Opinion ID: 2514039
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Snyder's Criminal Case

Text: In 1994 Snyder was convicted of DWI and refusal to take a breath alcohol test, and he appealed the convictions to this court. We reversed both Snyder's DWI and refusal convictions and remanded for further proceedings. [4] With regard to Snyder's DWI conviction, we held that the State's failure to honor Snyder's request for an independent blood test violated due process, regardless of whether Snyder refused to take a breath test. [5] We observed that [a] typical remedy employed in cases where evidence is obtained in violation of a defendant's rights is the exclusion of that evidence. [6] But because there was no evidence to exclude, and because we were not persuaded that outright dismissal of the case was warranted in light of the fact that the jury convicted Snyder of DWI on the basis of admissible evidence which Snyder had an opportunity to rebut, albeit not with the potentially most exculpatory evidence, [7] we crafted a different remedy. We ordered that, on remand, the superior court should presume that the independent blood test Snyder sought, if provided, would have been favorable to him. [8] We indicated that our reversal on due process grounds of Snyder's DWI conviction was not directly relevant to Snyder's refusal conviction, stating in a footnote that [r]efusal of the chemical breath test is a criminal act irrespective of any request for or submission to a blood test. [9] However, we reversed the refusal conviction on other grounds: Snyder was improperly denied a jury instruction on the defense of subsequent consent. [10] Because a rational juror could have found that Snyder was sincere in his fifth offer to take the test even if he was not sincere in his first four offers and alleged attempts, we concluded that the superior court erred in refusing to instruct the jury that subsequent consent was a defense to the refusal charge. [11] Snyder's criminal case was never considered on remand, because of a Criminal Rule 45 error.