Patterson v. State, Dept. of Justice

¶25 I dissent from the Court’s decision. The discovery issue is nothing but a red herring. The 9-1-1 tape was irrelevant under the undisputed facts here.

¶26 The proceeding at issue involved Patterson’s challenge to the suspension of his driver’s license under § 61-8-403, MCA. It is well settled that under this statute the trial court’s review is limited to three issues: (1) whether a peace officer had reasonable grounds to believe that the person had been driving or was in actual physical control of a vehicle upon the ways of this state open to the public while under the influence of alcohol,…