State v. Olsen

CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 3, 2017
Docket93315-4
StatusPublished

This text of State v. Olsen (State v. Olsen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Olsen, (Wash. 2017).

Opinion

NOTICE: SLIP OPINION (not the court’s final written decision)

The opinion that begins on the next page is a slip opinion. Slip opinions are the written opinions that are originally filed by the court. A slip opinion is not necessarily the court’s final written decision. Slip opinions can be changed by subsequent court orders. For example, a court may issue an order making substantive changes to a slip opinion or publishing for precedential purposes a previously “unpublished” opinion. Additionally, nonsubstantive edits (for style, grammar, citation, format, punctuation, etc.) are made before the opinions that have precedential value are published in the official reports of court decisions: the Washington Reports 2d and the Washington Appellate Reports. An opinion in the official reports replaces the slip opinion as the official opinion of the court. The slip opinion that begins on the next page is for a published opinion, and it has since been revised for publication in the printed official reports. The official text of the court’s opinion is found in the advance sheets and the bound volumes of the official reports. Also, an electronic version (intended to mirror the language found in the official reports) of the revised opinion can be found, free of charge, at this website: https://www.lexisnexis.com/clients/wareports. For more information about precedential (published) opinions, nonprecedential (unpublished) opinions, slip opinions, and the official reports, see https://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions and the information that is linked there. For the current opinion, go to https://www.lexisnexis.com/clients/wareports/. F~l~t:E· /L CL!RKI OFFICE~ 1tJPREME COURT, STATE OF WASHINGTON This opinion was ·filed for record I·:.rlVv\ hJvVtA(t . Ct} . i DATE._ _ __ at.Boo RM onAu.y.8, 22n ~.~ CHIEF JUSTICE • J

SUSAN L. CARLSON SUPREME COURT CLERK

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON

STATE OF WASHINGTON, ) ) Respondent, ) No. 93315-4 ) v. ) En Banc ) BRITTANIE J. OLSEN, ) ) Filed AUG O3 2.617 Petitioner. ) __________ )

OWENS, J. - At issue in this case is whether a court may require a

probationer convicted of driving under the influence (DUI) to submit to random

urinalysis testing (UAs) for controlled substances. In particular, this issue centers on

whether this testing violates DUI probationers' privacy interests under article I,

section 7 of our state constitution. Random UAs do implicate a probationer's

reduced privacy interests. But here, where urinalysis was authorized to monitor

compliance with a valid probation condition requiring Olsen to refrain from drug and

alcohol consumption, the testing does not violate article I, section 7. Accordingly,

we affirm the Court of Appeals. For the current opinion, go to https://www.lexisnexis.com/clients/wareports/. State v. Olsen No. 93315-4

FACTS

The facts are undisputed. In June 2014, Brittanie Olsen pleaded guilty in

Jefferson County District Court to one count of DUI, a gross misdemeanor offense

under RCW 46.61.502. The court imposed a sentence of 364 days of confinement

with 334 days suspended. As a condition of her suspended sentence, the court

ordered that Olsen not consume alcohol, marijuana, or nonprescribed drugs. Over

defense objection, the court also required Olsen to submit to "random urine

analysis screens ... to ensure compliance with conditions regarding the

consumption of alcohol and controlled substances." Clerk's Papers (CP) at 5.

Olsen appealed to Jefferson County Superior Court, arguing that the random

UAs requirement violated her privacy rights under the Fourth Amendment to the

United States Constitution and article I, section 7 of the Washington Constitution.

She contended a warrantless search of a misdemeanant probationer may not be

random but instead "must be supported by a well-founded suspicion that the

probationer has violated a condition of her sentence." CP at 7. The court agreed,

vacated Olsen's sentence, and remanded to the district court for resentencing

without the requirement that Olsen submit to random urine tests.

The State appealed, and the Court of Appeals reversed, holding that

"offenders on probation for DUI convictions do not have a privacy interest in

2 For the current opinion, go to https://www.lexisnexis.com/clients/wareports/. State v. Olsen No. 93315-4

preventing the random collection and testing of their urine when used to ensure

compliance with a probation condition prohibiting the consumption of alcohol,

marijuana, and/or nonprescribed drugs." State v. Olsen, 194 Wn. App. 264, 272,

374 P.3d 1209 (2016). Olsen then petitioned this court for review, which was

granted. State v. Olsen, 186 Wn.2d 1017, 383 P.3d 1020 (2016).

ISSUE

Do random UAs ordered to monitor compliance with a valid probation

condition not to consume drugs or alcohol violate a DUI probationer's privacy

interests under article I, section 7 of the Washington Constitution?

ANALYSIS

The Washington State Constitution provides that "[n]o person shall be

disturbed in his private affairs, or his home invaded, without authority of law."

CONST. art. I, § 7. It is well established that in some areas, this provision provides

greater protection than the Fourth Amendment, its federal counterpart. York v.

Wahkiakum Sch. Dist. No. 200, 163 Wn.2d 297, 306, 178 P. 3d 995 (2008)

(plurality opinion).

One area of increased protection is the collection and testing of urine. Id. at

307. Compared to the federal courts, "we offer heightened protection for bodily

3 For the current opinion, go to https://www.lexisnexis.com/clients/wareports/. State v. Olsen No. 93315-4

1 functions." Id. Washington courts have generally held that for ordinary citizens,

suspicionless urinalysis testing constitutes a disturbance of one's private affairs

that, absent authority of law, violates article I, section 7. Id. at 316 (holding that

suspicionless urinalysis tests of student athletes violate article I, section 7);

Robinson v. City of Seattle, 102 Wn. App. 795, 811, 10 P .3d 452 (2000) (holding

that preemployment UAs for jobs that do not directly relate to public safety violate

article I, section 7).

On the other hand, we have repeatedly upheld blood or urine tests of

prisoners, probationers, and parolees without explicitly conducting an analysis

under article I, section 7. For example, in In re Juveniles A, B, C, D, E, we upheld

HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) tests of convicted felons without

individualized suspicion, but decided the case under the Fourth Amendment

instead of our state constitutional provision. 121 Wn.2d 80, 98, 847 P.2d 455

(1993); see also State v. Olivas, 122 Wn.2d 73, 856 P.2d 1076 (1993) (DNA

(deoxyribonucleic acid) blood testing of convicted felons). In other cases, lower

courts have upheld random drug testing of probationers or parolees on statutory

1 The parties seem to agree that article I, section 7 provides greater protection than the Fourth Amendment in this context. Accordingly, they do not analyze the issue under the federal constitution. Neither party has suggested performing an analysis under State v. Gunwall, 106 Wn.2d 54, 720 P.2d 808 (1986) to determine whether article I, section 7 provides broader protection than the Fourth Amendment under the specific facts of this case.

4 For the current opinion, go to https://www.lexisnexis.com/clients/wareports/. State v. Olsen No.

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State v. Olsen, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-olsen-wash-2017.