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State v. Alger2/9/2000
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Buena Vista County, Joseph J. Straub, Judge.
The State of Iowa appeals from a district court decision to sustain Tracy Alger's motion to suppress an implied consent form and blood test taken pursuant to Iowa Code section 321J.6 (1997).
Affirmed.
The State of Iowa seeks discretionary review of a district court ruling suppressing a blood sample and implied consent form. We affirm. I. Background Facts and Proceedings On August 1, 1998, Tracy Alger was driving down a county road in northwest Iowa with his friend Mark Griffith. At an intersection, another car struck Alger's car on the passenger side, killing Griffith. Alger's car rolled into a cornfield. Deputy Sheriff Joel Sivinski arrived at the scene. He noticed several full cans of beer and one unopened wine cooler scattered in the cornfield. He also noticed a small cooler inside the car. A witness at the scene told Sivinski that Alger entered the intersection without ever slowing down or stopping. Sivinski spoke briefly to Alger before he was taken to a county hospital in Storm Lake. After the ambulance left the scene, Sivinski contacted the Storm Lake Police Department and asked an officer to obtain an implied consent form and a blood specimen from Alger and the driver of the other vehicle. When Sivinski arrived at the hospital, Officer Kenny McClure told Sivinski he had obtained blood samples from both individuals, after reading them the implied consent advisory and obtaining their consent. The test results later revealed Alger had a blood alcohol concentration of .111. Sivinski spoke to Alger at the hospital for approximately thirty-five minutes. During this conversation, Alger admitted he was driving at the time of the accident and admitted he drank three or four cans of beer while golfing earlier that afternoon, as well as a substantial amount of beer the night before. The State charged Alger with vehicular homicide, in violation of Iowa Code sections 707.6A(a) and (b) (1997). Alger moved to suppress the blood test results and evidence of implied consent. The district court granted the motion and the State sought discretionary review. II. Scope of Review The State contends constitutional rights are implicated and, therefore, our review is de novo. Alger counters that the State does not raise a constitutional challenge but only a challenge to the district court's "interpretation and application of" Iowa Code § 321J.6(1)(b). Therefore, he contends the applicable standard of review is for correction of errors of law. We agree with Alger and accordingly review the district court's ruling for legal error. See State v. Palmer, 554 N.W.2d 859, 864 (Iowa 1996); State v. Owens, 418 N.W.2d 340, 342 (Iowa 1988). III. Reasonable Grounds A. Applicable Standard Iowa Code section 321J.6 authorizes an officer to request a blood test if the officer has reasonable grounds to believe the person was operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. "Reasonable grounds" means "the facts and circumstances known to the officer at the time action was required would have warranted a prudent person's belief that an offense had been committed." Owens, 418 N.W.2d at 342. As a preliminary matter, the State contends the district court erroneously applied the more stringent probable cause standard rather than the reasonable grounds standard set forth in Iowa Code section 321J.6. We disagree. The court stated the question to be decided was " id Deputy Sivinski have reasonable grounds to believe that the defendant was operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or while having alcohol concentration of .10 or more?" The court concluded "Deputy Sivinski did not make sufficient observations at the scene to acq
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