 1990):

A person is in physical control of a motor vehicle when he or she is present in a vehicle and is in a position to either direct the movement of the vehicle or keep the vehicle from moving. It is not necessary for the engine to be running in order for a person to be in physical control of a motor vehicle.

While deliberating, the jury returned with the following written question: "Does the car have to be able to be moved for a person to have physical control of the vehicle?" (Emphasis in the original.) The trial judge responded by repeating his earlier instruction. The jury returned a verdict of guilty.

On appeal, the court of appeals vacated the conviction and remanded for a new trial. State v. Starfield, 472 N.W.2d 143 (Minn.App.1991). For there to be "physical control," the court concluded, the prosecution must show the defendant drove the car to the location or into the predicament in which it was found, or that the driver had the ability to continue on an inebriated journey at any moment. Because the trial court had dismissed the "driving" charge, the court of appeals assumed Starfield to be a passenger in her own car, and as a passenger, she was entitled to an instruction on operability. The appeals panel declined to suggest an appropriate instruction, but noted that in fashioning an instruction the trial court should take into account evidence that Starfield was merely a passenger in a disabled vehicle. Id. at 148. We granted the State's petition for further review.

Arguably, the evidence was sufficient to have submitted to the jury the charge of "driving" under the influence; however, this is not what happened. The only charge here is having "physical control" of a motor vehicle. The issue then becomes whether the physical control contemplated by the statute includes a motor vehicle so stuck in a snow-filled ditch that it cannot move. In the following discussion, we will use the terms "inoperable" or "disabled" to refer either to a mechanical breakdown of the car or to the car being in some predicament where it cannot move, such as being out of gas or stuck in the snow or mud.

The term "physical control" is more comprehensive than either "drive" or "operate." State v. Harris, 295 Minn. 38, 43, 202 N.W.2d 878, 881 (1972). In State v. Juncewski, 308 N.W.2d 316, 319 (Minn.1981), the last time we spoke on the subject, we said that the term "physical control" should be given "the broadest possible effect" and that the intent was to deter inebriated persons from getting into vehicles except as passengers. Juncewski did not involve, however, a disabled vehicle. Since then the court of appeals has been faced with a variety of fact situations involving disabled vehicles.

The court of appeals has found physical control where the vehicle had a flat tire, State v. Woodward, 408 N.W.2d 927 (Minn.App.1987); a dead battery, Abeln v. Commissioner of Public Safety, 413 N.W.2d 546 (Minn.App.1987); and where the car was stuck in a snow-filled ditch, State v. Duemke, 352 N.W.2d 427 (Minn.App.1984). The State stressed the disabilities in these three cases were all temporary disabilities. A flat tire can be changed; a dead battery can be jump-started; and a car can be towed from a snow-filled ditch.

The court of appeals in this appeal, however, relied on two of its prior decisions where "physical control" was not found. In State v. Pazderski, 352 N.W.2d 85 (Minn.App.1984), the defendant was found asleep in the front seat of his car parked in his driveway. Defendant claimed he had driven home but not gone inside the house because he wished to avoid a domestic dispute. Because he was at his destination and not going anywhere, the appeals panel reversed his conviction. In Roberts v. Commissioner of Public Safety, 371 N.W.2d 605 (Minn.App.1985), review denied, Oct. 11, 1985, the defendant, after passing out from drinking, had been placed by friends in the front seat of his car parked in a dance hall parking lot; the keys were left on the dashboard but the friends pulled the coil wire to the ignition so defendant could not drive off. The appeals panel affirmed the trial court's ruling that defendant was not in physical control of the vehicle. While the appeals panel noted that the car was mechanically inoperable, at least temporarily, the decision also suggests that the defendant had a passenger status because he had been placed in the car without his knowledge.

Both Pazderski and Roberts have been somewhat limited by subsequent court of appeals' decisions. Pazderski has been limited to cases where the defendant is in his or her driveway. When the vehicle is located elsewhere, the appeals court has...