Case Title: Guerzon v. Jensen

Citation: 225 Neb. 712, 407 N.W.2d 788

Docket Number: 

State: nebraska

Court: Nebraska Supreme Court

Date: 1987-06-19T00:00:00Z

Document:
407 N.W.2d 788 (1987) 225 Neb. 712 Larry J. GUERZON, Appellant, v. Holly JENSEN, Director of the Department of Motor Vehicles, State of Nebraska, Appellee. No. 87-014. Supreme Court of Nebraska. June 19, 1987. *789 John B. McDermott of McDermott, Depue & Zitterkopf, Grand Island, for appellant. Robert M. Spire, Atty. Gen., and Yvonne E. Gates, Lincoln, for appellee. KRIVOSHA, C.J., and BOSLAUGH, WHITE, HASTINGS, CAPORALE, SHANAHAN, and GRANT, JJ. WHITE, Justice. This is an appeal from a judgment of the district court for Hall County, which affirmed the order of the director of the Department of Motor Vehicles suspending the operator's license of appellant for a 1-year period for a refusal to submit to a breath test under the implied consent law. We affirm. Two errors are assigned: first, that the refusal was not unreasonable; and second, that the term of suspension should be 6 months, as the penalty provision was shortened to a period of 6 months while the action was pending. We will discuss the assignments in order. Appellant, after arrest, was requested to submit to a breath test, but declined to do so until he could speak with his Chicago attorney. The arresting officers denied him the opportunity to make the call, as their jail rules do not allow charges for long-distance information calls. Appellant did not know his attorney's phone number. An opportunity to call the night number of several local attorneys was offered, but refused. The appellant was fully advised that the Miranda rights do not attach to a custodial situation involving the request to submit to a chemical test of blood, breath, or urine, and though in this case an opportunity to contact counsel was granted, no right to contact an attorney exists in these circumstances. We said in State v. Bishop, 224 Neb. 522, 525, 399 N.W.2d 271, 274 (1987): The officer was justified in concluding that there was a refusal to take a test. Anything short of an unqualified, unequivocal assent to an officer's request that the arrested motorist take the test constitutes a refusal. Hoyle v. Peterson, 216 Neb. 253, 343 N.W.2d 730 (1984). The first assignment of error is meritless. As to the assignment concerning the change in the penalty during the pendency *790 of the action, it is equally meritless. In Brown v. Sullivan, 195 Neb. 729, 730, 240 N.W.2d 51, 52 (1976), this court held: The judgment of the district court is affirmed. AFFIRMED.