Opinion ID: 1742807
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the lower court erred in admitting evidence relating to appellant's blood alcohol test.

Text: The appellant filed motions in limine to suppress the blood alcohol test performed on him. He argues that the evidence indicates he was unable to consent to the test; that the evidence was inadmissible under Mississippi Code Annotated § 63-11-7 (1972), and constituted reversible error. He refers to his lack of cooperation and belligerency in the emergency room of the Ocean Springs Hospital as indicating that he was in a condition rendering him incapable of refusal. Investigating Officer Santa Cruz informed appellant at the hospital that he was being charged with two counts of manslaughter as a result of the collision. Without question, there was overwhelming evidence that the officers had probable cause to arrest appellant, and to charge him with the crimes of manslaughter. In Ashley v. State, 423 So.2d 1311 (Miss. 1983), this Court said: We find appellant had not been lawfully arrested when his blood was withdrawn for testing. However, our examination of the facts must not stop here. We must determine whether Officer Santacruz had probable cause to detaih appellant and order a blood test after he went to the hospital. The facts in possession of the officer at that time were that Ashley was driving an automobile which had run into the rear end of another automobile which was stopped at a traffic signal, that an occupant of the stopped automobile had been killed in the accident, and in the opinion of the officer appellant was intoxicated. Under these facts the officer could then have arrested appellant on a charge of manslaughter and required appellant to submit to a test to determine the alcoholic content of his blood. At that time there existed probable cause for arrest and also probable cause to search appellant by requiring him to submit to the withdrawal of blood from his body to be tested. Ashley, 423 So.2d at 1313. See also Williams v. State, 434 So.2d 1340 (Miss. 1983); Bayse v. State, 420 So.2d 1050, 1052-53 (Miss. 1982); and Gregg v. State, 374 So.2d 1301 (Miss. 1979). In Gibson v. State, 503 So.2d 230 (Miss. 1987), this Court was again confronted with the contention that, absent consent or arrest, the blood alcohol test results are inadmissible. The Court reaffirmed Ashley, supra, finding the evidence sufficient to provide probable cause to search for and seize evidence of intoxication. Gibson, 503 So.2d at 234. The assigned error is rejected.