Opinion ID: 2588657
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: the right to counsel in other states

Text: [¶ 24] In urging this Court to find a limited right to be represented by counsel before making the decision to submit to chemical testing, the appellant cites several cases from other states that have found such a right to exist. Yerrington v. Anchorage, 675 P.2d 649, 650 (Alaska App.1983) ( citing Copelin v. State, 659 P.2d 1206 (Alaska 1983), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 1017, 105 S.Ct. 430, 83 L.Ed.2d 357 (1984)) (a statute and a court rule both require a reasonable opportunity to consult with counsel before chemical testing, the right being defined as a limited statutory right); State v. Juarez, 161 Ariz. 76, 775 P.2d 1140, 1144-45 (1989) (a criminal rule requires counsel as soon as feasible after a defendant is taken into custody, but it also violates the Sixth Amendment and the state constitution not to allow access to counsel before the breath test); Sites v. State, 300 Md. 702, 481 A.2d 192, 196-98 (1984) (taking a chemical sobriety test is not a critical stage requiring a Sixth Amendment right to counsel, but due process under the Fourteenth Amendment and the state constitution requires a reasonable opportunity to communicate with counsel before making the decision); Friedman v. Commissioner of Public Safety, 473 N.W.2d 828, 837 (Minn.1991) (the chemical testing decision is a critical stage in the criminal proceeding, so there exists a state constitutional right to counsel); State v. Sadek, 552 N.W.2d 71, 73 (N.D.1996) (right to counsel not derived from federal or state constitution, but from state statute); State v. Spencer, 305 Or. 59, 750 P.2d 147, 154-56 (1988) (a person taken into formal custody is confronted with the full legal power of the state, regardless of whether a formal charge has been filed, and at that time, the person is ensnared in a `criminal prosecution' and has the right to counsel); City of Bellevue v. Ohlson, 60 Wash.App. 485, 803 P.2d 1346, 1349 (1991) (a criminal rule requires an arrestee to be provided reasonable access to an attorney prior to submitting to chemical testing); see also Busch v. Commissioner of Public Safety, 614 N.W.2d 256, 258 (Minn. App.2000). [¶ 25] Other states have reached a contrary result. Based on its own precedent of finding no distinction between the Sixth Amendment and the parallel provision of the New Mexico Constitution, the New Mexico Supreme Court has held that there is no basis for interpreting that state's constitutional provision more broadly than the Sixth Amendment. State v. Woodruff, 124 N.M. 388, 951 P.2d 605, 609-11 (1997). The court also found that there is no separate due process violation under the Fourteenth Amendment because, in this situation, the right to counsel and the right to due process protect the same value, that being the right to fundamental fairness in the proceeding. Woodruff, 951 P.2d at 609-11. Likewise, the New Jersey Supreme Court has held that there is no state or federal constitutional right to counsel before the decision whether to submit to chemical testing. State v. Leavitt, 107 N.J. 534, 527 A.2d 403, 405 (1987). [¶ 26] The implied consent decision is not a critical stage of the criminal prosecution under Sixth Amendment analysis, and there are no independent state grounds that require a different result. Id. at 407. The same determination was made in State v. Allen, 485 A.2d 953, 955-56 (Me.1984); Fulmer v. Jensen, 221 Neb. 582, 379 N.W.2d 736, 740 (1986); and Dunn v. Petit, 120 R.I. 486, 388 A.2d 809, 810-13 (1978). In Missouri, a DWUI arrestee's right to counsel at the chemical testing decision stage is statutory and not constitutional. Brown v. Director of Revenue, 34 S.W.3d 166, 171 (Mo.App.2000). In Idaho, the implied consent scenario is considered to be civil, rather than criminal, in nature, so the right to counsel has not been recognized under either the Sixth Amendment or the Idaho Constitution. Matter of Triplett, 119 Idaho 193, 804 P.2d 922, 923-24 (1990). [¶ 27] As outlined in the Wyoming cases previously cited, this Court has followed the lead of the United States Supreme Court in Kirby v. Illinois, 406 U.S. 682, 92 S.Ct. 1877, 32 L.Ed.2d 411 (1972), in finding that the right to counsel under the Sixth Amendment does not accrue until adversarial criminal proceedings have been initiated. The states that find there is no federal or state constitutional right to counsel at the time of the chemical testing decision generally follow the same reasoning in finding that the decision is not a critical stage in the criminal proceeding, and in finding that adversarial criminal proceedings do not begin until the formal charge has been filed. See, e.g., State v. Hoch, 500 So.2d 597, 598-99 (Fla.App.1986); Allen, 485 A.2d at 955-56; State v. Delisle, 137 N.H. 549, 630 A.2d 767, 767-68 (1993); Leavitt, 527 A.2d at 405; Dunn, 388 A.2d at 810-13; and McCambridge v. State, 778 S.W.2d 70, 71-77 (Tex.Crim.App.1989), cert. denied, 495 U.S. 910, 110 S.Ct. 1936, 109 L.Ed.2d 299 (1990). [¶ 28] There are three reasons why the chemical testing stage is not a critical stage in criminal proceedings. First, the function of the Sixth Amendment right to counsel is to preserve the defendant's right to a fair trial, once adversarial criminal proceedings have been commenced by the filing of a formal charge. Charpentier, 736 P.2d at 725; Delisle, 630 A.2d at 768; McCambridge, 778 S.W.2d at 74. Second, the chemical testing decision is `not essentially a lawyer's decision but, on the contrary, can be made by a defendant in the absence of the assistance of counsel without any substantial prejudice to [the accused's] rights under the sixth amendment.' Delisle, 630 A.2d at 768 ( quoting State v. Petkus, 110 N.H. 394, 397, 269 A.2d 123, 125 (1970), cert. denied, 402 U.S. 932, 91 S.Ct. 1522, 28 L.Ed.2d 867 (1971)). And third, the right to refuse the test is not a right at all, but is, at most, a statutory privilege or an option which may be strictly regulated by the state. Hoch, 500 So.2d at 600-01; State v. Reitter, 227 Wis.2d 213, 595 N.W.2d 646, 659 (1999). [9]