People v. Ling

222 Cal. Rptr. 3d 463, 15 Cal. App. Supp. 5th 1, 2017 WL 3908858, 2017 Cal. App. LEXIS 774
CourtCalifornia Superior Court
DecidedMay 5, 2017
DocketAD-5574
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 222 Cal. Rptr. 3d 463 (People v. Ling) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Superior Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Ling, 222 Cal. Rptr. 3d 463, 15 Cal. App. Supp. 5th 1, 2017 WL 3908858, 2017 Cal. App. LEXIS 774 (Cal. Super. Ct. 2017).

Opinion

Davis, III, P.J.

*3I. INTRODUCTION.

In 1966, the United States Supreme Court ruled that a nonconsensual blood draw taken from a suspect arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol did not violate the Fourth Amendment because exigent circumstances existed that allowed for a blood draw to be conducted in a reasonable manner incident to the defendant's arrest. ( Schmerber v. California (1966) 384 U.S. 757, 770-71, 86 S.Ct. 1826, 16 L.Ed.2d 908 ( Schmerber ).) Almost fifty years later in 2013, the United States Supreme Court ruled that a nonconsensual blood draw taken from a suspect arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol violated the Fourth Amendment after concluding that exigent circumstances, which could have provided an exception to the warrant requirement, could not be presumed in every case where an individual has been arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol, despite the natural dissipation of alcohol in the bloodstream. ( Missouri v. McNeely (2013) 569 U.S. 141, 133 S.Ct. 1552, 185 L.Ed.2d 696 ( McNeely ).) During the intervening years between these two decisions, California enacted and amended statutes intended to obtain cooperation from *4individuals who had been arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol during chemical tests of their blood alcohol levels in response to the holding in Schmerber . Although referred to as "implied consent," the legislation was an attempt to provide law enforcement officials with a tool to secure voluntary submission to a chemical test and to eliminate the potential for violence inherent in physically subduing a suspect who might otherwise resist a chemical test. ( Mercer v. Department of Motor Vehicles (1991) 53 Cal.3d 753, 760, 280 Cal.Rptr. 745, 809 P.2d 404.)

For nearly fifty years in California, countless prosecutions arising from arrests for driving under the influence of alcohol resulted in a myriad of legal challenges. The corresponding rulings uniformly abided by the interpretation of Schmerber that a warrantless compulsory seizure of blood for the purpose of a blood-alcohol test was lawful if the procedure was conducted in a reasonable, medically approved manner, conducted incident to a lawful arrest, and based upon a reasonable belief that the arrestee was intoxicated. ( People v. Jones (2014) 231 Cal.App.4th 1257, 1263, 180 Cal.Rptr.3d 407.) Implicit in these decisions was the presumption that exigent circumstances existed in every case where a suspect was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. Given the clarification of Schmerber in McNeely , Fourth Amendment challenges to blood draws must now be viewed through a fresh lens that is unencumbered by the past presumption of an existing exception to the warrant requirement. The holding in McNeely now requires trial courts to approach such constitutional challenges from a new posture, where the blood draw can no longer be presumed lawful absent some showing that the manner in which the blood draw was taken violated constitutional rights. Consequently, because McNeely prohibits the presumption of exigent circumstances, trial courts must acknowledge that every driving under the influence prosecution may be subject to the holding of McNeely to the extent that every blood draw challenged as a violation of the Fourth Amendment must now be supported by evidence of a warrant or an exception to the warrant requirement.

*466The instant appeal presents just such a warrantless blood draw, where McNeely does not require a particular outcome, as the defendant did not expressly refuse a chemical test, but does require that the People sufficiently support with evidence some exception to the warrant requirement, which would have been unnecessary prior to McNeely . In other words, the challenged blood draw here is not ultimately lawful or unlawful under McNeely , but, ultimately, this challenged blood draw must be specifically justified by evidence of an exception to the warrant requirement because of McNeely . Here, the People rely solely on consent as an exception to the warrant requirement. An examination of the record reveals that the People failed to establish under the totality of the circumstances that defendant consented to a chemical test. Consequently, we reverse the order denying the motion to *5suppress and direct the trial court to enter a new order granting the motion to suppress the evidence obtained as a result of the warrantless blood draw.

II. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND.

Defendant Samuel Hing-Ming Ling appeals from the order denying his motion to suppress.1 At the suppression hearing, defendant did not contest the lawfulness of his initial traffic stop. Instead, defendant challenged only the actions subsequent to the traffic stop.

At the hearing on defendant's motion, California Highway Patrol Officer Jeremy Watson was the only witness, and the following facts are based on his testimony. Officer Watson was on duty on June 13, 2015, at approximately 4 a.m., near the intersection of Highway 101 and Highway 92, when he conducted a traffic stop of a black 2013 Honda Accord driven by defendant. When the officer made contact with defendant, the officer smelled the strong odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating from the vehicle. There were two passengers in the vehicle, and the officer could not tell from whom the odor of alcohol was emanating. Defendant was unable to provide the requested driver's license, registration or insurance to the officer.

The officer asked defendant to step out of the vehicle and observed that defendant's eyes were red and watery and that his speech was slow and slurred. The officer smelled the odor of alcohol emanating from defendant's person.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
222 Cal. Rptr. 3d 463, 15 Cal. App. Supp. 5th 1, 2017 WL 3908858, 2017 Cal. App. LEXIS 774, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-ling-calsuperct-2017.