NEWPORT-Criminal court jurors took about an hour Wednesday to find a Del Rio man not guilty of driving under the influence in connection with an August 29, 2008, traffic stop on East Broadway near the Newport city limits.
But the jury did find 61-year-old Sherrill M. Norwood, of 229 East Highway 25/70, Del Rio, guilty of speeding and violation of the state open alcoholic beverage container law. In addition, the eight-man, four-woman jury reported that Norwood did violate the Tennessee Implied Consent Law by refusing to submit to a breath- or blood-alcohol test when one was requested by a law enforcement officer.
Circuit Judge Ben W. Hooper II sentenced the defendant to a 30-day suspended jail sentence and a $50 fine on the speeding conviction and a concurrent suspended 30-day jail sentence and a second $50 fine plus court costs on the open container conviction. The positive finding by the jury of violation of the open container law was placed on the court's retired docket by the judge.
Tennessee Highway Patrol Trooper Jeremy Shelton testified during the day-long trial on Wednesday that he was traveling west on Asheville Highway at 7:59 p.m. last August 29 when he met Norwood's vehicle traveling eastbound at 70 miles per hour in a 55 mile-per-hour zone.
When questioned by Assistant District Attorney General Tonya Keith, Trooper Shelton said he turned his patrol car around and pursued Norwood's vehicle, stopping it just beyond the Eastport bridge.
He said his initial reason for stopping the Norwood car was for speeding, but it became apparent after talking with the driver that he had been drinking.
Shelton said Norwood had "bloodshot eyes, slightly slurred speech, [and] a slight odor of alcohol which got stronger the longer I spoke with him."
The trooper asked Norwood to submit to several field sobriety tests and Norwood agreed, but told the trooper that because of gout and other medical conditions he would be unable to stand on one foot. Trooper Shelton said he agreed to substitute other tests for what is known as the "one-legged stand."
The jury was shown a video recording of the field sobriety tests administered to the defendant as well as Norwood's later arrest.
In the recording, Norwood is seen walking heel-to-toe without staggering, although he did lose his balance slightly a few times; he successfully completed the hand-to-nose test; even the trooper conceded that Norwood successfully completed a finger dexterity test; he successfully recited the alphabet as directed by Trooper Shelton; and he transposed only one number when counting backwards from 75, and then when he was interrupted by a loud sound from the trooper's two-way radio.
But Trooper Shelton testified that from "the totality of the circumstances" he determined that Norwood was too intoxicated to drive and placed him under arrest for driving under the influence. He said he read Norwood the state's implied consent form, which notifies suspects that by refusing to submit to a breath- or blood-alcohol test, their driver's license is likely to be suspended for one year, and that Norwood refused to submit to a test.
And during an inventory search of Norwood's car, an open can of beer, which Trooper Shelton said was still cool and "almost full," was found under the driver's seat of the car.
On cross-examination by defense attorney Charlotte Ann Leibrock, Trooper Shelton said there was "nothing about [Norwood's] driving" which led him to stop the car, "I was just stopping him for speeding."
And where the trooper had first testified to seeing one beer left from a six-pack in the front seat of the car when he first approached the vehicle, on cross-examination he corrected that testimony to say he saw an empty beer bottle in the car and that the six-pack was in a paper bag in the passenger's seat.
Testifying on his own behalf, Norwood told jurors that he was on his way to Newport to pick up a friend when he was stopped by the trooper. He said he had consumed one beer at home "and I opened one just before I left the house."
The defendant did not deny the speeding charge, saying, "I guess I just wasn't paying attention," or the open container allegation. But he denied being intoxicated.
"I knowed I wasn't; no more than I am now," Norwood told the jury. "I deny being under the influence. You can't get under the influence by drinking a beer and a half."
When asked about the implied consent violation, Norwood said his cooperation with Trooper Shelton until then had only resulted in his arrest.
"I wasn't cooperating any farther; it was all over at that point," Norwood told the jury.
In closing arguments to the jury, defense attorney Leibrock said her client's guilt of drunk driving had not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
"Nothing that this trooper saw about the way this defendant was operating thus vehicle gave this trooper any indication that his ability to operate a vehicle was in any way impaired," Leibrock said. "My client was responsive, cooperative, polite, and he did what this officer told him to do. He wasn't staggering or swaying or reaching to hang onto his vehicle. He's a 60-year-old man with physical limitations and there's not proof beyond a reasonable doubt."
But prosecutor Keith urged the jury to look to the trooper's training and experience and the defendant's performance of the field sobriety tests, along with the reported odor of alcohol, his bloodshot eyes, and slurred speech.
"Being under the influence of alcohol to any extent and operating a vehicle is against the law," Keith told the jury.
Concerning Trooper Shelton's observations of Norwood's vehicle, Keith said, "the officer saw him driving 15 miles per hour over the speed limit into the city limits and he needed to stop him, [so] he didn't give him time to do anything bad."