STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA
v. Alamance County
Nos. 00 CRS 12246-47
ROBERT LEON TART
Attorney General Roy Cooper, by Special Deputy Attorney
General Isaac T. Avery, III and Assistant Attorney General
Patricia A. Duffy, for the State.
David J.P. Barber for defendant-appellant.
WALKER, Judge.
Defendant was found guilty of habitual driving while impaired
and driving while license revoked. After admitting to being an
habitual felon, he received a sentence of 135 to 171 months in
prison.
Viewed in the light most favorable to the State, the evidence
at trial tended to show the following: On the afternoon of 8
February 2000, Sergeant Jeff Wood of the Burlington Police
Department observed defendant turn his vehicle off of Huffman Mill
Road into the parking lot of Alamance Regional Medical Center,
while traveling at approximately forty miles per hour. A safe
speed for the parking lot was twenty-five miles per hour. Onceinside the lot, defendant accelerated, squealed his tires, and
turned left again toward the Kernodle Clinic.
Sergeant Wood activated his blue lights and approached
defendant's vehicle. Defendant informed Sergeant Wood that he had
no driver's license. Defendant's eyes were red and glassy, his
speech was slurred and mumbled, and he had a strong odor of alcohol
about his person. After checking defendant's name against the
records of the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), Sergeant Wood
placed him under arrest. Defendant refused to submit to an
Intoxilyzer breath analysis. Sergeant Wood administered two field
sobriety tests. Defendant was unable to maintain a “one-legged
stand” for thirty seconds. He also swayed noticeably from front to
rear during the “sway test.” Based on his observation of defendant
over a one and one-half hour period, as well as his thirteen years
of law enforcement experience, Sergeant Wood formed an opinion that
defendant had consumed a sufficient quantity of an impairing
substance that his mental and physical faculties “were extremely
impaired.” Inside defendant's vehicle, Sergeant Wood found half-
empty bottles of vodka and Wild Irish Rose.
DMV records showed that defendant's driver's license had been
revoked since 11 January 2000. Defendant stipulated to three prior
impaired driving convictions within seven years of the charged
offense.
In his one assignment of error on appeal, defendant claims the
trial court erred in denying his motion to dismiss. Specifically,he contends the State failed to adduce substantial evidence of
impairment. We disagree.
Defendant was observed turning off of a public road into a
parking lot at an unsafe rate of speed. Once inside the parking
lot, he accelerated and squealed his tires making a second turn.
Defendant smelled strongly of alcohol; his eyes were red and
glassy; his speech was slurred; and he was unable to perform
correctly either of two field sobriety tests. He also refused to
submit to an Intoxilyzer test. See N.C. Gen. Stat. § 20-139.1(f)
(2001)(providing that such a refusal is admissible in a criminal
prosecution for impaired driving). Defendant had open bottles of
liquor and fortified wine in his vehicle. Finally, Sergeant Wood
formed an opinion, based on his observations, that defendant's
mental and physical faculties were extremely impaired. Such
evidence was sufficient to take the issue of defendant's impairment
to the jury. See State v. O'Rourke, 114 N.C. App. 435, 441, 442
S.E.2d 137, 140 (1994); and State v. Beasley, 104 N.C. App. 529,
533, 410 S.E.2d 236, 239 (1991).
No error.
Judges THOMAS and BIGGS concur.
Report per Rule 30(e).
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