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State v. Thorstad8/17/2000
APPEAL from an order of the circuit court for Richland County: EDWARD E. LEINEWEBER, Judge. Reversed and cause remanded with directions.
. The State appeals from an order granting John Thorstad's motion to suppress a warrantless blood test performed to obtain evidence of Thorstad's intoxication. The State contends that the blood test was admissible because Thorstad consented to the blood test, or in the alternative, because the blood test was justified under State v. Bohling, 173 Wis. 2d 529, 494 N.W.2d 399 (1993). Thorstad argues that the blood test was properly suppressed because it was coerced and nonconsensual, and therefore, an unreasonable search in violation of the Fourth Amendment. We conclude that the test was admissible because it met the constitutional requirements for warrantless blood tests set out in Bohling, 173 Wis. 2d at 533-34. We therefore reverse.
I. Background
. The parties stipulated to facts set forth in both the May 12, 1999 motion hearing and Thorstad's amended motion to suppress. The trial court decision relied on additional facts the parties do not contest. Thorstad was arrested on September 27, 1997, at the scene of a one-car accident. His arrest followed his admission that he was the driver of the car and that he had been drinking a lot. He had also failed two field sobriety tests. Upon arrest, he was taken to Richland Hospital for a blood test. The arresting officer did not obtain a warrant for the blood test. Instead, the officer requested that Thorstad provide a blood sample for evidentiary analysis and read Thorstad an "Informing the Accused" form. The information on this form approximated the language mandated by Wis. Stat. § 343.305(4) (1997-98). Among other things, the form explained that Thorstad could refuse to submit to chemical testing, but that upon such refusal, his driving privileges would be revoked. After the officer read the form, Thorstad agreed to the blood test. At no time did Thorstad request that he be given the opportunity for an alternate form of test, nor did he ever refuse to take the blood test.
. On October 20, 1997, the State filed a complaint against Thorstad, alleging one count each of operation of a motor vehicle while under the influence of an intoxicant and operation of a motor vehicle with a prohibited alcohol concentration in violation of Wis. Stat. § 346.63(1)(a) and (b). Thorstad moved to suppress blood test evidence of his intoxication, and later amended his motion. In his amended motion, Thorstad argued that the blood test was an unreasonable search in violation of the Fourth Amendment. The trial court concluded that the State had failed to meet its burden to justify the warrantless blood test and ordered the blood test suppressed. The State appeals.
II. Analysis
. Whether a search is reasonable is a question of constitutional law that we review de novo. See State v. Guzman, 166 Wis. 2d 577, 586, 480 N.W.2d 446 (1992). The use of warrantless blood tests to detect evidence of intoxication in motorists suspected of drunk driving -related offenses has been held to be constitutionally permissible at least since the United States Supreme Court's decision in Breithaupt v. Abram, 352 U.S. 432 (1957). In Breithaupt, the Court affirmed a defendant's conviction over his objection that blood test evidence taken from him while unconscious was an unreasonable search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment. Id. at 434, 440.
. Recognizing that "intrusions beyond the body's surface" implicated "interests in human dignity and privacy which the Fourth Amendment protects," the Supreme Court elaborated on the conditions under which blood tests were constitutionally permiss
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