PEOPLE OF MI V KELI SUE HOGAN
Annotate this Case
Download PDF
STATE OF MICHIGAN
COURT OF APPEALS
PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN,
UNPUBLISHED
November 19, 2009
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v
No. 285492
Gratiot Circuit Court
LC No. 07-005467-FH
KELI SUE HOGAN,
Defendant-Appellant.
Before: Borrello, P.J., and Whitbeck and K.F. Kelly, JJ.
PER CURIAM.
Defendant appeals by right from her convictions, following a jury trial, of three counts of
operating a motor vehicle while visibly impaired (OWVI) causing death, MCL 257.625(4), and
one count of OWVI causing serious impairment of body function, MCL 257.625(5). For the
reasons set forth in this opinion, we affirm.
Defendant’s conviction arose out of an evening collision between defendant’s pickup
truck and a Chevrolet Trailblazer on March 23, 2007. The evidence established that defendant
ran a stop sign and crashed into the Trailblazer at the intersection of Harrison and Luce Roads in
Gratiot County. As a result of the collision, three of the five occupants in the Trailblazer were
killed and a fourth occupant sustained a fractured skull. Defendant contended at trial that she
failed to stop at the stop sign because deer on the roadway had distracted her. Plaintiff
contended that defendant’s ability to drive was visibly impaired due to the consumption of
alcohol earlier that evening. The jury found that the evidence supported plaintiff’s contention
and convicted defendant as charged.
Defendant argues that plaintiff failed to present sufficient evidence of visible
impairment.1 The Court must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution.
1
Defendant also asserts in her brief on appeal that plaintiff failed to present sufficient evidence
that defendant voluntarily decided to drive knowing that she had consumed alcohol and might be
visibly impaired. However, defendant failed to develop this argument in her appellate brief.
“An appellant may not merely announce [a] position and leave it to this Court to discover and
rationalize the basis for [its] claims . . . .” Peterson Novelties, Inc v Berkley, 259 Mich App 1,
(continued…)
-1-
People v Davis, 241 Mich App 697, 700; 617 NW2d 381 (2000). We will uphold the conviction
so long as a rational juror could have found that the prosecutor proved the elements of the
charged crime. People v Vaughn, 186 Mich App 376, 379; 465 NW2d 365 (1990).
According to the controlling statute, “[a] person . . . shall not operate a vehicle upon a
highway . . . when, due to the consumption of alcoholic liquor, . . . the person’s ability to operate
the vehicle is visibly impaired.” MCL 257.625(3). To convict defendant under this statute,
plaintiff had to present evidence to establish beyond a reasonable doubt “‘that defendant’s ability
to drive was so weakened or reduced by consumption of intoxicating liquor that defendant drove
with less ability than would an ordinary, careful and prudent driver.’” People v Lambert, 395
Mich 296, 305; 235 NW2d 338 (1975). See also CJI2d 15.4. Further, plaintiff had to establish
that defendant’s impaired ability to drive was “‘visible to an ordinary, observant person.’”
Lambert, supra at 305; CJI2d 15.4.
Defendant’s brief on appeal suggests that eyewitness testimony that defendant herself
appeared visibly impaired is required to satisfy MCL 257.625(3). This is incorrect for two
reasons. First, the plain language of MCL 257.625(3) does not require eyewitness testimony to
satisfy the requirement that “the person’s ability to operate the vehicle is visibly impaired.” The
Legislature is presumed to have intended the meaning it plainly expressed. Pohutski v Allen
Park, 465 Mich 675, 683; 641 NW2d 219 (2002). A court may not read something “into an
unambiguous statute that is not within the manifest intent of the Legislature as derived from the
words of the statute itself.” Roberts v Mecosta Co Gen Hosp, 466 Mich 57, 63; 642 NW2d 663
(2002). In addition, Michigan case law has not interpreted the statute as requiring eyewitness
testimony that the defendant herself appeared visibly impaired. See Lambert, supra at 305. The
Criminal Jury Instructions, which were based on our Supreme Court’s holding in Lambert,
likewise do not contain such a requirement. See CJI2d 15.4.
Second, circumstantial evidence and the reasonable inferences therefrom can constitute
satisfactory proof of the elements of a crime, People v Carines, 460 Mich 750, 757; 597 NW2d
130 (1999), and reasonable inferences may be drawn from established facts. People v Wilson,
107 Mich App 470, 474; 309 NW2d 584 (1981). In this case, defendant admitted that prior to
the accident, she was at a pub and that she consumed alcoholic beverages. Furthermore, there is
no dispute that defendant ran the stop sign and crashed her pickup truck into the victims’ vehicle.
Witnesses observed defendant’s pickup run through the stop sign, and defendant does not dispute
the fact that she was driving her truck and that she ran the stop sign. That defendant consumed
alcoholic beverages before the crash, drove her pickup truck after consuming those beverages,
ran the stop sign at the intersection, and crashed her pickup truck into the victims’ vehicle are
established facts from which it can be inferred that defendant was visibly impaired.
In addition, there was circumstantial evidence from which it can be inferred that
defendant’s ability to operate her vehicle was visibly impaired. Defendant admitted that she was
familiar with the intersection where the collision occurred and that she saw the sign warning of
the intersection ahead and yet in spite of these facts, she still failed to stop at the intersection.
(…continued)
14; 672 NW2d 351 (2003). By failing to properly address the merits of her assertion of error,
defendant has abandoned this issue. Id.
-2-
Furthermore, there was evidence that defendant’s blood alcohol content (BAC) was .04 grams
per 100 milliliters of blood about two hours after the crash2 and that after the accident, she was
confused, some of her responses to questions posed by a paramedic were unclear, her eyes were
red and bloodshot, and she smelled of intoxicants. Moreover, an accident reconstruction expert
testified that in the majority of nighttime collisions in which a driver misses a stop sign, alcohol
is involved. In sum, based on the established facts and circumstantial evidence, the jury could
have reasonably inferred that defendant’s ability to drive her vehicle was visibly impaired, i.e.,
that it was reduced to the point where an ordinary, observant person would have noticed it.
Thus, the prosecutor introduced sufficient evidence to establish that defendant’s ability to
operate her vehicle was visibly impaired.
Defendant also argues that the trial court erred in admitting the expert testimony of
toxicologist Michele Glinn, Ph.D. Glinn used retrograde extrapolation to calculate defendant’s
BAC content at the time of the collision. Defendant maintains that the factual basis for the
calculation was deficient and that as such the trial court should have excluded Glinn’s testimony.
Assuming that Glinn’s testimony was relevant, we find that defendant’s challenges to Glinn’s
testimony address the weight of the retrograde extrapolation evidence, not its admissibility. See
People v Wager, 460 Mich 118, 126; 594 NW2d 487 (1999).
Affirmed.
/s/ Stephen L. Borrello
/s/ William C. Whitbeck
/s/ Kirsten Frank Kelly
2
We observe that even without the retrograde extrapolation evidence, which defendant contends
the trial court erred in admitting, see infra, the evidence is sufficient to establish that defendant’s
ability to operate her vehicle was visibly impaired.
-3-
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.