DAVIS, Judge:
¶ 1 Paul Prawitt appeals from his convictions of multiple driving and alcohol-related offenses. We affirm.
¶ 2 On July 27, 2007, at about 2:30 a.m., Officer Salvador Toscano discovered Prawitt asleep in the driver's seat of a vehicle. The vehicle was legally parked on the side of the road, and Prawitt's leg was hanging out the window. Toscano determined that Prawitt
¶ 3 Prawitt was charged with and tried on multiple charges arising from the incident. Prawitt claims to have raised objections to several potential jurors during voir dire, but those objections took place off the record. Prawitt also claims to have objected to a jury instruction concerning his refusal to submit to a breath or blood test for alcohol. During trial, Toscano testified that he was unaware that the keys to Prawitt's vehicle were in the vehicle's center console at the time he was arrested. This prompted Prawitt to move for suppression of the evidence discovered following his arrest on the ground that Toscano had lacked probable cause to believe that Prawitt was in actual physical control of the vehicle. The district court denied the motion. Prawitt was convicted on all charges and brings this appeal.
¶ 4 Prawitt first argues that his due process rights were violated when the district court failed to record certain bench and in-chambers conferences that occurred during trial. "Due process challenges are questions of law that we review applying a correction of error standard." West Valley City v. Roberts, 1999 UT App 358, ¶ 6, 993 P.2d 252.
¶ 5 Next, Prawitt argues that the jury instruction on refusal of chemical tests impermissibly shifted the State's burden of proof onto him. "`A challenge to a jury instruction as incorrectly stating the law presents a question of law, which we review for correctness.'" State v. Maese, 2010 UT App 106, ¶ 7, 236 P.3d 155 (quoting State v. Weisberg, 2002 UT App 434, ¶ 12, 62 P.3d 457), cert. denied, 247 P.3d 774 (Utah 2011).
¶ 6 Finally, Prawitt argues that the district court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence arising from his arrest. Prawitt argues that Toscano lacked probable cause to arrest him for driving while intoxicated because at the time of the arrest Toscano did not know that the vehicle's keys were in Prawitt's possession. Prawitt thus argues that all evidence discovered after his arrest, including the keys, his refusal to submit to a breath or blood test, and the open beer containers, should be suppressed.
¶ 7 Prawitt first argues that Utah's district courts are courts of record and that the district court's failure to ensure the recording of bench and in-chambers conferences violated his due process rights. Prawitt asserts that he raised multiple objections to potential jurors during the unrecorded conferences and that the lack of recording has deprived him of meaningful appellate review.
¶ 8 Due process "`requires that there be a record adequate to review specific claims of error already raised.'" Roberts, 1999 UT App 358, ¶ 11, 993 P.2d 252 (quoting State v. Russell, 917 P.2d 557, 559 (Utah Ct.App.1996)). And Prawitt is correct that the district court shares in the responsibility to ensure that an adequate record is made. See Utah Const. art. VIII, § 1 ("The Supreme Court, the district court, and such other courts designated by statute shall be courts of record."); Birch v. Birch, 771 P.2d 1114, 1116 (Utah Ct.App.1989) ("[A] record should be made of all proceedings of courts of record."). However, the ultimate burden is on a defendant "`to make certain that the record he compiles will adequately preserve his arguments for review.'" State v. Johnson, 2006 UT App 3, ¶ 13, 129 P.3d 282 (quoting State v. Smedley, 2003 UT App 79, ¶ 10, 67 P.3d 1005). "One who fails to make a necessary
¶ 9 Prawitt made his objections during bench and in-chambers conferences, which are often not conducted on the record.
¶ 10 The Utah Rules of Appellate Procedure also allow for supplementation of the record after the fact to recreate unrecorded matters. See Utah R.App. P. 11(g). "[L]ack of an adequate record constitutes a basis for remand and a new hearing only where . . . the record cannot be satisfactorily reconstructed (i.e., by affidavits or other documentary evidence). . . ." West Valley City v. Roberts, 1999 UT App 358, ¶ 11, 993 P.2d 252 (emphasis added). Here, Prawitt could have obtained an affidavit from his trial counsel, submitted his counsel's notes if those identified the unrecorded objections, or even submitted his own affidavit. Yet there is no indication that Prawitt attempted these or any other steps to reconstruct the missing objections. Prawitt's failure to ensure that his objections were recorded at trial and his failure to reconstruct the record under rule 11 precludes any finding of a due process violation under the circumstances. See Johnson, 2006 UT App 3, ¶ 13, 129 P.3d 282; Roberts, 1999 UT App 358, ¶ 11, 993 P.2d 252.
¶ 11 Ultimately, Prawitt carried the burden to ensure "that the record he compiles will adequately preserve his arguments for review," see Johnson, 2006 UT App 3, ¶ 13, 129 P.3d 282. He failed to take any reasonable steps to meet that burden, and accordingly, we observe no violation of his due process rights arising from the unrecorded and unpreserved objections.
¶ 12 Prawitt next challenges the jury instruction on refusal to submit to a breath or blood test. The challenged instruction stated,
Prawitt argues that this instruction effectively shifted the State's burden of proof onto him and that the jury instruction should have said, "You may take notice of and give whatever weight you determine to [Prawitt's] refusal to submit to the blood or breath test," see Orem City v. Longoria, 2008 UT App 168, ¶ 3, 186 P.3d 958 (mem.).
¶ 13 We do not consider the merits of Prawitt's argument because it was not preserved for appeal. To preserve an issue for appeal in a criminal matter, an objection must be made on the district court record, see State v. Worwood, 2007 UT 47, ¶ 16, 164 P.3d 397, and "the issue must be sufficiently raised to a level of consciousness before the trial court and must be supported by evidence or relevant legal authority," State v. Dean, 2004 UT 63, ¶ 13, 95 P.3d 276 (internal quotation marks omitted). Here, there is no record evidence that Prawitt raised his jury instruction argument in the district court.
¶ 15 Here, the evidence of Prawitt's guilt on the charges against him was overwhelming. He was found behind the wheel of an operable vehicle with no other potential driver present. Prawitt did not tell the arresting officer that anyone else had been driving the vehicle, and he gave contradictory stories about his destination and how the vehicle had come to be there. He appeared to be intoxicated, failed field sobriety tests, had a revoked driver license, and was in possession of open beer containers in his vehicle. This evidence is strongly indicative of driving under the influence of alcohol and the other offenses charged, and we are not persuaded of any reasonable likelihood of a different result had the allegedly erroneous jury instruction on refusal to submit to a breath or blood test included language directing the jury to give whatever weight it determined to Prawitt's refusal.
¶ 16 Finally, Prawitt argues that the district court erred when it denied his midtrial motion to suppress evidence obtained at the scene of his arrest. Prawitt's motion was prompted by Toscano's trial testimony that he did not observe the vehicle's keys within Prawitt's reach prior to arresting him-a change from Toscano's police report, wherein he had stated that the keys had been found and tried in the ignition by officers prior to the arrest. Prawitt argued that without knowledge that the keys were present in the vehicle, Toscano had no probable cause to believe that the vehicle was operable or that Prawitt was in actual physical control of it. We review Prawitt's argument in light of the substantial other facts supporting a finding of probable cause to believe that Prawitt was in actual physical control of his vehicle.
¶ 17 There are several nonexclusive factors for assessing whether a person is in actual physical control of a vehicle, which are to be evaluated under the totality of the circumstances. See State v. Barnhart, 850 P.2d 473, 477-78 (Utah Ct.App.1993). These factors, as enumerated in Richfield City v. Walker, 790 P.2d 87 (Utah Ct.App.1990), include
Id. at 93. Here, the State presented substantial evidence that would support a determination of probable cause to believe that Prawitt was in actual physical control of the vehicle, even without consideration of exactly when Toscano observed that the keys were present in the vehicle.
¶ 18 Applying the Richfield factors to the facts of this case, Prawitt was discovered asleep in the driver's seat of the vehicle. The vehicle was legally parked on the side of the road, and the motor was not running. Prawitt was the sole occupant of the vehicle. He appeared capable of operating the vehicle,
¶ 19 This evidence readily satisfies the State's burden of establishing probable cause to believe that Prawitt was in actual physical control of the vehicle. In our view, the inferences arising from Prawitt's sole occupancy of the vehicle, his position in the driver's seat, and his indication that he had driven the vehicle to its discovered location are sufficient to create probable cause even in the absence of the other Richfield factors.
¶ 20 The State presented ample evidence demonstrating Toscano's probable cause to believe that Prawitt had actual physical control of his vehicle at the time he was arrested. Accordingly, the district court properly denied Prawitt's suppression motion.
¶ 21 Although we believe the State satisfied its burden of establishing only probable cause, we note the possible perverse consequence this decision may have of encouraging drunk drivers to hedge their bets against getting caught and keep driving, rather than pull over and "sleep it off" in their vehicles, see Richfield, 790 P.2d at 93. The Richfield court recognized the "compelling argument that intoxicated drivers should be encouraged to pull off to the side of the road to sleep it off," but also categorized this consideration as "more appropriately [in] the province of the legislature."
¶ 22 We conclude that Prawitt failed to meet his burden of ensuring an adequate record for appeal either by making his objections on the record to begin with or by recreating them after the fact. As to his plain error claim, he has failed to show harm arising from any error in the jury instructions. Finally, the district court properly denied his motion to suppress evidence. Accordingly, we affirm Prawitt's convictions.
¶ 23 I CONCUR: CAROLYN B. McHUGH, Associate Presiding Judge.
¶ 24 I agree wholeheartedly with the majority opinion with the exception of paragraph twenty-one. I do not believe that the legislative policy reflected in the statute is as clearly wrong as the majority seems to believe, nor do I think that the analysis in that paragraph is needed for the decision. Therefore, I do not join in that portion of the opinion.