State v. Wilson

254 So. 3d 739
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 22, 2018
Docket17-1129
StatusPublished

This text of 254 So. 3d 739 (State v. Wilson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Wilson, 254 So. 3d 739 (La. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

GREMILLION, Judge.

Defendant, Ebone Shirley Wilson, was charged by bill of information filed in trial court docket number C24957-A on January 30, 2017, with vehicular homicide, a violation of La.R.S. 14:32.1. She was charged on the same date in trial court docket number T27295-A with driving left of center, a violation of La.R.S. 32:71 ; no safety belt, a violation of La.R.S. 32:295.1 ; and possession of open alcoholic beverages, a violation of La.R.S. 32:300.

A motion was filed on September 5, 2017, by which Defendant moved to suppress the results of a blood draw because the officers unlawfully advised her that she could not refuse consent, and no warrant for the blood draw was secured. Defendant argued that these actions were unconstitutional under the United States Supreme Court decisions in Birchfield v. North Dakota , --- U.S. ----, 136 S.Ct. 2160, 195 L.Ed.2d 560 (2016), and Missouri v. McNeely , 569 U.S. 141, 133 S.Ct. 1552, 185 L.Ed.2d 696 (2013). The trial court denied the motion at a hearing held on October 12, 2017.

Defendant timely filed a writ application with this court. Therein, she seeks review of the trial court's ruling denying her motion to suppress. For the reasons that follow, we deny Defendant's writ application.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR

In her assignments of error, Defendant contends that the trial court erred in finding that the warrantless blood draw was justified because the United States Supreme *741Court has ruled that the Fourth Amendment does not permit warrantless blood tests incidental to an arrest for drunk driving, and that the trial court erred in finding that she voluntarily and validly consented to the blood draw.

ANALYSIS

Mixed findings of law and fact in motions to suppress are reviewed under the abuse of discretion standard. State v. Everett , 11-1311 (La.App. 3 Cir. 5/9/12), 89 So.3d 463. At the hearing on the motion to suppress, Defendant argued that if consent for the blood draw was given under the guise that there would be punishment for not consenting, the consent was not valid. Defendant further argued the officer unlawfully advised Defendant that she could not refuse the blood draw. The State admitted that police did not obtain a warrant to draw Defendant's blood.

Defendant cited McNeely , 569 U.S. 141, 133 S.Ct. 1552, 185 L.Ed.2d 696, and Birchfield , 136 S.Ct. 2160, in support of her argument. In McNeely , the Supreme Court held that in drunk-driving investigations, the natural dissipation of alcohol in the bloodstream does not constitute an exigency in every case sufficient to justify conducting a blood test without a warrant.

There were three defendants in Birchfield . One of the defendants, Birchfield, was arrested for drunk driving and advised of his obligation under North Dakota law to undergo blood alcohol concentration testing and that refusing to submit to a blood test would lead to criminal punishment. Birchfield refused to let his blood be drawn and was convicted of a misdemeanor for his refusal. He appealed, arguing that the Fourth Amendment prohibited criminalizing his refusal to submit to the test. Another defendant, Beylund, was arrested for driving while impaired. He was read North Dakota's implied consent advisory, informing him that test refusal was a crime. Beylund then agreed to have his blood drawn. Given the test results, Beylund's driver's license was suspended for two years after an administrative hearing. He appealed, arguing that his consent to the blood test was coerced by the officer's warning that refusing to consent would itself be a crime. In addressing these claims, the Supreme Court stated:

Because breath tests are significantly less intrusive than blood tests and, in most cases, amply serve law enforcement interests, we conclude that a breath test, but not a blood test, may be administered as a search incident to a lawful arrest for drunk driving. As in all cases involving reasonable searches incident to arrest, a warrant is not needed in this situation.
Having concluded that the search incident to arrest doctrine does not justify the warrantless taking of a blood sample, we must address respondents' alternative argument that such tests are justified based on the driver's legally implied consent to submit to them. It is well established that a search is reasonable when the subject consents, e.g. , Schneckloth v. Bustamonte , 412 U.S. 218, 219, 93 S.Ct. 2041, 36 L.Ed.2d 854 (1973), and that sometimes consent to a search need not be express but may be fairly inferred from context, cf. Florida v. Jardines , 569 U.S. 1, 6-10, 133 S.Ct. 1409, 1415-1416, 185 L.Ed.2d 495 (2013) ; Marshall v. Barlow's, Inc. , 436 U.S. 307, 313, 98 S.Ct. 1816, 56 L.Ed.2d 305 (1978). Our prior opinions have referred approvingly to the general concept of implied-consent laws that impose civil penalties and evidentiary consequences on motorists who refuse to comply. See, e.g. , [
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Related

Miranda v. Arizona
384 U.S. 436 (Supreme Court, 1966)
Schneckloth v. Bustamonte
412 U.S. 218 (Supreme Court, 1973)
Marshall v. Barlow's, Inc.
436 U.S. 307 (Supreme Court, 1978)
South Dakota v. Neville
459 U.S. 553 (Supreme Court, 1983)
Florida v. Jardines
133 S. Ct. 1409 (Supreme Court, 2013)
Missouri v. McNeely
133 S. Ct. 1552 (Supreme Court, 2013)
State v. Page
332 So. 2d 427 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1976)
Birchfield v. N. Dakota. William Robert Bernard
579 U.S. 438 (Supreme Court, 2016)
State v. Weber
139 So. 3d 519 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 2014)
State v. Watts
168 So. 3d 441 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2014)
State v. Everett
89 So. 3d 463 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2012)
Security Credit Corp. v. Menefee Motor Co., Inc.
129 So. 174 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1930)

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Bluebook (online)
254 So. 3d 739, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-wilson-lactapp-2018.