DUI conviction upheld by supreme court

The Montana Supreme Court on March 6 upheld the conviction of a Columbia Falls man last year for his fifth DUI.

According to court records, Richard Bollman was arrested by Columbia Falls police officer Craig McConnell on Aug. 6, 2010, after he observed a white minivan drift out of its lane on the U.S. 2 strip near 12th Avenue West and travel erratically.

McConnell testified that the driver, Bollman, had a “very strong” smell of alcohol, “mumbled and just kind of garbled,” said he had drank “way too much to be driving,” and then failed field sobriety tests. Those tests were not recorded.

When asked to perform the field sobriety tests again back at the police station, Bollman allegedly said, “This is the part where I’m supposed to ask for a lawyer, right? ... Cause I’m screwed.” Bollman said he had rheumatoid arthritis and refused to perform the field sobriety tests or take a breathalyzer test.

Bollman disputed McConnell’s testimony in Flathead County District Court. He said his vehicle drifted because he was “fiddling with his Walkman,” his eyes were bloodshot and glassy because he worked all day in the wind at the bark plant, that he couldn’t have smelled like alcohol because he had spilled diesel fuel all over himself before leaving work, and he mumbled because he was nervous and his teeth were “all bad.”

Bollman testified that he never told McConnell he had way too much to drink but rather, “No matter how much you have, one beer is too much to be driving.” Bollman said he couldn’t stand on one leg for the field sobriety test because of his arthritis, so he told McConnell, “Just take me to jail.”

At the police station, Bollman testified, he didn’t say he was “screwed” but rather, “I’m not going to get screwed, I just want a lawyer.” Finally, Bollman testified he didn’t trust breathalyzers, so he refused the test.

A check of Bollman’s driving history turned up four prior convictions, on July 11, 2005; Aug. 25, 1998; March 18, 1996; and July 3, 1995. He later told court officials that he lived in Columbia Falls and had a wife and three children. Among the state’s witnesses were employees of the Eagles Club, on the U.S. 2 strip.

Bollman’s appeal to the Montana Supreme Court was based on two issues: 1) should Montana Highway Patrol trooper Tim Proctor have been allowed to testify as an expert witness about eye movements by people who are intoxicated; and 2) should Bollman’s request for a mistrial have been granted after McConnell used the words “felony DUIs” while testifying in front of the jury.

Prior to the jury trial, the prosecutor had asked Judge Stewart Stadler to prohibit the defense from referring to Bollman’s charge as a “felony.” The defense in turn had asked that no mention be made of any past offenses. Both sides agreed to the requests, and Stadler granted the motions.

In reviewing the case, the Montana Supreme Court agreed with Stadler’s ruling that Proctor could testify as an expert witness. It also ruled that McConnell’s “inadvertent remark” about “felony DUIs” was not solicited by the prosecutor and, in any case, “there was ample evidence against Bollman.”

The high court concluded that “any prejudice resulting from (McConnell’s) statement was very minor.” The high court also ruled that a cautionary instruction by Stadler to the jury about McConnell’s remark would have reinforced the inadmissible statement, a point Bollman’s own attorney made in district court.

“We will not hold the district court in error for failing to give a cautionary instruction,” the high court ruled, upholding Bollman’s conviction.

This was not Bollman’s first run-in with law enforcement. He was arrested in Lakeside on July 20, 2009, and charged with one felony count of assault with a weapon and one misdemeanor count of partner-family member assault.

According to court records, deputies responded to a report of a man assaulting another man at a convenience store in Lakeside. Bollman was arrested while holding a knife and talking at a pay phone.

The second man at the convenience store told deputies that Bollman assaulted him and his wife at their home in Lakeside and threatened them with a knife. The man was transported to Kalispell Regional Medical Center for treatment.

Once in custody, Bollman allegedly told deputies, “He’s lucky I didn’t have a butcher knife or I would have slit his throat.”

Bollman pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge, and the felony assault charge was dismissed. Judge Stadler sentenced Bollman on Nov. 25, 2009, to 12 months in the Flathead County Detention Center, with credit for 59 days.

Courtney Nolan, of Columbia Falls, was Bollman’s public defender in both the Lakeside assault case and his DUI case. Kalispell attorney Lane Bennett took over the DUI case on appeal to the Montana Supreme Court.