Opinion ID: 415296
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Chase

Text: 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.