Opinion ID: 2307582
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: due process challenge to blood test

Text: [¶ 8] Brann contends that the blood test results should have been suppressed as fundamentally unfair. He argues that he was denied due process when the test was administered without the notice, formerly required by statute, of the consequences of his refusal to submit. See 29-A M.R.S.A. § 2521(3) (1996), repealed and replaced by P.L.1997, ch. 357, § 1 (effective Sept. 19, 1997). [6] [¶ 9] Brann relies primarily on our decision in State v. Stade, 683 A.2d 164 (Me. 1996). In Stade, the defendant submitted to a blood-alcohol test after the officer, a friend of his, gave him misleading assurances that he should not worry about losing his license because he could obtain a conditional license to drive to work. See id. at 165. The officer did not read him the implied consent notice. See id. We held that the admission of the test would be fundamentally unfair and affirmed the order of the District Court suppressing the evidence. See id. at 166. [¶ 10] Stade is distinguishable from this case. The only similarity is that Brann, like Stade, did not receive the implied consent notice before he submitted to the test. The central fact in Stade, the misleading information about the consequences of the test, is not present here. Officer Niedner merely asked Brann if he would be willing to take a test; there is no indication in the record that he said anything about the consequences of submitting to or refusing the test. Nor is there evidence suggesting that Brann was in any way tricked or coerced into submitting to the test. [¶ 11] The Legislature has directed that A test result may not be excluded as evidence in a proceeding before an administrative officer or court solely as a result of the failure of the law enforcement officer to comply with the notice of subsection 3. 29-A M.R.S.A. § 2521(4) (1996) (emphasis added). We find no fundamental unfairness in following that directive. Stade is not to the contrary, because the failure to give the implied consent notice was not the sole, or even the primary, reason for suppressing the test results in that case. The trial court did not err in refusing to suppress the results of Brann's blood test on due process grounds.