Inability to Conclusively Establish Driving Within Two Hours Not Fatal

State v. Boehm, 05-0590 (Iowa Ct. App. June 14, 2006)

Floyd County deputies responded to an accident at about 10:45 p.m. and Deputy Kelley saw Boehm sitting in a vehicle and engaged him in conversation. Kelley detected the odor of alcohol and administered field sobriety tests. Based on the FSTs Kelley arrested Boehm and escorted him to the station, where Boehm's BAC was found to be .110 at 12:14 a.m. Boehm alleged that there was insufficient evidence to establish that he had driven his vehicle within two hours of the time the test was administered.

The court found sufficient evidence to convince a reasonable jury that Boehm could have, by his own admission, driven his truck within that time and thus denied Boehm the appeal.

The point to be made to the officers who are tasked with administering FSTs and making spot determinations is to keep an eye on the clock once it starts ticking, and to act promptly in getting the test or the refusal.