Ashley v. State

423 So. 2d 1311
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 3, 1982
Docket53266
StatusPublished
Cited by86 cases

This text of 423 So. 2d 1311 (Ashley v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ashley v. State, 423 So. 2d 1311 (Mich. 1982).

Opinion

423 So.2d 1311 (1982)

Nathan Leon ASHLEY
v.
STATE of Mississippi.

No. 53266.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

November 3, 1982.
Rehearing Denied January 12, 1983.

*1312 Johnston & Steinberger, Albert S. Johnston, III, Pascagoula, for appellant.

Bill Allain, Atty. Gen. by Charles W. Maris, Jr., Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.

Before SUGG, P.J., and HAWKINS and DAN M. LEE, JJ.

SUGG, Presiding Justice, for the Court:

Shawn M. Allman was killed on July 3, 1980 when the automobile in which he was a passenger was stopped at a traffic signal and was hit in the rear by an automobile driven by appellant. The automobile in which the deceased was riding caught fire and he died in the ensuing blaze. Appellant was convicted of manslaughter by culpable negligence and sentenced to serve a term of ten years. Appellant has assigned several errors but does not contend that the verdict of the jury was against the overwhelming weight of the evidence.

I

Appellant first argues that the trial court erred in failing to sustain his pretrial motion to suppress the results of a blood-alcohol test. The trial court conducted hearings on the motion to suppress. Patrolman Albert Santacruz testified that he arrived at the scene of the collision shortly after it occurred. The automobile in which Allman was riding was burning, the fire department arrived and the fire was extinguished about forty-five minutes later, and the body of Allman was recovered from the vehicle. In the meantime, Santacruz determined that four vehicles were involved in the collision and four people, including appellant, were sent by ambulance to the hospital.

Based on information he received from other officers who preceded him to the scene, about appellant's involvement in the collision and appellant's behavior, Santacruz radioed the sheriff's department and requested it to contact the hospital where appellant had been carried and instruct the hospital personnel to hold appellant and perform a blood-alcohol test on him. This request was made through the sheriff's office because Santacruz did not have access to a telephone at the scene of the collision and he had no radio contact with the hospital. The request was relayed to the hospital by the sheriff's department. If appellant had not been injured and sent to the hospital, he could have been arrested at the scene for the felony of manslaughter by culpable negligence.

Officer Santacruz arrived at the scene of the collision about 9:10 p.m. and approximately two hours and twenty minutes later, after completing his investigation, he went to the Singing River Hospital. When he arrived at the hospital the nightwatchman told him they were having trouble with a patient. He found the patient in the restroom, talked to him and persuaded the patient to get into a wheel chair to be transported to one of the emergency rooms. After the patient was placed in a wheel chair, Santacruz learned that the patient was the appellant. He testified that appellant was belligerent and was drunk. He then ascertained that a blood test had been previously run on the appellant, but did not know it was requested by appellant's physician.

On the second hearing on the motion to suppress, appellant called Dr. Edward Wiggins, an orthopedic surgeon, as his witness. Dr. Wiggins testified that he treated appellant at the hospital and ordered blood drawn from appellant for a blood-alcohol test. The doctor had not received instructions from any law enforcement official to perform a blood test, but ordered the blood test as appellant's physician for diagnostic purposes.

On cross-examination the doctor testified that appellant exhibited a very belligerent *1313 behavior, appellant was combative, and had a strong odor of alcohol on his breath. He stated that, since appellant had been in an automobile accident with the possibility of a head injury he ordered the blood-alcohol test to ascertain whether appellant's behavior was due to alcohol or injuries received in the accident. He testified that appellant had a .31% alcoholic content in his blood.[1]

He testified that, after his initial examination, appellant demanded that he be taken to the bathroom and the doctor felt that it was the better part of valor to grant appellant his request. Appellant threatened to leave the hospital so the doctor explained to a highway patrolman that appellant was apparently intoxicated, he had been in an automobile wreck and had a bad ankle fracture that needed surgery. He asked the officer to help him convince appellant to stay in the hospital. The officer "offered to take him to jail if he left the hospital," whereupon appellant changed his mind and consented to enter the hospital. The doctor stated that in his opinion the appellant was highly intoxicated. No objection was made to the cross-examination of the doctor which revealed the above facts.

At the first hearing on the motion to suppress the lab technician who drew the blood from appellant and the technician who administered the test testified in detail about drawing the blood at 10:55 p.m. and the results of the test.

The blood test was administered at the direction of Dr. Wiggins and not pursuant to the request of Patrolman Santacruz. Appellant had not been arrested when his blood was withdrawn for the test.

Appellant's motion to suppress was based on Fourth Amendment and privileged communication grounds.

We first address appellant's Fourth Amendment claims. The United States Supreme Court in Schmerber v. California, 384 U.S. 757, 86 S.Ct. 1826, 16 L.Ed.2d 908 (1966) held that taking blood samples from a defendant who had been lawfully arrested did not violate his Fourth Amendment rights. In Cupp v. Murphy, 412 U.S. 291, 93 S.Ct. 2000, 36 L.Ed.2d 900 (1973) the Court held that taking fingernail scrapings from one detained did not violate his Fourth Amendment rights where probable cause for his arrest existed. The Cupp rationale has been extended in some jurisdictions to include the warrantless taking of a suspect's blood for analysis prior to arrest where probable cause existed and the circumstances dictated that the blood should be taken for a test. Aliff v. State, 627 S.W.2d 166 (Tex.Cr.App. 1982); State v. Campbell, 615 P.2d 190 (Mont. 1980); State v. Oevering, 268 N.W.2d 68 (Minn. 1978).

We find appellant had not been lawfully arrested when his blood was withdrawn for testing. However, our examination of the facts must not stop here. We must determine whether Officer Santacruz had probable cause to detain appellant and order a blood test after he went to the hospital. The facts in possession of the officer at that time were that Ashley was driving an automobile which had run into the rear end of another automobile which was stopped at a traffic signal, that an occupant of the stopped automobile had been killed in the accident, and in the opinion of the officer appellant was intoxicated. Under these facts the officer could then have arrested appellant on a charge of manslaughter and required appellant to submit to a test to determine the alcoholic content of his blood.

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Bluebook (online)
423 So. 2d 1311, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ashley-v-state-miss-1982.