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SNYDER v. STATE12/27/1996
I. INTRODUCTION
Dennis Snyder was arrested for driving while intoxicated (DWI). The police attempted to test Snyder's breath, but he did not blow hard enough into the Intoximeter machine to register a result. Both before and after the aborted breath test, Snyder requested a blood test of his alcohol level. The police refused his requests.
Snyder was convicted of DWI and Refusal to Submit to a Breath Test (Refusal). He appealed; the court of appeals affirmed his convictions. Snyder v. State, 879 P.2d 1025 (Alaska App. 1994). We granted Snyder's Petition for Hearing on the following issues: (1) Whether the state violated Snyder's statutory right to an independent chemical test; (2) Whether the state violated Snyder's constitutional right to an independent chemical test; and (3) Whether the trial court erred in refusing to instruct the jury on the defense of subsequent consent. We reverse.
II. FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS
On the night of March 20, 1993, Alaska State Trooper Sgt. Charles Lovejoy found Snyder in his car, which had slid into a snow berm at an intersection. According to Lovejoy, Snyder did not appear to have been injured in the mishap and did not complain of pain. Lovejoy suspected that Snyder had been drinking and therefore administered a number of field sobriety tests. He then placed Snyder under arrest for DWI.
Alaska State Trooper Dixie Spencer drove Snyder from the scene of the arrest to the police station. While driving to the station, Snyder requested that Spencer take him to a nearby hospital for a blood test of his alcohol level. Spencer refused this request, believing that an arrestee was required to submit to a breath test before a blood test could be administered.
At the station, Spencer asked Snyder to take a breath test by blowing into the Intoximeter machine. Snyder made four purported attempts to blow into the machine. However, despite Spencer having twice read the implied consent warnings to Snyder, and despite Spencer's repeated instructions to Snyder about how to blow into the machine's tube and how long to sustain his breath, Snyder never provided an adequate breath sample.
After Snyder had thrice blown unsuccessfully into the tube, Spencer advised him that he could try "one more time." When Snyder again failed to provide an adequate breath sample, Spencer told him, "All right, Dennis, we'll just charge you with refusal." Snyder objected: "I blowed in the tube. It's your fault. . . . The machine don't work. . . . I blowed in, I did everything you asked." He then offered to take the test again: "I'll blow again, . . . It's not over, one more time." Spencer had already pressed the print button on the Intoximeter; a further test would have required a five-minute wait. Spencer terminated the session and charged Snyder with DWI and Refusal. A short time later Snyder again requested a blood test; the police again denied his request.
Before trial Snyder moved to suppress evidence of his intoxication and refusal to submit to a breath test, and to dismiss the charges against him, on the ground that the police improperly had denied his requests for a blood test. The trial court denied Snyder's motion. At trial Snyder requested an instruction regarding subsequent consent as a defense to the Refusal charge. The court refused to give the instruction, because it concluded that the defense was available only in the case of an "unequivocal," or explicit, refusal to submit to a test. A jury convicted Snyder of DWI and Refusal. The court of appeals affirmed his convictions.
III. DISCUSSION
A. The Constitutional Right to an Independent Test
Snyder moved to
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