State v. Reid

The officer’s testimony that defendant “failed,” when viewed in the context of testimony about standardized tests, would have led the jury to believe that the tests had been scientifically calibrated to detect impairment. State v. Beltran-Chavez, 286 Or App 590 (2017).

Defendant appealed to the Court the conviction of one count of driving under influence of intoxicants. Defendant assigned error to the trial court’s failure to strike testimony that did not comply with the scientific evidence standard under OEC 702. Defendant argued that the State failed to establish a foundation for the testimony that field sobriety tests are pass or fail. The State conceded that reversal is appropriate under plain error review. The officer’s testimony that defendant “failed,” when viewed in the context of testimony about standardized tests, would have led the jury to believe that the tests had been scientifically calibrated to detect impairment. State v. Beltran-Chavez, 286 Or App 590 (2017). The Court found that the testimony had not met the standard of a scientific foundation to admit the evidence. The Court’s reasoning was that there was no evidence that scientifically proved the efficacy of the field sobriety test to determine impairment. As such, the jury could not rely on the testimony as proving whether the field sobriety test was passed of failed by the Defendant. Reversed and remanded for resentencing.