City of Brookings v. Jensen

243 N.W.2d 71, 90 S.D. 514, 1976 S.D. LEXIS 235
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedJune 15, 1976
DocketFile No. 11594
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 243 N.W.2d 71 (City of Brookings v. Jensen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Brookings v. Jensen, 243 N.W.2d 71, 90 S.D. 514, 1976 S.D. LEXIS 235 (S.D. 1976).

Opinion

COLER, Justice.

Appellant was found guilty by a jury and convicted of driving while intoxicated in contravention of an ordinance of the City of Brookings. We reverse.

Appellant was arrested at approximately 2:13 a.m. on March 29, 1973. The first appeal, #11393, was dismissed as no final judgment of conviction had yet been entered. Subsequently, on November 25,1974, the judgment of conviction and sentence was entered and the appeal was allowed.

Appellant’s assignments of error involve the trial court’s (1) refusing to grant appellant’s motion that no evidence in respect to appellant’s refusal to take a breathalyzer test be admitted either in the opening statement or in the trial itself and (2) allowing two city patrolmen to testify that appellant refused to take a breathalyzer test.

Appellant was observed in the early morning hours by a city patrolman driving alone in his pickup truck going north on Western Avenue and making a stop at the intersection of Western Avenue and Sixth Street which is designated as U.S. Highway 14. The officer observed the pickup making too wide a turn to the west on Highway 14 to the extent that the vehicle momentarily went off the shoulder of the road. The officer followed the vehicle and observed it swerving to some degree though remaining on the proper side of the roadway and turned on his warning light. Although there is conflicting testimony, the officer blew his siren and finally stopped appellant after they had traveled approximately one mile westerly on Highway 14. The officer testified as to his observance of appellant’s breath as smelling of alcohol and as to the actions of appellant which brought about the officer’s asking appellant to take a field sobriety test which the officer felt appellant failed. Just as the officer finished the field test, another officer arrived on the scene and thereafter appellant was arrested and taken back to the police station. A third [517]*517officer, Officer Tietjen, who had had courses of training in the operation of a breathalyzer, was called to the police station and he explained the breathalyzer to appellant.

At the commencement of the trial, after the prosecutor had alluded to appellant’s refusal to take a breathalyzer test in his opening argument, appellant objected to the statement and moved the court to suppress testimony relative to the refusal to take a test. That motion was denied.

It appears from the record that appellant was afforded the opportunity to talk to his lawyer and from the following testimony received at the trial, over appellant’s objection, the circumstances upon which appellant’s refusal to take the test are evidenced. Officer Tietjen testified that he asked appellant if appellant would voluntarily consent to taking this test. The city attorney asked “What was his response, if you recall?” Appellant’s objection was overruled as was his earlier motion. Thereafter, under questioning of Officer Tietjen by the city attorney the following appears in the record:

“A He asked me what would happen if I don’t.
Q What was your response?
A I said, ‘Nothing.’
Q What was his response to your statement then?
A T would rather not take it then.’
Q Did you have any further conversation with the defendant at this time?
A I might have mentioned that South Dakota did not have the complied [sic] consent law, which is why I gave him the answer ‘nothing.’
Q What did you notice about the defendant as you explained to him about the machine?
[518]*518A He didn’t say too much except that ‘no, I don’t care to’ or T would rather not.’ ”

Earlier in the trial, again over the objection of appellant, the arresting officer, Dennis Falken, was also allowed to testify that appellant had refused- to take the breathalyzer test.

The statement of Officer Tietjen to the effect that there was no implied consent law was an obvious reference to the decision of Holland v. Parker, 1973, 8 Cir., 354 F.Supp. 196, which brought about the emergency enactment of Chapter 195 of the Session Laws of 1973. This act became effective, as an emergency measure, upon the signature of the governor on March 27, 1973, two days before the arrest of appellant so in fact there was at the time of arrest an implied consent law. As the foregoing testimony indicates, appellant was not advised of his rights under SDCL 32-23-10.

Appellant contends that comment on appellant’s refusal to take the breathalyzer test is violative of both Article 5 of the amendments to the U.S. Constitution and Section 9 of Article VI of the South Dakota Constitution. Because of our holding that State v. Oswald, 90 S.D. 342, 241 N.W.2d 566, controls we need not and do not reach the constitutional issue.

Respondent would ask this court to find the holding of this court in City of Sioux Falls v. Johnson, 1960, 78 S.D. 272, 100 N.W.2d 750, as controlling. While it is true that in both Sioux Falls v. Johnson, supra, and in this case defendant actually took the stand, the Johnson case is distinguishable in that in that case defendant denied that a test had been offered and the evidence of his refusal was adduced for impeachment purposes in the course of cross-examination and for that purpose the evidence was held to be admissible. In this case the fact of his refusal was introduced before appellant took the stand and, indeed, the court ruled that it was admissible before evidence had been introduced in the trial.

The issue of whether the provisions of SDC 1960 Supp., § 44.0302-1, now SDCL 32-23-7 and 32-23-8, applied to municipal ordinance violations was not reached in City of Sioux Falls v. [519]*519Johnson, supra, but that issue subsequently arose in City of Sioux Falls v. Christensen, 1962, 79 S.D. 633, 116 N.W.2d 389, and this court answered that those provisions were not applicable to municipal ordinance violations. Thereafter, the legislature enacted Chapter 122 of the Session Laws of 1964 which at the time of this proceeding was codified as SDCL 32-23-9 and is set forth as follows:

“32-23-9. The provisions of §§ 32-23-7 and 32-23-8 shall be applicable in any action for the violation of a municipal ordinance relating to driving a vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor.”1

The reference in that section to SDCL 32-23-7

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Bluebook (online)
243 N.W.2d 71, 90 S.D. 514, 1976 S.D. LEXIS 235, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-brookings-v-jensen-sd-1976.