State v. BreezeState v. Breeze
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Plаintiff-appellant, state of Ohio, appeals from a decision of the trial court granting a motion to suppress the results of a blood-alcohol test administered to defendant-appellee, M. Joyce Breeze. We conclude that the trial court did not err in holding that the state failed to prove that the Kettering Police Department (“KPD”) complied with the requirements of
I
Breeze was arrested for DUI on September 30, 1992. She submitted to a breath test on a BAC Datamaster resulting in a reading of 0.129 percent blood alcohol. She was then issued a citation for an alleged violation of R.C. 4511.-19(A)(3).
At an evidentiary hearing on a motion to suppress the test result, the state called one witness, Sergeant Michael Willcox of the KPD, who testified that the Datamaster was placed in service on June 19, 1992, after a radio frequency interference (“RFI”) test of the machine was conducted. Willcox also testified that from June 25, 1992, until Breeze was tested on September 30, 1992, the Datamaster had not been moved in any direction more than one foot nor had the axis been permanently changed, and that the Datamaster was serviced on June 22 and July 2, 1992, both times by a factory technician who signed a work order containing preprinted language.
Willcox then explained that the July 2 service call resulted in replacement of the power supply unit, a check of voltages, and calibration. Willcox’s testimony on the work order and its language was as follows:
“Q. And do you have with you in Court today, at my request, uh, the records of that BAC Datamaster?
“A. Yes I do.
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“Q. Did he, uh sign and fill out a repair order or repair work sheet?
“A. Yes he did.
“Q. And the signature that appears down at the bottom of that, whose is that, whose signature does that purport to be?
“Q. And is there a certification on this work order as to what kind of components were utilized?
“A. Yes there is.
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“Q. Alright, let’s go to the next repair date. What is that?
“A. This is on July 2nd, 1992.
“Q. What was done?
“A. Uh, replaced a power supply unit and checked again all voltages and calibration.
“Q. And is that signed by the technician?
“A. Yes sir, the factory technician same as the other repair.
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“Q. And is there a certification as to what type of uh, parts were used?
“A. Exactly the same certification as the previous one.
“Q. Would you state it for the record?
“A. It reads, and I quote, ‘all replacement parts used are certified to be either specified original components or authorized replacement components unless otherwise indicated. * * *’
“Q. And is it otherwise indicated on either repair order?
“A. No it is not.”
On cross-examination, Willcox testified that (1) he was present during all repairs; (2) the work order was a preprinted form signed by the factory tеchnician; (3) the Datamaster was moved during the service call; (4) the movement of the Datamaster changed its axis; and (5) no RFI survey was conducted after the July 2 service call.
The state produced no other witness besides Willcox and no further testimony on the Datamaster service. The state did not enter any exhibits into evidence.
The trial court made the following finding of facts:
“1. On June 22, 1992, and on July 2, 1992, repairs were made to the BAC Datamaster, and no new RFI survey was conducted following repairs of July 2, 1992, and before the BAC test administered to the Defendant on September 30, 1992; 2. That the repairs in question required the repair person to move the machine forward approximately 4-5 inches, but that the machine was not physically removed from its location in the hallway of the City of Kettering Jail;
The trial court then held that the replacement of the power supply unit on July 2, 1992 was a replacement of an electronic component of the Datamaster and that the state failed to prove “strict compliance” with
From the decision of the trial court, the state has filed an appeal рursuant to
II
The state’s first assignment of error is as follows:
“The trial court erred in granting defendant’s motion to suppress her blood alcohol test results as no new RFI survey was required since the BAC Datamaster was returned to its original location after being repaired.”
In
Yoder
the Ohio Supreme Court held that the requirements of
In view of our disposition of the state’s second assignment of error, we conclude that the error presented in the state’s first assignment of error is harmless. Therefore, it is overruled.
Ill
The state’s second assignment of error is as follows:
The state’s burden at a suppression hearing is preponderance of the evidence.
Athens v. Wolf
(1974), 38 Ohio St.2d 237, 67 O.O.2d 317, 313 N.E.2d 405. The Ohio Administrative Code does not require the state to conduct a new RFI survey when replacement components meet the specifications enumerated in
The Ohio Supreme Court has held that
The issue here is whether the state proved strict compliance at the suppression hearing. We find that the state failed to authenticate or identify the work order as a public record, and failed to qualify the hearsay statement (in the work order relied on by the state) as a public records exception to the hearsay rule under
As a preliminary matter, we do not decide that the state must resort to expert testimony or overly elaborate meаns of identifying and authenticating documents showing repair histories of breath-testing equipment. Instead, the state may prove compliance with
The general rule is that the foundational conditions for evidence introduced pursuant to
Generally, a certificate of authenticity must accompany the police log book.
State v. Goeckerman
(Oct. 21, 1988), Ottawa App. No. OT887, unreported, 1988 WL 110296. Data created by a secondary (nonpublic agency) source and placed into a police file is not automatically converted into a public record for purposes of the hearsay exception in
Although the police records are admissible after authentication, statements within police records, made by nongovernmental agents, require a greater foundation. The foundational requirements for admission of official records pursuant to
In another case involving maintenance records, the replacement of an electronic component, and preprinted language in a work order, the Ninth District Court of Appeals held that the language in two reports was admissible under the public records and reports exception to the hearsay rule in
The state argues here that the work order’s assertion is admissible pursuant to Ward and Lambert. We disagree. Ward and Lambert are distinguishable from the case before us. Neither Ward nor Lambert addresses the same admissibility issue as the case before us. In Ward, the court did not address the reliability of the statement of a nonpublic official made in a public record. In Lambert, the court did not expressly find that the factory-authorizеd replacement part met the same specifications as original parts.
In 1993, more than a year after
Lambert
was decided, the Ohio Supreme Court restated
The
Yoder
decision modifies
Lambert
to the extent that the
Lambert
opinion did not consider the necessity for literal compliance with the Ohio Administrative Code. We conclude that compliance with the Ohio Administrative Code should not be presumed, and we decline to find the kind of presumption the state favors — that every preprinted statement in a document placed in a public
We also conclude that justice requires vigilance against the seductive force of overly simplistic presumptions when automation рlays a substantial role in a criminal action involving a
per se
offense; not because of machine fallibility, but because of the considerable potential for unintentional human error in calibrating, operating, and maintaining complex equipment, and the further ease of misconstruing esoteric terminology when a technological matter cоmes before the court for an evidentiary ruling. The Ohio Supreme Court has recognized as much in observing “that a person charged with a violation under
Likewise, compliance with the Director of Health’s procedures for achieving accuratе results from breath-testing devices must not be presumed by the trial court. Under
Yoder,
a failure to comply with the literal requirements of
Here, the state had Willcox read a portion of the work order into the record after acknowledging that he had brought to the hearing “the records of that BAC Datamaster.” No official police records or any other exhibit was offered,by the state for authentication or as proof of compliance with the Ohio Administrative Code.
Because the work order statement was inadmissible for lack of a proper foundation or qualification under a hearsay exception, the trial court did not err in finding that the state produced no evidence showing compliance.
Even if the preprinted statement were properly authenticated and entered into evidence for the truth of its assertion, the assertion that the replacement parts are either original or factory-authorized stops short of stating that the part replaced in the Datamaster prior to Breeze’s breath test met the same specifications as an original part.
“(2) A new RFI survey shall be conducted when: * * * * (e) Any electronic component of the instrument is changed, other than replacement parts with оriginal equipment replacement parts or factory authorized replacement parts meeting the same specifications as the original equipment parts[.]” (Emphasis added.)
The state apparently interprets the phrase, “factory authorized,” in the work order, to mean that all factory-authorized parts automatically meet the same specifications as original parts. However, this interpretation ignores the restrictive clause, “meeting the same specifications as the original equipment parts.”
The state’s second assignment of error is overruled.
IV
Both of the state’s assignments of error having been overruled, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
Judgment affirmed.
Brogan and Wolff, JJ., concur.
Notes
.
“Records, reports, statements, or data compilations, in any form, of public offices or agencies, setting forth (a) the activities of the office or agency, or (b) matters observed pursuant to duty imposed by law as to which matters there was a duty to report, excluding, however, in criminal cases matters observed by police officers and other law enforcement personnel, unless offered by defendаnt, unless the sources of information or other circumstances indicate lack of trustworthiness.”
. The breath-testing machine’s replacement parts in Yoder were not electronic components— the replacement parts were a breath lamp and a pressure switch — and the parties stipulated that the replacement parts were either original equipment or factory-authorized. Id.