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State v. Starkey11/10/2005
FACTS
On September 21, 2001, the intoxicated defendant rear-ended a vehicle that was stopped at a red light at a Knoxville intersection. The defendant got out of her vehicle, approached the other driver, told him six to eight times that she had a driver's license, and then got back in her vehicle and left the scene, striking three more vehicles and a fence as she departed. Knoxville Police Officer John Ferguson, acting on information provided by eyewitnesses, tracked the defendant to her home a short time later. The defendant had a bloody lip, smelled strongly of alcohol, and was so unsteady on her feet that the ambulance attendants that Officer Ferguson called to her home had to help her walk down the steps to the ambulance. In response to the officer's request, the ambulance attendants stopped briefly by the accident scene en route to the hospital so that the eyewitnesses could identify the defendant. They then continued to the hospital, where a blood sample was drawn from the defendant and Knoxville Police Officer Lee Shaw issued her a misdemeanor citation for driving under the influence and failure to report an accident.
On November 19, 2002, the Knox County Grand Jury indicted the defendant on two counts of DUI, in violation of Tennessee Code Annotated section 55-10-401. The defendant subsequently filed a motion to suppress "any and all evidence obtained after the unreasonable and unwarranted arrest of [the defendant]." At the suppression hearing, Officers Ferguson and Shaw each described his respective role in the investigation of the accident. Officer Ferguson explained that he called for an ambulance because he believed the defendant needed immediate medical treatment and knew that the detention center would not accept her with a bleeding mouth. Officer Shaw testified that the defendant agreed to voluntarily submit a blood sample for testing and that neither he nor Officer Ferguson ever arrested the defendant.
At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial court overruled the motion to suppress, finding that Officer Ferguson had reasonable grounds to place the defendant in the ambulance based on her condition; that she had never been placed under arrest; and that she had voluntarily submitted to having her blood drawn at the hospital. Thereafter, the defendant pled guilty to one count of DUI in exchange for an eleven- month-twenty-nine-day sentence with all but seven days suspended and the balance to be served on supervised probation. The trial court merged the second count of the indictment into the first and, upon request of defense counsel, stayed service of the sentence pending appeal.
ANALYSIS
The defendant contends that the trial court erred in denying her motion to suppress evidence obtained as the result of her allegedly unlawful arrest. The State responds by arguing that this court has no jurisdiction to consider the suppression issue because the defendant failed to properly preserve a certified question of law for appeal. We agree with the State.
Rule 37(b)(2) of the Tennessee Rules of Criminal Procedure provides that an appeal lies from any judgment of conviction upon a plea of guilty or nolo contendere if:
(i) he defendant entered into a plea agreement under Rule 11(e) but explicitly reserved with the consent of the state and of the court the right to appeal a certified question of law that is dispositive of the case, and the following requirements are met:
(A) the judgment of conviction, or other document to which such judgment refers that is filed before the notice of appeal, must contain a statement of the certified question of law reserved by defendant for appellate review;
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