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State v. Becker10/6/1999
A Tift County grand jury indicted John Becker for driving under the influence of drugs and vehicular homicide. The trial court granted Becker's motion to suppress the results of chemical tests performed on his blood and urine, finding (1) that the tests were not given in a timely manner and (2) that the implied consent notices read to Becker were inadequate. The State appeals. We hold that there was insufficient evidence to support the trial court's first basis for suppressing the test results, and we reject the second basis. Accordingly, we reverse and remand.
In reviewing the trial court's ruling on a motion to suppress, we defer to the trial court's findings of fact unless they are clearly erroneous, and we construe the evidence most favorably to the trial court's decision. Where the evidence is uncontroverted and there is no issue as to witness credibility, however, we review de novo the trial court's application of the law to the undisputed facts.
The undisputed evidence at the suppression hearing was as follows. On February 27, 1997, four Georgia correctional officers were killed after their van crossed the median on I-75 in Tift County and collided with oncoming traffic. According to one witness, a tractor-trailer truck forced the van off the road and continued on, leaving the scene of the incident. The witness reported the truck's tag number to the Georgia State Patrol (GSP), which sent officers in search of the truck. A trooper from GSP's Cordele patrol post apparently stopped the truck, driven by Becker, in or near Turner County. Because that trooper did not testify at the suppression hearing, we do not know where or when Becker was stopped or the circumstances of the stop.
Trooper Terry Rehberg, Assistant Post Commander of the Tifton patrol post, drove to Turner County to escort Becker back to Tift County. He met Becker's truck as Becker was driving south on I-75. Rehberg testified that he did not know how far Becker already had come at that point. Rehberg pulled in front of Becker's truck, and Becker followed Rehberg more than ten miles to the Tifton patrol post. According to Rehberg, Becker did not drive erratically and did not appear to be impaired.
After they arrived at the post, Rehberg and Becker engaged in "casual conversation," and Rehberg "invited [Becker] to have a seat." Rehberg did not smell any alcohol on Becker's breath, did not notice bloodshot eyes or slurred speech, and did not think Becker was unusually nervous. Becker asked to use the restroom. According to Rehberg, " nticipating at that point that we might need a urine test and this being an opportunity, I read him the implied consent warning specifying urine, and provided him with a receptacle for the sample and showed him where the restroom was in the post." Rehberg read the implied consent warning for commercial drivers from a card supplied to him by the GSP. Becker then agreed to provide a urine sample. There was no testimony as to how much time passed between Becker's arrival at the patrol post and Rehberg's request for a urine sample.
Some time later, Rehberg drove Becker to the hospital, where the drivers of two other commercial vehicles involved in the collision were waiting. Rehberg read to all three drivers the implied consent warning for commercial drivers, specifying a blood test. At that point, the GSP did not have the results of Becker's urine test and requested the blood test only because the collision involved fatalities. Becker agreed to provide a blood sample.
Becker was charged with two counts of driving under the influence of drugs and eight counts of vehicular homicide. His motion to suppress the results of the blood and urine tests, w
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