PEOPLE OF MI V SCOTT LEONARD RUTLEDGE
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STATE OF MICHIGAN
COURT OF APPEALS
PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN,
FOR PUBLICATION
February 15, 2002
9:00 a.m.
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v
No. 233990
Chippewa Circuit Court
LC No. 00-007054-AR
SCOTT LEONARD RUTLEDGE,
Defendant-Appellant.
Updated Copy
May 24, 2002
Before: Griffin, P.J., and Markey and Meter, JJ.
METER, J. (concurring.)
I concur in the majority's analysis but write separately to state that the appropriate
remedy, in my opinion, is to remand this case for a possible trial (at the prosecutor's discretion)
to allow a factfinder to determine if defendant possessed or consumed alcohol, as we have now
defined those terms, in Michigan.
The district and circuit courts assumed, for purposes of the motion to dismiss filed by
defendant, that defendant consumed alcohol in Canada. However, nowhere in the record do I
find an unequivocal concession by the prosecutor,1 or a determination by a lower court, that
defendant did, as a matter of fact, possess and consume alcohol solely outside Michigan's
borders. Given defendant's intoxicated condition when observed within this state, as well as his
1
I acknowledge that in her appellate brief, the prosecutor states that she "concurs with the basic
information set forth in the Appellant's Statement of Facts." Defendant's statement of facts,
however, merely summarizes the testimony given at the hearing on the motion to dismiss. By
concurring with defendant's statement of facts, the prosecutor is merely agreeing that on appeal,
defendant summarized the testimony correctly; the prosecutor is not conceding the truth of
defendant's testimony at the hearing that he did not consume alcohol in Michigan on the night in
question. Indeed, defendant's truthfulness in general was subject to question. The arresting
officer testified that defendant originally told the police that he had been at a party in the United
States and that he had not been drinking, yet his breath test resulted in a reading of 0.118 grams
of alcohol per 210 liters of breath. Subsequently, defendant testified that he lied to the police
and that he had in fact been drinking, but that the drinking occurred in Canada.
-1-
statement that he earlier had attended a party in Michigan, there remains a question of fact
regarding whether defendant consumed or possessed alcohol within this state in violation of
MCL 436.1703(1). Instead of dismissing the charge against defendant, I would remand this case
and allow the prosecutor, in her discretion, to proceed against defendant for a violation of MCL
436.1703(1).
/s/ Patrick M. Meter
-2-
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