Illinois high court OKs DUI eye test

Illinois high court OKs DUI eye test
HGN test asks person to follow pen or finger with eyes; reliance on it was questioned in McKown case
By ANDY KRAVETZ (akravetz@pjstar.com)
OF THE JOURNAL STAR

The Illinois Supreme Court on Friday upheld a DUI eye test commonly used by police as "generally accepted in the relevant scientific fields as evidence of alcohol consumption and possible impairment."

However, the justices sent the drunken-driving case of Joanne McKown back to Peoria County on the basis that prosecutors here didn't lay a proper legal foundation to show the horizontal gaze nystagmus test was properly administered.

HGN testing is based upon the premise that if a person has been drinking, his or her pupils would not follow a pen or a finger smoothly.

The unanimous decision by the seven justices in Springfield seems to settle the dispute over HGN testing for Illinois. The question is important because police officers statewide use the test as a benchmark to see if a person is under the influence.

What made McKown's 2002 traffic stop different from most stops is that the officer appears to relied almost exclusively on the HGN test to find she was intoxicated on June 8, 2002, when her car collided with three motorcycles on Maher Road.

The matter has been the subject of lengthy court hearings, including four marathon sessions in Peoria County Circuit Court in 2007 and 2008. The case also was reviewed by the 3rd District Appellate Court in Ottawa and the Illinois Supreme Court. The high court remanded the case to Peoria in 2007 for the 2007-2008 hearings to determine the science behind the testing.

McKown, 45, whose hometown is listed as Hanna City in court records, was convicted of aggravated driving under the influence and aggravated reckless driving at a 2003 bench trial and sentenced to two years in prison.

After the accident, a witnesses testified he smelled beer on her breath. The investigating officer also testified he smelled beer and said he found a half-empty beer can in her car. McKown, who was taken to the hospital after the crash, told him she drank beer earlier that day.

The officer did the HGN test at the hospital not long after the accident, and McKown failed. He did no other field sobriety tests because she had a broken toe. A blood test wasn't done for several hours because she resisted until she was court-ordered to give blood. When it was done, the test showed no alcohol in her system.

The appellate court upheld McKown's conviction, saying the test is "a reliable indicator of alcohol impairment."

Yet the Supreme Court disagreed in 2007, saying the test differed from others given because the results to the average person were meaningless, while the effect of alcohol on a person's balance was easily understood.