Blank v. State

3 P.3d 359, 2000 Alas. App. LEXIS 70, 2000 WL 655980
CourtCourt of Appeals of Alaska
DecidedMay 19, 2000
DocketA-6541
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 3 P.3d 359 (Blank v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Alaska primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Blank v. State, 3 P.3d 359, 2000 Alas. App. LEXIS 70, 2000 WL 655980 (Ala. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinions

STEWART, Judge.

Laura A. Blank struck a pedestrian, Pen-nye McDowell, while driving home from a friend's house. Blank did not stop at the scene of the accident. McDowell died from her injuries.

The Alaska State Troopers investigated the accident and ultimately arrived at Blank's residence. During an interview with Blank in his patrol car, Trooper Bill D. Tyler performed a portable breath test on Blank that yielded a result of .082. The grand jury indicted Blank for manslaughter 1 and felony leaving the seene of an injury accident2 Blank moved to suppress her interview with Trooper Tyler, claiming that it was custodial interrogation without Miranda3 warnings. Blank also claimed that the portable breath test was an unauthorized search. Finally, Blank moved to suppress the evidence obtained from the service of two search warrants. Blank claimed that the warrants were based on illegally obtained evidence and on material misstatements of fact by the trooper [362]*362who applied for the warrants. - Superior Court Judge Beverly W. Cutler denied Blank's motions.

Because we agree with Blank that the portable breath test was an unauthorized search, we reverse.

Facts and proceedings

On September 26, 1994, Pennye McDowell and Diane Forster were walking on a residential street in a subdivision near Palmer. The paved roadway, edged with a narrow gravel strip, was straight and level. Porster walked on the gravel strip; McDowell on the edge of the road bed. Blank drove up from behind the two and struck McDowell. McDowell's body landed several feet away in a ditch. The impact broke the windshield, the right side view mirror, and the right side passenger's window of Blank's .car. Blank did not stop; Forster testified that she "heard the car squealing around the corner" away from the scene.

Blank's husband, Greg Blank, appeared at the seene while troopers were investigating. Mr. Blank told Trooper Tyler that his wife may have been involved in the accident. Tyler and two other officers followed Mr. Blank back to the Blank residence. At the residence, Tyler introduced himself to Laura Blank and told her that he "needed to talk to her about the accident." Tyler suggested that his patrol car was a better place for the interview and Blank went with Tyler to the patrol car.

During the interview, Blank told Tyler that she had two beers at a friend's house before driving home. Tyler administered a portable breath test that registered a blood-alcohol content of .082%. Blank agreed to go to the hospital to have a blood test, but changed her mind at the hospital. Tyler did not arrest Blank.

On September 29, 1994, Trooper Dale G. Gibson, relying on information from Tyler, obtained a search warrant to inspect Blank's car which had been impounded. On October 14, 1994, Tyler obtained a second search warrant for an additional inspection of the car. Blank's indictment for manslaughter and leaving the seene of an injury accident followed.

Judge Cutler denied Blank's pretrial motions to suppress the portable breath test result, the statement to Trooper Tyler and the evidence obtained from the execution of the search warrants. Following a mistrial, Blank was convicted on both counts at her second trial. Judge Cutler imposed a 6-year sentence with 1 year suspended for manslaughter and a suspended 2%-year consecutive term for leaving the seene of the accident. Blank now appeals her conviction.

Discussion

Was Tyler's interview custodial interrogation?

When Tyler arrived at Blank's residence, he introduced himself to Blank and told her that he "needed to talk to her about the accident." Tyler asked Blank: "Why don't you come and sit in my car[?]" Blank accompanied Tyler out to his patrol car, which was parked outside the residence, and sat in the front seat.

Tyler recorded the interview with Blank. At the start, Tyler stated that the interview was being conducted in the patrol ear "only for convenience sake" and expressed concern about "the kids getting involved." Tyler advised Blank that "you're not under arrest or anything like that" and that "you're free to leave any time you want to." Blank answered Tyler's questions during the approximately hour-long interview. Towards the end, Tyler asked, "were you[ ] coerced, promised anything, ... forced to make a statement or anything?" Blank answered "no" and offered another detailed recital of events. Tyler returned to his question:

TYLER: - Were yofi forced to make a statement?
BLANK: - No.
TYLER: - Okay, you're doing this on your own free will?
BLANK: You bet. You bet.

Blank agreed to accompany Tyler to the hospital for a blood test.

After hearing evidence on Blank's motion to suppress the statements she made during [363]*363the interview with Tyler, Judge Cutler found that a reasonable person would not have thought she was in custody, and found that Blank subjectively understood she was not in custody during the interview. As support for finding that a reasonable person would not have thought they were in custody, Judge Cutler noted that police "routinely" interview drivers in a patrol car after an accident. Judge Cutler found that the length of the interview and the small number of officers present at the Blank residence were not indicative of a custodial interview. As for the interview's location in the patrol car, Judge Cutler saw the patrol car as an alternative private location. The judge found important the fact that, although Tyler suggested the patrol car as a location for the interview, it was Mr. Blank who brought the police back to the residence.

In Hunter v. State4 the Supreme Court adopted an objective test for deciding if a person was in custody, so that Miranda warnings were required. Miranda warnings must precede police interrogation conducted under circumstances in which a "reasonable person would feel he was not free to leave and break off the questioning.5 The Supreme Court further indicated that:

At least three groups of facts would be relevant to this determination. The first are those facts intrinsic to the interrogation: when and where it occurred, how long it lasted, how many police were present, what the officers and the defendant said and did, the presence of actual physical restraint on the defendant or things equivalent to actual restraint such as drawn weapons or a guard stationed at the door, and whether the defendant was being questioned as a suspect or as a witness. Facts pertaining to events before the interrogation are also relevant, especially how the defendant got to the place of questioning-whether he came completely on his own, in response to a police request, or ‘ escorted by police officers,. Finally, what happened after the interrogation-whether the defendant left freely, was detained or arrested-may assist the court in determining whether the defendant, as a reasonable person, would have felt free to break off the questioning.6

Blank has not attacked Judge Cutler's findings regarding these factors. However, Blank claims that Judge Cutler erred by concluding from her findings that Blank was not in custody.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Hurlburt v. State
425 P.3d 189 (Court of Appeals of Alaska, 2018)
Botson v. Municipality of Anchorages
367 P.3d 17 (Alaska Supreme Court, 2016)
Blank v. State
142 P.3d 1210 (Court of Appeals of Alaska, 2006)
State of Arizona v. Jesus Antonio Aleman
Court of Appeals of Arizona, 2005
State v. Aleman
109 P.3d 571 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 2005)
State v. Blank
90 P.3d 156 (Alaska Supreme Court, 2004)
Cooper v. State
587 S.E.2d 605 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2003)
State v. Anderson
73 P.3d 1242 (Court of Appeals of Alaska, 2003)
Stavenjord v. State
66 P.3d 762 (Court of Appeals of Alaska, 2003)
City of Fargo v. Wonder
2002 ND 142 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 2002)
State v. Smith
38 P.3d 1149 (Alaska Supreme Court, 2002)
State v. Cline
617 N.W.2d 277 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 2000)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
3 P.3d 359, 2000 Alas. App. LEXIS 70, 2000 WL 655980, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/blank-v-state-alaskactapp-2000.