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People v. Kenning10/28/1982
966), 384 U.S. 436, 16 L.Ed.2d 694, 86 S.Ct. 1602.) The court stated that to hold otherwise would allow the Miranda rule to be circumvented.
In ruling on the blood-alcohol test consent, the court emphasized that credible testimony showed that the police told the defendant that the forms pertained to hospital business and not to a criminal investigation. In addition, the court observed that it was uncontroverted that the defendant had recently received treatment for his head injury and had been given a local anesthetic, and the defendant had testified that he was dizzy and groggy at the time. Because the forms were signed so soon after the accident and the medical treatment, and because testimony showed that the defendant was mislead by police, the trial court held that the State had not shown that the consent for the blood test was voluntary and therefore the results of the test were also ordered suppressed.
The State's first contention on appeal is that the trial court erred in suppressing oral statements the defendant made at the hospital. The State asserts that the questioning by police at the hospital was non-custodial in nature and Miranda warnings were therefore not required. Custodial interrogations exist when police initiate questioning "after a person has been taken into custody or otherwise deprived of his freedom of action in any significant way." (Miranda v. Arizona (1966), 384 U.S. 436, 444, 16 L.Ed.2d 694, 706, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 1612.) The warnings are not required when the defendant was neither under arrest, nor led to believe he was under arrest. Oregon v. Mathiason (1977), 429 U.S. 492, 50 L.Ed.2d 714, 97 S.Ct. 711.
• 1, 2 The trial court held that a custodial situation existed here because the defendant was already suspected of a crime since the officers smelled alcohol on his breath. However, Miranda warnings are not required merely because the person being questioned is suspected by the police of criminal conduct. (Oregon v. Mathiason.) Moreover, since the testimony at the suppression hearing showed that neither the defendant nor police believed he was in custody, there was no custodial interrogation. Instead, there was only general questioning at the hospital following the accident and Miranda warnings were not required. Accordingly, the defendant's oral statements were erroneously suppressed. People v. Wipfler (1977), 68 Ill.2d 158, 368 N.E.2d 870; People v. Clark (1977), 55 Ill. App.3d 496, 371 N.E.2d 33.
• 3, 4 The State's second contention is that the trial court erroneously suppressed the results of the defendant's blood-alcohol test as being obtained without the defendant's voluntary consent. Compulsory blood tests do not violate an individual's constitutional rights merely because he objects to such tests. (Schmerber v. California (1966), 384 U.S. 757, 16 L.Ed.2d 908, 86 S.Ct. 1826.) Illinois, however, has adopted a statutory provision which requires the exclusion of blood tests results obtained without the defendant's consent. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1981, ch. 95 1/2, par. 11-501(c)(3); People v. Todd (1975), 59 Ill.2d 534, 322 N.E.2d 447.) Under the standard of Schneckloth v. Bustamonte (1973), 412 U.S. 218, 36 L.Ed.2d 854, 93 S.Ct. 2041, section 11-501(c)(3) of the Illinois Vehicle Code requires only that the consent be voluntary, not that it be "knowing and intelligent." (People v. Lentini (1982), 106 Ill. App.3d 695, 435 N.E.2d 1280; People v. Cook (1981), 94 Ill. App.3d 73, 418 N.E.2d 457.) The voluntariness of the consent is a question of fact to be determined from all the circumstances, and the subject's knowledge of a right to refuse is only one factor to be taken into account in establishing whether the consent was voluntary. S
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