State v. Sedillo

OPINION

PICKARD, Chief Judge.

{1} The practice of law in the metropolitan, municipal, and magistrate courts of this state is often conducted with a certain degree of informality. The question we address in this case is whether an order in the form of a judge’s handwritten notations is sufficient to prove prior convictions for driving while intoxicated (DWI). We hold that a fact finder is permitted, but not required, to find the fact of a prior conviction where, as here, the prior conviction is proved by a judge’s handwritten abbreviations on a complaint. A defendant is, of course, permitted to…