COM., DEPT. OF TRANSP. v. Sorg

606 A.2d 1270, 147 Pa. Commw. 82, 1992 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 283
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedApril 3, 1992
Docket1354 C.D. 1990
StatusPublished
Cited by37 cases

This text of 606 A.2d 1270 (COM., DEPT. OF TRANSP. v. Sorg) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
COM., DEPT. OF TRANSP. v. Sorg, 606 A.2d 1270, 147 Pa. Commw. 82, 1992 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 283 (Pa. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinions

[85]*85DOYLE, Judge.

This is an appeal by the Department of Transportation, Bureau of Driver Licensing (DOT), from an order of the Court of Common Pleas of Elk County which sustained the appeal of Benedict Lawrence Sorg (Licensee) from DOT’S suspension of his operating privileges for failure to submit to chemical testing in accordance with the provisions of Section 1547 of the Vehicle Code, 75 Pa.C.S. § 1547.1

The relevant facts are not in dispute on appeal. Licensee was arrested for suspected driving under the influence, taken to a nearby hospital, and read his constitutional rights under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). He was then asked to submit to a blood test and warned that failure to do so would result in the suspension of his operating privileges. Licensee indicated that he would not take the test until he spoke to his attorney to which the arresting officer responded that Licensee “didn’t have the right to hold up a blood test to contact his attorney.” N.T. 9. Nonetheless, the arresting officer gratuitously permitted Licensee to telephone his attorney, although his attempt to contact him was unsuccessful. Licensee thereafter continued to refuse the test pending contact with his attorney.

Finally, the arresting officer indicated that he was going to consider Licensee’s conduct a refusal to submit to testing. Thereafter, another officer (who was apparently a friend of Licensee’s) arrived at the hospital to assist the arresting officer. This officer believed he could convince Licensee to take the test and convinced the arresting officer to give Licensee another chance. He informed Licensee that Licensee need not even fill out a hospital waiver of liability form, that they could proceed directly to the laboratory for a blood test, and, that Licensee would be given the chance to contact his attorney. Twice more Licensee unsuccessfully attempted to reach his attorney. Finally, since [86]*86Licensee continued to refuse the test, a refusal was recorded. Thereafter, his operating privileges were suspended.

Licensee appealed DOT’s suspension action to the common pleas court which determined that while the arresting officer told Licensee he had no right to an attorney prior to taking the test, Licensee was nonetheless confused “because the officer assisted him in his attempts to contact an attorney by telephone.” Judge Paul Greiner, the trial judge, wrote:

[Although the officer had repeatedly told [Licensee] that he had no right to contact an attorney prior to submitting to the test, he did not explicitly distinguish between the Miranda privileges and the prerequisites of the chemical testing and his assistance to the defendant in trying to reach an attorney by phone cemented the confusion.

Accordingly, the trial court sustained the appeal on the basis of the rule set forth by our Supreme Court in Department of Transportation, Bureau of Traffic Safety v. O’Connell, 521 Pa. 242, 555 A.2d 873 (1989). Further appeal to this Court by DOT followed.

On appeal here we are asked to decide the question of whether the explanation given by the arresting officer was sufficient under O’Connell to advise Licensee that his Miranda right to counsel was inapplicable to the chemical testing procedures.

We begin by examining O’Connell. The Supreme Court held there that where an arrestee in response to the request to submit to chemical testing asks to speak to or call an attorney or anyone else the police must, in addition to advising the licensee of the one year suspension for refusal to submit to testing, “instruct the arrestee that such rights are inapplicable to the breathalyzer test and that the arrestee does not have the right to consult with an attorney or anyone else prior to taking the test.” Id., 521 Pa. at 252, 555 A.2d at 878.

The question which next arises is, must the officer explain why the Miranda rights do not apply or merely [87]*87state that they do not. The answer here also must be gleaned from O’Connell There the Court expresses grave concern over licensees’ confusion as to what their rights are and notes that confusion can stem from licensees’ failure to understand the distinction between civil and criminal proceedings, only the latter of which trigger the Miranda protections. It is clear that the O’Connell Court’s purpose in deciding the case the way it did was to provide a mechanism whereby licensees’ confusion could be eradicated. As we said in Wilson v. Department of Transportation, 135 Pa.Commonwealth Ct. 339, 348, 581 A.2d 252, 257 (1990), “the object of O’Connell was to assure that drivers do not lose their licenses for refusals that were not knowing and conscious.”

We believe that because the concern in O’Connell relates to assisting licensees to make knowing and conscious refusals, a goal which can only be achieved by providing them with relevant information as to their rights, a bare warning that Miranda rights do not apply to the testing procedures is insufficient. A truly meaningful warning requires, in addition, an explanation as to why those rights do not apply. To require anything less contravenes the purpose of O’Connell and serves only to generate more confusion especially where, as in the instant case, the police gratuitously and laudably, allowed Licensee the opportunity to attempt to contact an attorney while inartfully explaining to him that he was not entitled to do so. We observe that we previously held in Department of Transportation, Bureau of Driver Licensing v. McGarvey, 136 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 358, 583 A.2d 39 (1990), that an explanation of why Miranda rights are inapplicable in chemical testing procedures is required under O’Connell Our opinion today does not depart from that view, but merely explains it in more detail.

This Court must be candid that when O’Connell was first decided we applied it only in highly limited factual situations, a view urged on us by DOT. Thereafter, we were faced with reversals in Commonwealth v. McFadden, 522 Pa. 100, 559 A.2d 924 (1989) and Mihalaki v. Department [88]*88of Transportation, 525 Pa. 332, 580 A.2d 313 (1990) (per curiam), necessitating a reexamination of our interpretation of O’Connell, a task we performed in Department of Transportation, Bureau of Driver Licensing v. Fiester, 136 Pa.Commonwealth Ct. 342, 583 A.2d 31 (1990), petition for allowance of appeal denied, 528 Pa. 632, 598 A.2d 285 (1991). Fiester held, inter alia, that when a licensee is (1) given Miranda warnings and (2) asked to submit to chemical testing and informed of the implied consent law this sequence of events is confusing per se and, absent an O’Connell

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Bluebook (online)
606 A.2d 1270, 147 Pa. Commw. 82, 1992 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 283, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/com-dept-of-transp-v-sorg-pacommwct-1992.