(Download) "City of West Bend v. Wilkens" by Supreme Court of Wyoming " Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: City of West Bend v. Wilkens
- Author : Supreme Court of Wyoming
- Release Date : January 12, 2005
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 66 KB
Description
1. This case involves a question of admissibility versus weight of the evidence. Richard B. Wilkens, convicted of operating a vehicle with a prohibited alcohol concentration, complains that the field sobriety tests (FSTs) the arresting officer administered were unreliable because they failed to conform to the standardized procedures approved by the United States Department of Transportations National Highway Traffic Safety Association. The trial court determined that the reliability of the tests was for the jury to decide. We agree that the procedures the officer employed go to the sufficiency of the evidence, not its admissibility. We reject Wilkens attempt to cast this case as one involving the use of scientific evidence, the reliability of which this court must determine before the fact finder may consider it. FSTs are not scientific tests. They are merely observational tools that law enforcement officers commonly use to assist them in discerning various indicia of intoxication, the perception of which is necessarily subjective. Moreover, it is not beyond the ken of the average person to understand such indicia and to form an opinion about whether an individual is intoxicated. The evidence was not without probative value and therefore was admissible.
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