State v. Martinez

328 P.3d 1277, 263 Or. App. 658, 2014 WL 2769129, 2014 Ore. App. LEXIS 801
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedJune 18, 2014
Docket231020410; A150536
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 328 P.3d 1277 (State v. Martinez) 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. Martinez, 328 P.3d 1277, 263 Or. App. 658, 2014 WL 2769129, 2014 Ore. App. LEXIS 801 (Or. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

TOOKEY, J.

Defendant, who was arrested twice in a four-hour period for driving under the influence of intoxicants (DUII), ORS 813.010, challenges a judgment of conviction for two counts of DUII.1 He raises three assignments of error on appeal. We reject without discussion defendant’s second and third assignments of error, in which he claims that the trial court violated his right to self-representation. We write to address defendant’s first assignment of error, in which he contends that the trial court erred when it denied his motions to suppress statements that he made to a drug recognition expert (DRE) and the evidence derived from those statements. Specifically, defendant argues that law enforcement officers violated his right to counsel under Article I, section 12, of the Oregon Constitution2 and the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution3 by interrogating him without the assistance of counsel; according to defendant, he invoked those rights by asking to speak to an attorney before the administration of a breath test. The state responds that defendant did not invoke his right to the assistance of counsel under Article I, section 12 ;4 rather, by responding to the trooper’s offer of privacy to make a phone call, defendant merely took advantage of his limited right to a reasonable opportunity to obtain legal advice before deciding whether to submit to a breath test under Article I, section 11, of the Oregon Constitution.5 For the reasons explained below, we affirm.

[660]*660We review a trial court’s “denial of a motion to suppress for legal error and defer to the trial court’s findings of historical fact if there is sufficient evidence to support them. Consistently with that standard, we take the following facts from the record of the suppression hearing.” State v. Mitchele, 240 Or App 86, 88, 251 P3d 760 (2010) (internal citation omitted).

Trooper Ratliff, a certified DRE, stopped defendant for failure to drive within the lane of traffic. Officer Gerig provided cover at the stop. Ratliff observed that defendant’s face was pale, his speech was slurred, and his pupils were constricted and exhibited little to no reaction to light. Ratliff conducted a brief investigation, read defendant Miranda warnings, and arrested him for DUII. Defendant did not, at that time, ask to speak to an attorney. Defendant did not invoke his right to remain silent.

Ratliff transported defendant to the Oakridge Police Department and escorted him to the Intoxilyzer room. After Ratliff and defendant sat down, Ratliff recited the standard “speech” that he gives to every DUII suspect, informing him “of his limited right to use a telephone prior to the administration of a breath test”:

“I told him he could make a phone call if he wanted to. He could make * * * as many phone calls as he wants. The only thing I do ask is if he chooses to call an attorney to let me know so I can give him some privacy.”

In response, defendant “asked * * * to speak to an attorney,”6 so Ratliff provided him with privacy, a phone, and an unrecorded phone line.

Approximately 20 minutes later, Ratliff recontacted defendant, asked if he would be willing to take a breath test, and read him the implied consent form. Defendant agreed to [661]*661provide a breath sample and took the breath test. At no time did defendant indicate that he did not want to take a breath test or that he was unwilling to answer questions.

Ratliff contacted Officer Dalton, who is also a certified DRE, and Dalton completed a 12-step DRE evaluation of defendant.7 As part of that evaluation, Dalton asked defendant questions about his drug use, and defendant stated that he had consumed a number of controlled substances that day. Dalton also asked defendant to provide a urine sample, and defendant did so. Dalton concluded that defendant “was under the influence of a CNS depressant and a narcotic analgesic.”

Defendant was released from custody, and Ratliff drove him to a motel. Ratliff told defendant not to drive. About an hour later, Gerig saw defendant get into a vehicle and drive away. Gerig stopped defendant and, after some conversation, read him Miranda warnings. Defendant was again arrested and transported to the police department, where Ratliff conducted a second DRE evaluation of defendant.

Before trial, defendant moved to suppress “all statements made by Defendant after his invocation of his Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights in the form of his request to call an attorney and his calling an attorney by phone during his first arrest and any such statements made during his second arrest before he was Mirandized in the second arrest.” Defendant also moved to suppress “the drug recognition expert analysis and Officer Dalton’s opinion generated thereby for the reason that without the statements made after Defendant’s invocation and during the protocol, the protocol is incomplete and therefore inadmissible.”

At a pretrial hearing on defendant’s motions, Ratliff testified that he told defendant about his “opportunity to make a phone call” based on DUII case law:

“If you review current case law regarding DUI, I need to tell him that he can call an attorney, and I’m also required [662]*662to tell him that he’s going to be given privacy. And he needs to be told in a manner that doesn’t create a chilling effect in order for him to feel that I’m going to use that against him in any way, which is why I tell them they have the opportunity to make a phone call.
“I tell them they can make as many as they want. That’s my personal thing. I don’t care how many they make. But I do tell them that if they choose to call an attorney, let me know so I can give them privacy. Because it’s the most — it’s the least threatening manner in which I — I can do that.”

Ratliff further testified that when defendant “asked *** to speak to an attorney” after hearing the standard DUII “speech,” Ratliff did not believe defendant to be invoking his right to remain silent or accompanying right to the assistance of counsel. Rather, Ratliff understood defendant to be invoking his limited right to speak to an attorney prior to the administration of a breath test. Ratliff further testified that defendant did not mention an attorney in any other context, and did not do anything to make him believe that he was invoking his right to remain silent or accompanying right to counsel. Dalton testified that defendant did not indicate at any time during the DRE protocol that he was invoking the right to remain silent or the accompanying right to counsel, or use the word “counsel” or “attorney.”

Defendant also testified, and his testimony differed in many respects from that of Ratliff and Dalton. According to defendant, he asked Ratliff to call an attorney after he took the breath test. Defendant testified that he called “about four” lawyers but could not get an attorney because it was late at night.

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Related

State v. Brooke
369 P.3d 1205 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2016)
State v. Brown
367 P.3d 544 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2016)
State v. Beck
344 P.3d 140 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2015)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
328 P.3d 1277, 263 Or. App. 658, 2014 WL 2769129, 2014 Ore. App. LEXIS 801, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-martinez-orctapp-2014.