Civil Judgment Against VSP Trooper
The Burlington Free Press reports that a motorist, William Henn, who sued Vermont State Police Trooper David Robillard has obtained a judgement against the trooper in a small claims action. According to the Free Press:
Robillard was sued by the driver, William Henn, 45, of Lowell after Henn’s license was suspended based on Robillard’s claim that Henn’s blood-alcohol content was 0.102 percent after a November 2008 traffic stop in Derby — even though the figure generated by the Datamaster test was 0.69 percent.
Although the article is light on details, it appears that the trooper intentionally submitted an affidavit in support of the civil suspension notice using the higher figure, when he knew that the actual figure was below the .08 BAC threshhold required for the issuance of a civil suspension notice. We can infer from the article that the trooper believed that he was permitted to relate the test back to the time of operation. And, Howard Kolfas, a staff attorney with the state Public Safety Department, who represented the Trooper, referenced a ruling of the Vermont Supreme Court in support of that position:
He said the high court’s ruling allows a police officer to pursue a license suspension using a breath-test figure from earlier in the traffic stop if the figure has a scientific basis. In the Henn case, Robillard relied on a sworn affidavit from Amanda Bolduc, a state chemist.
The Vermont Supreme Court case at issue State v. Anderson, 179 Vt. 43; 2005 VT 80. And in that case the court said no such thing. What they said, in fact, was that a Datamaster test at or above .08 BAC was a necessary antecedent to the issuance of a civil license suspension.
The State plans to appeal.
Comments
No comments have been made. Leave a comment using the form below.