Opinion ID: 1865041
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Blood Test Evidence.

Text: Satern first claims the court erred in overruling his objection to the admissibility of blood test results obtained pursuant to Iowa Code section 321J.6. The thrust of Satern's argument is that the officer invoking implied consent acted without firsthand knowledge of grounds to support the request, upon orders from a person outside his chain of command. These procedural flaws, Satern claims, render the blood test results inadmissible. We cannot agree. The facts reveal that Schnetter, not Satern, was visibly intoxicated and arrested at the scene of the fatal accident. Satern was transported to a hospital for treatment of injuries. Nevertheless Trooper Kyle Kluender, the investigating officer on the scene, had smelled alcohol on Satern's breath. This observation, coupled with the conflicting stories about who was driving, convinced him that Satern should submit to a blood test. Upon returning to the justice center, Kluender shared his observations with the county attorney. While the two of them were conferring, Humboldt police officer Tom Nielsen walked by. The county attorney directed Nielsen to go to the hospital, find Satern, and invoke implied consent to secure a blood sample. Nielsen did so. Satern concedes that he gave the specimen voluntarily. The question on appeal is whether the facts sketched above so offend the procedure prescribed by section 321J.6 to warrant the test's exclusion from evidence. The statute authorizes a peace officer to request the withdrawal and testing of bodily substances when (1) the officer has reasonable grounds to believe the person was operating while intoxicated and (2) the person has been involved in a motor vehicle accident or collision resulting in personal injury or death. Iowa Code § 321J.6(1)(b). The reasonable grounds test is met when the facts and circumstances known to the officer at the time action was required would have warranted a prudent person's belief that an offense had been committed. State v. Braun, 495 N.W.2d 735, 738-39 (Iowa 1993); State v. Owens, 418 N.W.2d 340, 342 (Iowa 1988). The knowledge of one police officer, acting in concert with others, is presumed to be shared by all. Owens, 418 N.W.2d at 342. Underlying the procedural requirements of section 321J.6 is a threefold purpose: to protect the health of the person being tested, to guarantee accuracy of test results used in judicial proceedings, and to prevent citizens from indiscriminate testing or harassment. State v. Hopkins, 465 N.W.2d 894, 896 (Iowa 1991). Although the record plainly reveals that Officer Nielsen had no personal knowledge of Satern's intoxication or involvement in the accident, it is equally plain that Trooper Kluender had the necessary knowledge and imparted it to the county attorney. Moreover Kluender's knowledge was conveyed to the county attorney inor immediately precedingNielsen's presence. The problem is that Nielsen received his direct order from the county attorney, not Trooper Kluender. The county attorney is not a peace officer under the statute. See Iowa Code § 321J.1(7). We are convinced that this technical and momentary break in the chain of command should not defeat the rule of shared knowledge articulated in Owens. The admissibility of evidence rests in the sound discretion of the trial court. State v. Zaehringer, 280 N.W.2d 416, 419-20 (Iowa 1979). There is no dispute that Satern's blood test results were both relevant to this prosecution and reliable. Given the substantial, if not literal, compliance with the statute under this record, the question becomes whether any of the three purposes underlying section 321J.6's procedural technicalitiesprotection of health, test accuracy, or citizen harassmentwere compromised by the court's ruling. State v. Schlemme, 301 N.W.2d 721, 723-24 (Iowa 1981). The record before us convinces us they were not. Thus we find no abuse of the trial court's discretion in admitting Satern's blood test results into evidence.