CINTHIA VARGAS
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA
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Cinthia Vargas appeals her DUI conviction, challenging the trial court's allowance of officer testimony about DUI arrest practices and the admission of evidence regarding her refusal to take a breathalyzer test. The Third District Court of Appeal affirms the conviction, finding no reversible error in either evidentiary ruling.
The court held that no reversible error occurred. The officer's general testimony that not every person stopped for DUI is arrested does not constitute improper bolstering because it does not necessarily connect arrest to guilt. Additionally, evidence of Vargas's refusal to submit to a breathalyzer test is admissible under Florida law as evidence of consciousness of guilt without shifting the burden of proof.
[1] Testimony by a law enforcement officer that not every person stopped for DUI is arrested does not constitute improper bolstering when couched in general terms and not lin…
[2] A defendant's refusal to submit to a breathalyzer test may be admissible into evidence as an indication of consciousness of guilt.
Previewing 2 of 4 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“In our case, the officer's testimony was couched in general terms about his DUI arrests. We hardly see how this testimony connects arrest and guilt or crosses a line that restrains a prosecutor from maintaining that the State prosecutes only the guilty.”
Establishes that general officer testimony about DUI arrest practices does not constitute improper bolstering under Florida law.
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceVargas was arrested and charged with Driving Under the Influence following an accident. At trial, arresting officers testified about their DUI investi…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
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PER CURIAM. Appellant Cinthia Vargas appeals a judgment and sentence rendered after a jury found her guilty of Driving Under the Influence (“DUI”).1 She challenges the trial court's overruling her numerous objections to the testimony of the arresting officers who were called to the scene of the accident. Relying on McKeown v. State, 16 So. 3d 247 (Fla. 4th DCA 2009), she argued below, as she does on appeal, that allowing one of the officers to testify that not every person he stopped for DUI is arrested constituted improper bolstering.
We agree with the State that this case is distinguishable from McKeown. In McKeown, the testifying officer provided a percentage estimate
In our case, the officer's testimony was couched in general terms about his DUI arrests. We hardly see how this testimony connects arrest and guilt or crosses a line that restrains a prosecutor from maintaining that the State prosecutes only the guilty. See generally Ruiz v. State, 743 So. 2d 1, 5 (Fla. 1999) (rejecting prosecutorial statements implying that only the guilty are prosecuted).
We therefore find no reversible error in the trial court's overruling Vargas's objections to the investigating officer's testimony.3
We find no fundamental error occurred because the State, in its argument and in its examination of Vargas, was seeking not to shift the burden of proof, but rather, to establish that Vargas's declining to take the breathalyzer test constituted evidence of her consciousness of guilt. State v. Taylor, 648 So. 2d 701, 704 (Fla. 1995); see § 316.1932(1)(a)1.a. (Fla. Stat. 2023) (“The refusal to submit to a chemical or physical breath test upon the request of a law enforcement officer as provided in this section is admissible into evidence in any criminal proceeding.").
Affirmed.
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- Ruiz v. State, 743 So. 2d 1 (Fla. 1999)
- State v. Taylor, 648 So. 2d 701 (Fla. 1995)
- McKEOWN v. State, 16 So. 3d 247 (Fla. 4th DCA 2009)
- Cardoso v. State (Fla. 5th DCA 2022)