State v. Knoch

738 P.2d 979, 86 Or. App. 15, 1987 Ore. App. LEXIS 3976
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedJune 24, 1987
Docket8509-2018c; CA A38945
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 738 P.2d 979 (State v. Knoch) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Knoch, 738 P.2d 979, 86 Or. App. 15, 1987 Ore. App. LEXIS 3976 (Or. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

*17 RICHARDSON, P. J.

The state appeals a pretrial order suppressing a tape recording of defendant’s conversation with a police officer following her arrest for driving under the influence of intoxicants. We reverse in part.

Defendant was stopped by an Oregon State patrolman after he had observed her driving at a high rate of speed with her headlights off. She was arrested at the scene and advised of her Miranda rights. The officer tape recorded statements made by defendant before her arrest and then turned off the recorder after she expressed a desire to remain silent. She was subsequently transported to the police patrol office, where the tape recorder was started again and she was advised by the same patrolman that it was operating.

After some conversation between defendant and the officer, he asked for her address. She initially refused to give him the information, explaining: “If you get my attorney here, I will talk to you.” She was allowed to telephone a friend, who she said would contact her attorney. The officer requested that defendant submit to a breathalyzer test. She was informed of the consequences of refusing the test. After questioning the patrolman about the nature and consequences of the test, she refused to take it. When she was reminded that her license would be suspended, she stated: “Can I ask you exactly what I was doing that got you so hot after me?” The patrolman responded that he could only repeat what he had told her earlier. Defendant interjected “Uh, yeah. Do that for me.” The patrolman then proceeded to outline the circumstances of the arrest and the defendant interjected several comments, including her statement that she was traveling 65 miles per hour before the arrest. 1

The state offered the tape recording to demonstrate defendant’s voice characteristics and her manner of speaking as evidence that she was under the influence of intoxicants. Other than defendant’s statement that she was traveling 65 miles per hour rather than 70 as the officer indicated, there *18 were no incriminating statements and no questions recorded on the tape.

The trial court ruled that the taking of evidence-defendant’s voice characteristics and speech — by a tape recording after she had asserted her right to remain silent and to have an attorney present, violated her rights under the Fifth Amendment. 2

The tape recording can be divided into four parts for analysis of admissibility. The first part involved defendant’s statement that she declined to talk to the officer after he had advised her of her rights and, a short time later, that she wished to have her attorney present. That part also includes the conversation defendant had on the telephone with her friend about contacting her attorney. The state agrees that those portions of the tape are not admissible and can conveniently be excised before the tape is received in evidence. The second part of the tape involves an extensive conversation between the officer and defendant regarding her current address. The third involves the officer’s request that defendant submit to a breathalyzer test and her response. The fourth records a discussion after defendant asked the officer for an explanation as to why she was arrested.

The physical characteristics of a person’s voice and the speech patterns, as opposed to the substantive content of the person’s speech, are not excluded as compelled self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment. In United States v. Dionisio, 410 US 1, 93 S Ct 764, 35 L Ed 2d 67 (1973), the government, by a grand jury subpoena, sought to compel the petitioner to give a voice sample for comparison with a statement recorded from a telephone tap. The petitioner claimed that the compelled voice recording violated his Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights. The Court held, on the basis of Gilbert v. California, 388 US 263, 87 S Ct 1951, 18 L Ed 2d 1178 (1967), and United States v. Wade, 388 US 218, 87 S Ct 1926, 18 L Ed 2d 1149 (1967), that the compelled production of the voice exemplars did not constitute compelled self-incrimination. The recordings were used to show the physical properties *19 of the petitioner’s voice and not the testimonial or communicative content of what was said. The Court also held that a compulsory demonstration of voice characteristics in response to a grand jury subpoena was not an unlawful seizure of evidence in violation of the Fourth Amendment. See also State v. McConnville, 67 Or App 601, 679 P2d 1373 (1984); State v. Greer, 58 Or App 419, 648 P2d 1338 (1982); State v. Medenbach, 48 Or App 133, 616 P2d 543 (1980).

Even though the physical voice properties evidenced by the recording are not excluded as compelled self-incrimination, there may be substantive content of the speech that is. The recording may then be excluded, even though it is offered for other than its content. After defendant invoked her rights and pursued her search for her attorney, the officer asked her questions and she responded. However, all the conversation between the officer and defendant after she invoked her rights is not necessarily custodial interrogation subject to suppression.

Custodial interrogation does not occur simply because a law enforcement officer asks questions. In terms of the protection described in Miranda v. Arizona, 384 US 436, 86 S Ct 1602, 16 L Ed 2d 694 (1966), forbidden “interrogation” of a person in custody involves inquisitorial reparte that will likely illicit an incriminating response. Rhode Island v. Innis, 446 US 291, 100 S Ct 1682, 64 L Ed 2d 297 (1980). It does not include questions normally attendant on arrest, custody or routine booking of a prisoner. Rhode Island v. Innis, supra; State v. Rodriguez, 37 Or App 355, 587 P2d 487 (1978), rev den 285 Or 319 (1979). In this case, the officer’s inquiry regarding defendant’s address, her responses and her question about smoking were not “interrogation” subject to the rights elucidated in Miranda. Consequently, the substance of the questions and answers recorded on the tape after defendant talked to her friend by telephone do not require suppression of that part of the tape.

Former ORS 487.805, in effect at the time of defendant’s arrest, provided that evidence of a person’s refusal to take a chemical intoxicants test is “admissible in any civil or criminal proceeding” arising out of acts committed while the person was allegedly driving while intoxicated. The United States Supreme Court has held that the admission in evidence *20 of a suspect’s refusal to submit to a blood alcohol test does not offend the Fifth Amendment. South Dakota v. Neville, 459 US 553, 103 S Ct 916, 74 L Ed 2d 748 (1983). Tape recorded evidence of defendant’s refusal to take the breathalyzer test in the present case was not constitutionally objectionable and was not subject to exclusion.

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Bluebook (online)
738 P.2d 979, 86 Or. App. 15, 1987 Ore. App. LEXIS 3976, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-knoch-orctapp-1987.