Title: State v. Rossow
Citation: 247 N.W.2d 398
Docket Number: 45635
State: Minnesota
Issuer: Minnesota Supreme Court
Date: October 8, 1976

247 N.W.2d 398 (1976) STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Gary A. ROSSOW, Appellant. No. 45635. Supreme Court of Minnesota. October 8, 1976. Rehearing Denied December 7, 1976. *399 Gerald C. Magee, Minneapolis, for appellant. Warren Spannaus, Atty. Gen., St. Paul, Richard J. Schieffer, City Atty., Brooklyn Center, Jeffrey A. Carson, Asst. City Atty., Brooklyn Center, for respondent. Heard before ROGOSHESKE, TODD, and BREUNIG, JJ., and considered and decided by the court en banc. ROGOSHESKE, Justice. Defendant appeals from a conviction of violation of Minn.St. 169.121, subd. 1(d), driving a motor vehicle while his blood-alcohol content exceeded 0.10 percent. The basis for this conviction was evidence of a blood test which showed defendant's alcohol content to be 0.235 percent. In denying defendant's motion to suppress this evidence, the trial court found that the test had been taken voluntarily within the meaning of § 169.121, subd. 2, which provides in part: Section 169.123 is the implied-consent law, subd. 2 of which provides in pertinent part as follows: Defendant argues on appeal that his blood-test results should have been suppressed for two reasons. First, he argues that no test is voluntarily taken unless the implied-consent advisory has been given, and no implied-consent advisory was given *400 here. Alternatively, defendant argues that, under the factual circumstances of this case, his consent to the blood test was coerced by the threat of license revocation and therefore involuntary. Defendant's first argument would read the word "voluntarily" out of § 169.121, subd. 2, altogether, in disregard of the express language and legislative history of that statute. The disjunctive "or" is used to show that the evidence is admissible on two separate grounds, either pursuant to actual consent voluntarily given or pursuant to the implied-consent law. Our interpretation of this disjunctive language is supported by the legislative history, as lucidly explained by the trial court below: Had the legislature, when adding the implied-consent ground for admission of blood-test results, intended to remove the preexisting ground of voluntariness, we think it would expressly have done so. Accordingly, the omission of an implied-consent advisory in this case does not preclude a finding that defendant submitted to the blood test voluntarily. Defendant's second argument raises the question whether the evidence was sufficient to support the trial court's factual determination that he did voluntarily take the blood test. While defendant had been slightly injured in an automobile accident and was on a hospital table receiving stitches for a cut lip when the officer asked for a blood sample, defendant does not dispute the trial court's finding that: Rather, defendant argues, based on his own testimony at trial, that the officer threatened to revoke his license if he did not take the blood test. Had such a threat been made, we would agree that the voluntariness of defendant's submission was vitiated. But defendant's testimony in this regard is uncorroborated and, indeed, was refuted by both Officer McComb and another officer also present, and the court expressly rejected defendant's testimony. The evidence clearly is sufficient to sustain the trial court's factual determination. Finally, defendant argues that a mistrial should have been granted because the prosecuting attorney made a reference to defendant's failure to call witnesses who might have corroborated portions of his testimony relating to events prior to his blood test. The trial court found that this misconduct had not "played a substantial part in influencing the jury to convict," citing State v. Caron, 300 Minn. 123, 128, 218 N.W.2d 197, 200 (1974). Since defendant's blood-test results were alone sufficient under the statute to sustain a conviction, we agree that the prosecuting attorney's misconduct was not prejudicial. Affirmed.