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STATE v. PALMER9/18/1996
Appellee, William Albert Palmer, was charged with operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated in violation of Iowa Code section 321J.2 (1995). The district court granted Palmer's motion to suppress the results of a breath test administered after his arrest on the ground the arresting officer was not a "peace officer" as required by Iowa Code section 321J.6. We granted the State's application for interlocutory appeal and now affirm.
I. Statutory Framework.
We begin our discussion with a review of the applicable statutes in order to provide the proper context within which to consider the facts giving rise to this case. Palmer was charged with a violation of Iowa Code section 321J.2. This statute makes it an offense to operate a motor vehicle while under the influence of an alcoholic beverage or while having an alcohol concentration of .10 or more. Iowa Code § 321J.2(1). We have held the general purpose of chapter 321J "is to reduce the holocaust on our highways part of which is due to the driver who imbibes too freely of intoxicating liquor." Severson v. [554 NW2d Page 861]
Sueppel, 260 Iowa 1169, 1174, 152 N.W.2d 281, 284 (1967).
To achieve this goal, chapter 321J provides authority for chemical testing of bodily substances from persons suspected of driving while intoxicated. See Iowa Code § 321J.6. This statute is known as Iowa's implied consent law. Severson, 260 Iowa at 1171, 152 N.W.2d at 283. The premise underlying implied consent is that "a driver impliedly agrees to submit to a test in return for the privilege of using the public highways." State v. Hitchens, 294 N.W.2d 686, 687 (Iowa 1980). In reality, however, the statute normally requires the express consent of the driver before a test is administered. See Iowa Code § 321J.9 (if person objects to test, test shall not be given). But see id, § 321J.7 (test may be given without person's express consent if person is dead, unconscious or otherwise incapable of giving consent). If the driver refuses the test, the State must revoke his or her driver's license. Id. § 321J.9.
Although the laudable goal of reducing deaths caused by drunk drivers could be most easily accomplished by the State's unfettered ability to invoke the implied consent law, the legislature has, nevertheless, placed limitations on the circumstances under which section 321J.6 applies. Only when the requirements of section 321J.6 have been met may the State make a suspected drunk driver choose between chemical testing for the presence of alcohol or the loss of his or her driver's license. State v. Hopkins, 465 N.W.2d 894, 895 (Iowa 1991).
We have held the statutory restrictions on the applicability of the implied consent law serve three purposes: (1) to protect the health of the person submitting to the test; (2) to guarantee the accuracy of the test; and (3) to protect citizens from indiscriminate testing or harassment. State v. Satern, 516 N.W.2d 839, 841 (Iowa 1994); Hopkins, 465 N.W.2d at 896; State v. Schlemme, 301 N.W.2d 721, 723 (Iowa 1981). These purposes are consistent with a sensitivity to the fact such tests invade the bodily integrity of citizens without the protection of a search warrant. See generally State v. Stanford, 474 N.W.2d 573, 575 (Iowa 1991) (Iowa's implied consent law constitutes an exception to the warrant requirement of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution).
Such warrantless searches of the person were first validated in Schmerber v. California, 384 U.S. 757, 772, 86 S.Ct. 1826, 1836, 16 L.Ed.2d 908, 920 (1966). In that case, the United States Supreme Court considered whether withdrawal of blood from the petitioner, who had been arrested for drunk driving, vio
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