 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
State v. Velez1/3/2003
n that defendants are required to make a decision within thirty minutes regardless of whether a consultation with an attorney has taken place. See 23 V.S.A. § 1202(c). In addition, the State emphasizes our holding in State v. Fredette that the statute does not guarantee DUI detainees a "fruitful or flawless consultation." 167 Vt. 586, 587, 705 A.2d 548, 550 (1997) (mem.).
*26 7. Where there has been a complete denial of counsel, however, our holding in Gilman applies. Gilman arose as a result of a failure by the office of the public defender to comply with 23 V.S.A. § 1202(g). In Gilman, the failure lay in not providing the twenty-four hour coverage for DUI detainees required by the statute. We held that it was irrelevant to our result whether a detainee was unable to consult with a lawyer because of illegal behavior on the part of the police officer or a failure of the defender general to provide coverage. 173 Vt. at 118, 787 A.2d at 1244. Where a consultation did not take place because no public defender was available to answer the telephone, we held that the same remedy was available as in cases where the police obstructed the consultation, that is, suppression of the result of the breath test, or of the fact that the detainee refused to provide a breath sample: "The State broke the law, and as a result, defendant did not receive the advice he should have to determine how to respond to a police request for a blood alcohol test. The only fair remedy is to suppress the result of defendant's uninformed choice. We cannot ... ignore the State's refusal to comply with the law." 173 Vt. at 120, 787 A.2d at 1246.
8. There is no practical difference between the situation in Gilman and the public defender's refusal to consult with the detainee in the case before us today. 23 V.S.A. § 1202(g) requires that the defender general "provide statewide 24-hour coverage ... to assure that adequate legal services are available to persons entitled to consult an attorney under this section." The public defender's decision to end the call from the processing officer deprived defendant of any opportunity whatsoever for a private consultation with an attorney. However imperfect such a consultation may have been, it would have provided defendant with an opportunity to ask questions **715 about the way Vermont's statutory scheme worked and what decision would make sense given his driving record. Even if the attorney had ultimately refused to give defendant a recommendation on whether or not to submit to the test, counsel could have provided him with accurate information about the legal consequences of different decisions depending upon his driving record.
9. As we observed in Gilman, "[i]f there is any lesson in our [D]UI decisions, it is that the failure of the State to comply with counsel-related rights of a[ ][D]UI detainee has consequences for the State in [D]UI prosecutions." Gilman, 173 Vt. at 114, 787 A.2d at 1241. These counsel-related rights are integral to the rules governing apprehension of drunk drivers in this state. Vermont's statutory scheme governing police officers' prerogative to request suspects to submit to evidentiary tests in the DUI context balances the State's interests in effectively enforcing its *27 laws against the rights of individual motorists. State v. Madonna, 169 Vt. 98, 100, 726 A.2d 498, 500 (1999). Recognizing that the consequences of agreeing or refusing to submit to a breath test are legally complex, the Legislature established a mechanism for providing DUI detainees an opportunity to obtain professional advice from counsel. This mechanism places clear responsibilities on two agencies of state government: the police, who must comply with their statutory obligation to contact the public defender at the app
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 Vermont DUI Attorneys
DUI Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|