Court Opinion

ID: 9753470
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 19:15:08.076587+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:27:36.368608
License: Public Domain

Amestoy, C.J.,
dissenting. The majority aptly observes that the resolution of an appeal to this Court often turns on how the issues are framed. It is equally valid to note that when the resolution is not unanimous it is because, as here, there is disagreement over the framing.
At issue is not — as the majority would have it — whether the defendant ought to have a remedy for the State’s failure to provide statewide twenty-four hour coverage seven days a week for persons entitled to consult an attorney under 23 V.S.A. § 1202. The issue is whether we have construed the statutory scheme governing the administration of a blood alcohol concentration test “to balance the rights of individual motorists against the State’s need to effectively enforce the laws.” State v. Madonna, 169 Vt. 98, 100, 726 A.2d 498, 500 (1999). Because I believe the majority’s remedy upsets the balance the Legislature sought to achieve between providing *121motorists the opportunity to consult with an attorney and the need to administer a test within thirty minutes to provide an accurate reading of the motorist’s blood alcohol concentration, I respectfully dissent.
Contrary to the majority’s assertion, defendant in this case does premise his claim of error on the lack of a meaningful opportunity to consult an attorney. As defendant conceded at oral argument, his argument would extend to those circumstances where — despite the provision of statewide twenty-four hour, seven day a week coverage by the Defender General — counsel may be unavailable due to competing demands for their services. Indeed, it would be illogical for defendant to argue otherwise, since under defendant’s rationale, it is proof of the unavailability of the Defender General’s legal service that renders the refusal involuntary, not proof of whether the Defender General has statewide twenty-four hour, seven day a week coverage.*
The defendant’s right to refusal and right to counsel are purely statutory. See State v. Brean, 136 Vt. 147, 151, 385 A.2d 1085, 1088 (1978) (“The right to refuse to submit to a blood or breath test in Vermont is a creature of statute . . . and not the Federal or State Constitutions.”); State v. Fuller, 163 Vt. 523, 527, 660 A.2d 302, 305 (1995) (“The right to consult with counsel contained in the implied consent law is purely statutory, created by 23 V.S.A. § 1202(c).”). Defendant contends that § 1202(g) evinces a legislative intent to ensure access to adequate legal services. That may be, but the Legislature also intended that a person make a decision about whether or not to submit to the tests within a time certain “regardless of whether a consultation took place.” 23 V.S.A. § 1202(c). It is difficult to conceive how the statute could have more plainly expressed the limitation on the right to consult an attorney. When embarking on the process of statutory construction, we have established a clearly articulated hierarchy of available sources and turn first to the “plain, ordinary meaning of the language.” Brennan v. Town of Colchester, 169 Vt. 175, 177, 730 A.2d 601, 603 (1999) (citation omitted). If we can derive the intent of the Legislature from the plain meaning of the words, our task is normally at an end. See *122Harris v. Sherman, 167 Vt. 613, 614, 708 A.2d 1348, 1349 (1998) (mem.).
The evidentiary test required to be administered by § 1202 must be administered within a short period of time to provide an accurate reading of the motorist’s blood alcohol concentration. See Madonna, 169 Vt. at 99, 726 A.2d at 499. Defendant’s construction of § 1202(g) would predicate the timeliness of the test on the availability of attorneys. The Legislature chose not to do so. Nevertheless, under § 1202, the police bear the burden of “actually attempting to contact counsel within the thirty-minute time period.” Madonna, 169 Vt. at 100, 726 A.2d at 500. There can be no dispute that Trooper Letoumeau carried the State’s burden here; he made a diligent, good-faith attempt to contact counsel as defendant requested.
While the majority asserts that, in this case, exclusion of the evidence is not aimed at deterring illegal conduct by police officers, it applies the remedy to penalize “the State’s refusal to comply with the law.” As a matter of public policy one may agree that the State ought to fully fund the programs it mandates. But the State’s failure to do so — absent constitutional command — has not, until now, triggered the exclusionary rule. If it is the State’s lack of adequate funding for a program established by statute that “breeds contempt for the law,” better to repeal the statute than be censured by this Court for “breaking the law.” I am authorized to state that Justice Skoglund joins in this dissent.

 To put it another way, had the officer been able to put the defendant in touch with a public defender, notwithstanding the fact that the Defender General had not implemented the coverage envisioned in § 1202(g), it could not be seriously maintained that application of § 1202(e) was unlawful.