Resources | Was he drunk, impaired or a less safe driver? A good case study. |
| Sunday, 16 July 2006 | ||
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Defense raps DUI probe
Bonner County Daily Bee - Sandpoint,ID,USA SANDPOINT -- The investigation into a lethal vehicle crash near Garfield Bay two years ago went on trial on Wednesday. Defense attorney Doug Phelps stepped up his shelling of the case against Dustin Paul Trevino, calling into question just about every aspect of the vehicular manslaughter and drunken-driving investigation.Phelps called an expert defense witness who testified Bonner County Sheriff's Deputy Jeremy Deal improperly administered field sobriety tests. Phelps also argued the scene where the agility tests were conducted was awash in chaos, with ambulances driving up and down the road and even a rogue motorist who drove through the middle of the scene without any lights on, coming close to where Trevino and Deal were standing.Jurors got to see on Wednesday a videotape recording of Deal interviewing Trevino and administering the field sobriety tests.
Trevino seems to lose his balance while performing the walk-and-turn and one-leg-stand tests. He also falters on tests which required him to count a series of numbers backward and recite a series of letters in the alphabet forward. Trevino drops both numbers and letters during the test, and goes farther than instructed during the number countdown. After the tests are complete, Trevino loses his composure on the video. In the courtroom, Trevino broke down at about the same moment and hunched down on the defense table. Family of Eric Dan Wylie, a passenger who Trevino is accused of fatally injuring in the rollover crash, wept in the courtroom gallery as the tape played. Wylie, a front-seat passenger in Trevino's Toyota 4-Runner, died at a Seattle hospital a few days after the July 17, 2004, wreck on Garfield Bay Cutoff Road. An assistant medical examiner from King County, Wash., testified on Wednesday that Wylie died of severe brain injuries. Deal, meantime, stood by his field assessment that Trevino was intoxicated. "My impression was that he was under the influence and that he had too much to drink to be operating a vehicle," Deal told the jury. The defense hammered the thoroughness and validity of the DUI investigation. Robert La Pier, a defense expert on DUI investigations and training, told jurors Deal improperly administered a horizontal gaze nystagmus test, which involves an officer holding out a penlight to determine whether a subject's eye movements track smoothly. Involuntary jerking movements in the eyes during the test is indicative of alcohol use for those who do not have naturally occurring nystagmus. But La Pier said Deal held the penlight too long while testing the periphery of Trevino's vision, which he contended caused Trevino eyes to fatigue and jerk involuntarily. La Pier said improper instructions were given in the one-leg-stand and alphabet and number tests are not standard. After viewing the videotape, La Pier said it did not appear Trevino was intoxicated. On cross-examination, however, Deputy Prosecutor Roger Hanlon asked La Pier if he was saying Deal made the wrong call in deciding Trevino was intoxicated. "Not necessarily, no," La Pier said.             |
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