State v. Wright

• Decision Date: 17 October 1984
• Docket Number: No. 178,178
• Citation: 691 S.W.2d 564
• Parties: STATE of Tennessee, Appellee, v. Andrew K. WRIGHT, Appellant. 691 S.W.2d 564
• Court: Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals

Page 564

691 S.W.2d 564

STATE of Tennessee, Appellee, v. Andrew K. WRIGHT, Appellant.

No. 178

691 S.W.2d 564

Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee at Knoxville.

Oct. 17, 1984.

Permission to Appeal Denied May 13, 1985.

J. Nicklas Holt, Mears & Mears, P.C., Maryville, for appellant.

William M. Leech, Jr., Atty. Gen. & Reporter, Kimberly J. Dean, Asst. Atty. Gen., Nashville, David G. Ballard, Asst. Dist. Atty. Gen., Maryville, for appellee.

OPINION

DWYER, Judge.

After a jury trial appellant, Andrew K. Wright, was found guilty of driving while under the influence of an intoxicant. See T.C.A. Sec. 55-10-401(a). He was sentenced to serve eleven (11) months and twenty-nine (29) days imprisonment, all but forty-eight (48) hours of the sentence being suspended. Additionally, appellant was fined two hundred and fifty dollars ($250.00) by the jury.

Appellant appeals as of right and sets forth two (2) issues for our review: (1) whether the evidence adduced at trial is sufficient to sustain the jury's guilty verdict; and (2) whether the trial court erred by allowing the admission of evidence that showed appellant refused to submit to a proffered blood alcohol test. We will review the evidence in order to determine the first issue.

Rockford City Police Officer Stephen Key, testifying for the State, related that on August 21, 1983, he pulled out onto the highway and followed appellant's vehicle after clocking its speed on radar at 63 miles per hour in the vicinity of Co-op Road and Highway 53. After observing the vehicle cross the painted center line, he pulled appellant over to the side of the road. He testified that appellant walked in an unsteady manner, smelled of alcohol, and talked with a thick tongue. He was of the opinion that appellant was under the influence of an intoxicant. He asked the appellant to take a blood alcohol test, but appellant refused. He started to give appellant a field sobriety test, but appellant told him that he had brain damage. Appellant admitted to Officer Key that he had recently consumed two (2) quarts of beer.

Police Officer Randall Whitehead, called as a defense witness, testified that he had been riding with Officer Key that night. Although he did not observe appellant walk abnormally, he was of the opinion that appellant was under the influence of an intoxicant. Appellant told the officers that he was not drunk.

David Forrester, another defense witness, testified that although he and appellant had drunk two (2) quarts of beer each, one quart around 7:30 p.m. and the other around 10:00 p.m., when appellant left his company, appellant did not appear to have any problems driving. He was of the opinion that appellant was not impaired by the beer.

The appellant testified that he had drunk two (2) quarts of beer that evening; however, he contended that his ability to drive was not impaired. He admitted that he was speeding when the police pulled him over to the edge of the road and had refused the field sobriety test because his brain damage would cause disorientation. He admitted reading something about a blood alcohol test but did not remember refusing or agreeing to take the test. However, he said that he asked to take the test when he arrived at the jail but was never given it.

We conclude that after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact clearly could have found the appellant guilty of driving while under the influence of an...