Opinion ID: 415296
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: 2 On October 8, 1981, Mary Mae Harvey, a White Mountain Apache Indian, was driving a truck with a friend and the friend's daughter on the Fort Apache Reservation, about four miles outside McNary, Arizona. The truck crossed the center line and hit a van head-on, killing the driver of the van. 3 Ms. Harvey was taken to a hospital about an hour and a half after the accident. Investigator Garcia of the local Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) office, who had been at the scene of the accident, arrived at the hospital about two hours later. Without arresting Harvey, he requested her consent for a blood sample. She vehemently refused and one was taken over her objection. The blood sample was tested and it showed .19% alcohol. Harvey was not formally charged until February 17, 1982, at which time she was served with an indictment for involuntary manslaughter, 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1112, under the Major Crimes Act, 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1153. 4 Harvey's pretrial motion to suppress the blood alcohol evidence was denied. A trial commenced in April 1982, with the jury returning a verdict of guilty. Harvey was sentenced to two years' confinement.
5 Wallace Chase is an enrolled member of the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. In the early morning of May 1, 1981, Chase was driving a car on the Fort Peck Reservation in eastern Montana. The car struck a bridge abutment and the passenger of the car was killed. Chase was seriously injured, sustaining a broken hip and internal injuries. He was taken to a BIA hospital in Wolf Point. The state patrolman who had investigated the scene relayed a message through a dispatcher requesting another patrolman, John Frellick, to proceed to the hospital and take a blood sample from Chase. The condition of Chase at the time Patrolman Frellick requested the sample is in dispute. The trial court concluded that Chase was so delirious it was unnecessary for the officer to have arrested him prior to having the treating doctor take the blood. The blood test showed an alcohol content of .21%. 6 Chase was indicted in September of 1981 for involuntary manslaughter. 18 U.S.C. Secs. 1153, 1112. His motion to suppress the blood alcohol evidence was denied. The trial was held in April 1982 and the jury found him guilty. Chase's three-year sentence of imprisonment was suspended contingent on his meeting certain probation conditions.