State v. Perryman

365 P.3d 628, 275 Or. App. 631, 2015 Ore. App. LEXIS 1541
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedDecember 23, 2015
Docket13CR00031; A155733
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 365 P.3d 628 (State v. Perryman) 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. Perryman, 365 P.3d 628, 275 Or. App. 631, 2015 Ore. App. LEXIS 1541 (Or. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

GARRETT, J.

Defendant seeks reversal of his conviction for misdemeanor driving under the influence of intoxicants (DUII), ORS 813.010. He contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence of his blood alcohol content (BAC) obtained through a warrantless, nonconsen-sual blood draw conducted at a hospital. We conclude that exigent circumstances justified the seizure of defendant’s blood, and, therefore, we affirm.

The relevant facts are undisputed. At approximately 1:04 a.m., police received a tip from an employee of a tavern that defendant had driven away from the tavern visibly intoxicated. Based on that tip, and after observing defendant commit several traffic infractions, Officer Mickelsen stopped defendant at 1:07 a.m. During that stop, Mickelsen noted that defendant exhibited several signs of intoxication. At 1:26 a.m., Mickelsen placed defendant under arrest for DUII and began reading him his Miranda rights. At that time, however, defendant began hyperventilating and breathing heavily “to the point where he appeared to need some kind of service or help.” Mickelsen allowed defendant to use his inhaler, which temporarily eased his breathing. Mickelsen finished reading defendant his Miranda rights and asked him whether he was willing to answer questions. Defendant agreed, but his breathing difficulties soon resumed. At that point, Mickelsen offered to call for medical assistance. Defendant agreed, and a team of emergency medical technicians (EMTs) arrived at the scene. The EMTs told Mickelsen that defendant was either putting on “a performance or *** show,” or his breathing problems were entirely “psychological.” At defendant’s request, however, the EMTs transported him to the hospital.

Defendant arrived at the hospital at 2:04 a.m., followed by Mickelsen. Although medical staff informed Mickelsen that defendant’s condition “was not really anything,” they treated defendant and encouraged him to “calm down” and “relax” to control his breathing. Mickelsen asked defendant if he would consent to a blood draw. Defendant did not respond and continued to breathe heavily. At approximately 2:30 a.m., Mickelsen asked another officer to bring [634]*634a blood draw kit to the hospital. At 2:45 a.m., over defendant’s objections, a phlebotomist took a blood sample from defendant. A subsequent chemical analysis of that sample revealed a BAC of .14 percent.

Defendant was charged with DUII, ORS 813.010.1 He moved to suppress the evidence of his BAC obtained through the warrantless blood draw, arguing that it was unconstitutional under both Article I, section 9, of the Oregon Constitution, and the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. At the hearing on that motion, the sole issue was whether exigent circumstances justified Mickelsen’s failure to obtain a warrant. The state argued that, because the encounter had been initiated in part based on an eyewitness’s tip, and because defendant did not perform field sobriety tests, it would have taken Mickelsen longer than usual to evaluate the evidence to demonstrate probable cause for a warrant. In support of that argument, the state offered Mickelsen’s testimony that he would have needed to contact the eyewitness and review the video from his patrol car to accurately convey all of the facts known to him to the reviewing judge.

Mickelsen also testified that, in a best case scenario, it would have taken him approximately two and one-half hours to obtain a warrant for defendant’s blood:

“So, an example of this, we arrived at the hospital at 2:04 and let’s say that as soon as I arrive I go, ‘I need to apply for a search warrant.’ The first thing I need to do is secure an officer that can come to the hospital to watch over [defendant]. Let’s say best case scenario on a Saturday night within 15 minutes I can get an officer there to relieve me, so that would be about 2:15 where I could leave the hospital and go to the station. I’d arrive at the station about five minutes later at 2:20, I could start downloading the videos while I’m typing up the affidavit, then I can review the video to get all of the accurate information for that affidavit. Typing this up and reviewing the video is going to take about an hour and a half, best case scenario. So by 3:50 * * * it would be all typed up and ready to go, from there [635]*635whether I do a telephonic [warrant] or I contact a judge * * * I can be at [the judge’s] house [in] 10 minutes. Now that would be * * * a best case scenario. That would be 4:00 that I could be at a judge’s house and we could review over the information and he can either agree to the search warrant or not agree. Let’s say if he does agree to it let’s say we’re done in 15 minutes, he *** signs the warrant. That’s 4:15 that he would sign the warrant. I could drive back to the hospital * * * in five minutes, that would put me at the hospital at 4:20 and that would give me another maybe five to 10 minutes to find a phlebotomist that would do the blood draw. At that time [it is] 4:30. So best case scenario I could have that blood drawn by 4:30.”

Mickelsen further testified that, on average, alcohol dissipates from the body at a rate of .015 percent per hour, and that a substantial delay in obtaining a blood sample risks the loss of BAC evidence.

Defendant questioned Mickelsen about the option to obtain a telephonic warrant pursuant to ORS 133.545(6).2 That statute allows the use of a recorded oral statement made under oath as the basis for a search warrant in place of a written affidavit of probable cause. Mickelsen testified that, although he was familiar with his department’s telephonic warrant policy, it was his understanding that a written affidavit of probable cause was still required. That written affidavit, Mickelsen explained, would then be read to a judge over the telephone, on one of the recorded lines at the police station. Thus, according to Mickelsen, the only time saved by obtaining a telephonic warrant would be the time that it would otherwise take to drive to and from the judge’s home to present the written affidavit in person.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial court denied defendant’s motion to suppress. In doing so, the court [636]*636agreed with the state that the circumstances of this case presented an exigency that excused the requirement to obtain a warrant:

“I think this case is unique for a couple reasons. One of them is that I think the police officer is correct in his observation that in order to establish probable cause in this case he would have needed to tell the judge about the — it wouldn’t be testimony but the statements made by the witness who viewed the defendant near — at or near the tavern location. And to do that reliably an officer may well have to either record or write down those statements because otherwise he’s relying entirely on his memory which could be faulty and then that could lead to a challenge to a— to the search warrant to begin with, and that would take some time.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
365 P.3d 628, 275 Or. App. 631, 2015 Ore. App. LEXIS 1541, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-perryman-orctapp-2015.