City of Great Falls v. Morris

Summary

The Supreme Court of Montana affirmed Gayle Abraham Morris’s convictions for misdemeanor driving under the influence and careless driving. The court held that Montana’s statutory provision permitting an inference of impairment from refusal to submit to sobriety testing did not unconstitutionally shift the burden of proof when considered with the jury instructions and the statute as a whole. The court also upheld the refusal to give a weaker-evidence instruction and concluded that the evidence supported the careless-driving conviction.

Holdings

1. Section 61-8-404(2), MCA, as applied through Jury Instruction 10, did not unconstitutionally shift the burden of proof to Morris. The instruction properly allowed the jury to infer impairment from refusal while preserving the State's burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
2. The municipal court did not err by refusing Morris's proposed instruction concerning weaker and less satisfactory evidence because Montana Code Annotated § 26-1-602(6) presumes the existence of actual and identifiable evidence, and no video recording of Morris's driving existed.
3. The evidence was sufficient to support Morris's careless-driving conviction; careless driving does not require proof that the defendant came into close proximity to another vehicle, driver, or pedestrian.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Montana Code Annotated § 61-8-404(2), and a jury instruction based on it, unconstitutionally shifted the burden of proof by allowing the jury to infer impairment from a defendant's refusal to take a sobriety test.
2. Whether the municipal court erred by refusing to instruct the jury to distrust weaker and less satisfactory evidence because the State did not present a video recording of Morris's driving.
3. Whether the evidence was sufficient to support Morris's careless-driving conviction under Montana Code Annotated § 61-8-302(1).

Disposition

affirmed