Opinion ID: 2106653
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Revocation Was Proper

Text: This Court must uphold the revocation of Ross's driver's license if the revocation statute's requirements under section 577.041.4 were satisfied. Fick v. Dir. of Revenue, 240 S.W.3d 688, 690-91 (Mo. banc 2007) (In a proceeding in which a person's driver's license is revoked for refusing to submit to a chemical test, the trial court shall determine only whether: (1) the person was arrested; (2) the arresting officer had reasonable grounds to believe that the person was driving while intoxicated; and (3) the person refused to submit to the test.). The only issue before this Court is Ross's contention that her license revocation cannot be upheld because she was not arrested in satisfaction of section 577.041.4(1). [4] She contends she was not arrested for revocation purposes because her DWI arrest was unlawful under the 90-minute time limitation of the warrantless DWI arrest statute, section 577.039. Ross's arguments are not persuasive because nothing in the plain language of the warrantless DWI arrest statute, section 577.039, compels application of its 90-minute time limitation to the revocation statute, section 577.041. Section 577.039 is a statute applicable to criminal matters and by its own terms it applies to violations for DWI (section 577.010) and driving with excessive blood alcohol content (section 577.012). Civil license-revocation proceedings under the revocation statute are unrelated to the criminal provisions of the warrantless DWI arrest statute. The lawfulness of Ross's DWI arrest under the provisions of section 577.039 had no impact on whether she was arrested in satisfaction of the revocation statute. Ross complains that it is unfair to uphold a license revocation where a DWI arrest fails to comply with the warrantless DWI arrest statute. But it is logical that the legislature has created distinctions between the available criminal penalties for DWI and the civil driver's license revocation procedures applied against intoxicated drivers. The legislature's intent in formulating these provisions was to ensure that the Director of Revenue can protect the public by suspending the licenses of persons who drive drunk, even when those same persons might benefit from procedural circumstances that shield them from certain criminal sanctions. See Riche v. Dir. of Revenue, 987 S.W.2d 331, 335 (Mo. banc 1999) (noting that the purpose of license revocation proceedings is entirely distinct from criminal punishment of drunken drivers and designed to protect the public by quickly removing drunken drivers from Missouri's roads and highways). Ross maintains that this Court's opinion in Reed v. Director of Revenue, 184 S.W.3d 564 (Mo. banc 2006), instructs that an untimely DWI arrest pursuant to the 90-minute limitation of section 577.039 provides no basis for a driver's license revocation. But Reed was not a revocation case. Reed held that the requirements of section 577.039 apply to proceedings under section 577.037, relating to the admissibility of chemical testing results into evidence. See Reed, 184 S.W.3d at 568. Nothing in Reed compels its application to Ross's case. Further, regardless of Ross's contentions about the impropriety of her arrest under the warrantless DWI arrest statute, she was also arrested in satisfaction of the revocation statute because she was under arrest for possession of drug paraphernalia as well as careless and imprudent driving. Section 577.041.4(2)(a) of the revocation statute required the trial court to determine if the arresting officer had reasonable grounds to believe that Ross was driving while intoxicated. But this case demonstrates that there can be facts providing the reasonable grounds that satisfy section 577.041.4(2)(a) even before or without a DWI arrest. Nothing in section 577.041.4(1) of the revocation statute requires the court to find that a person was arrested for DWI. Importantly, the implied consent law applies to any motor vehicle operator arrested for any offense arising out of acts which the arresting officer had reasonable grounds to believe were committed while the person was driving a motor vehicle while in an intoxicated or drugged condition. Sec. 577.020.1(1) (emphasis added). Where the arresting officer had reasonable grounds to believe that a person was driving while intoxicated, that person's arrest for any offense committed in conjunction with the suspected DWI offense would satisfy the requirement of section 577.041.4(1) for a refusal-based license revocation. In Ross's case, her arrests for possession of drug paraphernalia and careless and imprudent driving arose out of acts existing simultaneously with the facts forming the arresting officer's reasonable grounds to believe she had been driving while intoxicated. At the time of her first two arrests, the officer already knew that her car had gone off an interstate and down an embankment and that it emitted a strong odor of intoxicants. He also had reasonable grounds to believe that she was in possession of a marijuana pipe, had watery and bloodshot eyes and mumbled speech, and had lied about driving her vehicle. Consequently, the facts of Ross's case satisfy the requirements of the revocation statute, section 577.041.4, regardless of Ross's DWI arrest. Because the trial court did not err in finding that Ross was arrested in satisfaction of section 577.041.4(1), its judgment is affirmed. PRICE, C.J., TEITELMAN, WOLFF, BRECKENRIDGE and LAURA DENVIR STITH, JJ., and GARY M. GAERTNER, Sp.J., concur. FISCHER, J., not participating.