State v. Hill

484 S.W.3d 587, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 1540, 2016 WL 690738
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided February 17, 2016·No. NO. 03-13-00834-CR·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

OPINION

Melissa Goodwin, Justice

The State appeals from the trial court’s order granting appellee Will Hill’s motion to suppress. In three points of error, the State argues that the trial court abused its discretion by suppressing the blood test evidence that was obtained in accordance with section 724.0Í2(b) of the Texas Transportation Code, commonly known as the mandatory blood draw' statute. See Tex. Transp. Code § 724.012(b). We will affirm the trial court.

BACKGROUND

Prior to trial, Hill filed a- general motion to suppress. Both sides filed trial briefs, addressing whether the seizure of Hill’s blood pursuant to the mandatory blood draw statute was unconstitutional in light of Missouri v, McNeely, — U.S. -, 133 S.Ct.- 1552, 185 L.Ed.2d 696 (2013).1 There were no witnesses at the suppression hearing.2 The State, and Hill stipu[589] lated that the blood was taken from Hill without his consent, that there were no, exigent circumstances, that no warrant was issued, and that the sole authority for drawing ■ Hill’s blood was section 724.012(b)(3)(B) of the Transportation Code. The trial court granted the motion to suppress.

DISCUSSION

Standard of Review

We review a trial court’s ruling on' a motion to suppress evidence for an abuse of discretion, Arguellez v. State, 409 S.W.3d 657, 662 (Tex.Crim.App.2013); State v. Dixon, 206 S.W.3d 587, 590 (Tex.Crim.App.2006), and overturn the ruling only if it is outside the zone' of reasonable disagreement, State v. Story, 445 S.W.3d 729, 732 (Tex.Crim.App.2014); Dixon, 206 S.W.3d at 590. We apply a bifurcated standard of review, giving almost total deference to a trial court’s findings of historical fact and credibility determinations that are supported by the record, but review questions of law de novo. Delafuente v. State, 414 S.W.3d 173, 177 (Tex.Crim.App.2013); Crain v. State, 315 S.W.3d 43, 48 (Tex.Crim.App.2010). We view the evidence in the light most favorable to the trial court’s ruling, State v. Robinson, 334 S.W.3d 776, 778 (Tex.Crim.App.2011), and uphold the ruling if it is correct on any theory of law' applicable to the case, Absal-on v. State, 460 S.W.3d 158, 162 (Tex.Crim.App.2015); Young v. State, 283 S.W.3d 854, 873 (Tex.Crim.App.2009), even if the trial judge made the ruling for a wrong reason, Story, 445 S.W.3d at 732.

Implied Consent

A blood draw conducted at the direction of á law enforcement officer is & search subject to the reasonableness requirement. of the Fourth Amendment. Schmerber v. California, 384 U.S. 757, 767, 86, 86 S.Ct. 1826, 16 L.Ed.2d 908 (1966); State v. Villarreal, 475 S.W.3d 784, 796-97 (Tex.Crim.App.2014). A warrantless search of a person is unreasonable unless it falls within a recognized exception to the warrant requirement. Villarreal, 475 S.W.Sd at 796 (citing McNeely, 133 S.Ct. at 1558); see also Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 357, 88 S.Ct. 507, 19 L.Ed.2d 576 (1967) (warrantless search or seizure is per se unreasonable unless it falls under recognized exception to warrant requirement). Voluntary consent to search is an established exception to the warrant requirement. McNeely, 133 S.Ct. at 1558; Villarreal, 475 S.W.3d at 796.

In its first point of error, the State argues that the warrantless blood draw in this case should be upheld as reasonable under the consent exception to the warrant requirement because Texas’s implied consent law established Hill’s consént to the blood draw. Under the implied consent statute a person arrested for driving while intoxicated “is deemed to have consented” to the taking of a blood sample, see Tex. Transp. Code § 724.011(a); and consent “deemed” to have been given under section 724.011(a) may not be withdrawn or revoked' under the mandatory ■ blood draw statute if, among other things, the arrestee has two prior convictions, for driving while intoxicated, ' see id. § 724.012(b)(3)(B).3 [590] Relying on this statutory scheme, the State essentially argues that by getting arrested-.for driving while intoxicated, Hill impliedly consented to the blood draw and could not withdraw that consent because of his two previous convictions for DWI. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has rejected this implied-irrevocable-consent argument.

While this case has been pending on appeal, the Court of Criminal Appeals considered the question of whether a warrant-less search of a DWI suspect’s blood conducted pursuant to section 724.012(b) of the Transportation Code complied with the Fourth Amendment. See Villarreal,' 475 S.W.3d at 793-813. In doing so, the Court rejected the argument that a warrantless/ nonconsensual blood test obtained under the Transportation Code provisions should be upheld as categorically reasonable under the consent exception, applicable in the form of a prior waiver through implied consent. Id. at 798-804. The Court concluded that.“[the] explicit refusal to submit to blood.testing.overrides the existence .of any implied consent” and further that “implied consent that has been withdrawn or revoked by a suspect cannot serve as a substitute for the free and voluntary consent that the Fourth Amendment requires.” Id. at 800. “[I]n the context of a nonconsensual, warrantless bodily search of a person suspected of criminal activity, a statute providing for irrevocable implied consent cannot supply the type of voluntary consent necessary to establish an exception to the Fourth Amendment warrant requirement.” Id. at 805.

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State v. Hill, 484 S.W.3d 587, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 1540, 2016 WL 690738 (Tex. Ct. App. 2016).

484 S.W.3d 587 (State v. Hill) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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