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State v. Bernhard2/26/2003
Defendant, Stanley Allen Bernhard, appeals from his conviction of OWI. He contends that a chemical test of his blood-alcohol level should have been suppressed because his consent to the withdrawal of his blood was obtained by an unwarranted threat of license revocation. The court of appeals rejected that contention and affirmed defendant's conviction. We agree with that disposition. We affirm the decision of the court of appeals and the judgment of the district court.
On February 2, 2001, defendant's four-wheel-drive pickup truck slid off the roadway south of Postville. The vehicle ended up overturned in the ditch. Emergency medical and fire personnel soon arrived at the scene, as did officers of the Iowa State Patrol. These officers found an open bottle of peppermint schnapps beside the truck and detected an odor of that liquor in the interior of the cab.
Defendant was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Waukon. He arrived at the hospital emergency room immobilized in a C-collar and on a backboard. He was complaining of pain in his right arm, shoulder, and left hip. No head injuries or neurological injuries were observed. He was able to move all four extremities. The emergency-room nurse described defendant's condition as very agitated, nervous, and beset with rapid speech patterns.
Soon after defendant's arrival at the hospital, Trooper Greg Rude of the Iowa *471 State Patrol appeared and spoke to him in the emergency room. At this time, medical personnel were in the room attending to defendant's injuries. Trooper Rude detected the odor of liquor on defendant's breath. He advised defendant that he had come to get a blood sample and then proceeded to read an advisory to defendant from a form that is regularly used for the initiation of the implied-consent procedure for chemical testing. [FN1] Trooper Rude did not deliver a copy of the implied-consent form to defendant nor did defendant ever sign it. Trooper Rude wrote on the form "unable to sign being treated for injuries." The district court found that this action on Trooper Rude's part was warranted in order to avoid disrupting defendant's medical treatment.
FN1. Language of the implied-consent advisory has not been made the subject of an administrative rule; however, the language that was used in the present case appears to be the same as that which was before this court in the earlier case of State v. Kentner, 562 N.W.2d 431, 432 (Iowa
1997).
A nurse was present during the time that Trooper Rude was in the emergency room. She testified that following Trooper Rude's reading of the implied-consent admonition defendant extended his arm and allowed her to draw a sample of blood. At the suppression hearing, defendant testified that he did not actually hear what Trooper Rude was reading. He stated, however, that comments made to him by the nurse made him aware that a refusal to consent to a chemical test would result in the loss of his license. He testified that he consented to a withdrawal of blood in order to avoid that sanction.
Trooper Rude took possession of the blood sample obtained in the hospital. That sample was later tested at a laboratory and revealed a concentration of 208 grams of alcohol in 100 milliliters of blood. The district court denied defendant's request to suppress the results of this chemical test. That evidence was made a part of the record, subject to defendant's objection, in a stipulated bench trial resulting in defendant's conviction of OWI, first offense. Other facts and circumstances that bear on this appeal will be considered in connection with our discussion of the legal issues presented.
I. Whether the Results of Chemical Testing of Defendant's Blood Should Have Been Suppressed.
The statement that was read to defendant included
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