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Wheaton v. State5/1/2003
Appellant, William Wheaton (Wheaton), appeals from the judgment and sentence finding him guilty of causing bodily injury to a peace officer engaged in the lawful performance of his duties, and property destruction. Wheaton contends that the State engaged in misconduct when it utilized the results of a blood alcohol test which was accomplished without his consent, and that the blood test was the result of an unreasonable search and seizure. Wheaton also asserts that his arrest was unlawful and that the district court erred in instructing the jury.
[ ] We will affirm.
ISSUES
[ ] Wheaton poses the issues as follows:
I. Did the prosecutors commit prosecutorial misconduct when they utilized blood alcohol levels of [Wheaton] obtained without his consent?
II. Were [Wheaton's] rights, to be free from unreasonable search and seizure and to due process of law, violated by the obtaining of his blood alcohol level without his consent?
III. Was [Wheaton's] arrest unlawful?
IV. Did the trial court err in refusing [Wheaton's] proffered jury instruction regarding whether the police officer was engaged in the lawful performance of his duties?
The State outlines the issues somewhat differently:
I. Did the State commit prosecutorial misconduct when evidence of [Wheaton's] blood alcohol content was introduced at trial and reference to this evidence was made in closing argument?
II. Did the State violate [Wheaton's] constitutional rights against unreasonable searches and seizures and to due process of law when it obtained a sample of [Wheaton's] blood?
III. Did Officer Rose have reasonable and probable grounds to believe that [Wheaton] had been driving while under the influence and therefore lawfully arrest [him]?
IV. Did the trial court err when it refused to give a jury instruction relating to resisting arrest?
FACTS
[ ] On January 25, 2000, Rawlins Police Officer Tony Rose was dispatched to the scene of an accident. There were two vehicles at the scene, a pickup truck that was off the road and up against a fence, and a van that appeared to be in use to pull the pickup back onto the roadway. There were two men at the scene, Wheaton and his friend, Alexander Orloff (Orloff). The pickup belonged to Wheaton's girlfriend and the van belonged to Orloff. Officer Rose asked Wheaton if he had been driving the pickup and he responded that he had.
[ ] Rose detected the smell of alcohol emanating from Wheaton and observed that he had poor balance, slurred speech, and was "emotional." Officer Rose could tell that Orloff had been drinking as well. Because he was confronted with two intoxicated men, Rose called for backup police support and, soon after his call, the Rawlins Chief of Police and two other Rawlins police officers arrived on the scene. Officer Rose again asked Wheaton if he had been driving the pickup and Wheaton pointed to his dog. The dog was loose and running around the scene of the accident. Rose again asked Wheaton who was driving the pickup, and this time Wheaton pointed to the Rawlins Police Chief. Based upon Wheaton's initial admission that he had been driving the pickup which belonged to his girlfriend, the fact that there were two people present and two vehicles, the fact that Wheaton was obviously intoxicated, and Wheaton's refusal to perform field sobriety maneuvers or do a breathalyzer test (Alcosensor), Officer Rose determined that Wheaton should be arrested for driving while under the influence (DWUI).
[ ] After being handcuffed, Wheaton became combative when Officer Rose attempted to do a pat down search on Wheaton before placing him in the polic
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