Court Opinion

ID: 9696218
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 18:41:20.662074+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:19.713380
License: Public Domain

*418STUART, Justice.
Petitioner, who was charged with operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of an alcoholic beverage in violation of section 321.281, The Code, refused to take the breath test requested by a highway patrolman. When his attorney arrived five minutes later and learned of the request and refusal, he demanded a blood test for his client. The patrolman would not make arrangements for a blood test.
The commissioner revoked petitioner’s driving privileges for failure to submit to a breath test under the Implied Consent Law Chapter 321B, The Code. The revocation was upheld in an administrative hearing and motorist appealed to the district court. The district court held the commissioner’s action in revoking motorist’s license was illegal because he was not first offered the blood test. The commissioner has appealed.
The sole question before us here is whether, under section 321B.3 a blood test must be offered and refused before a motorist’s license to drive can be revoked for his refusal to take a breath, saliva or urine test. We have not previously considered this question. We now hold that the statute makes the offer and refusal of the blood test a condition precedent to a revocation under Chapter 321B and affirm the district court.
Section 321B.3 provides:
“Implied consent to test. Any person who operates a motor vehicle in this state upon a public highway, under such circumstances as to give reasonable grounds to believe the person to have been operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of an alcoholic beverage, shall be deemed to have given consent to the withdrawal from his body of specimens of his blood, breath, saliva, or urine, and to a chemical test or tests thereof, for the purpose of determining the alcoholic content of his blood, subject to the provisions hereinafter set out. The withdrawal of such body substances, and the test or tests thereof, shall be administered at the written request of a peace officer ***.// such person requests that a specimen of his blood not be withdrawn, then a specimen of his breath, saliva, or urine shall be withdrawn at the written request of such peace officer; provided, however, that if such person refused to submit to any chemical testing, no test shall be given, and the provisions of section 321B.7 shall apply. Subject to the right of a person to refuse a blood test or to refuse to submit to any chemical testing, such peace officer may determine which of said substances shall be tested; and if he requires a breath test, he may also require a test of one other of said substances. * * (Emphasis supplied)
Although the statute does not directly state a blood test must be offered and refused before proceedings to revoke a license for refusal to take one of the other tests can lawfully be instituted, we believe this is necessarily implied from the portions of the statute underlined above. By the use of the word “then” the legislature said, in effect, that a specimen of breath, saliva or urine shall not be withdrawn until a person has been offered a blood test and he refused to take it.
It is not unreasonable to believe the legislature intended to make a distinction between the blood test and the other chemical tests. The chapter speaks in terms of the alcoholic content of the blood. The legislature may have preferred the direct test of the blood to the secondary tests. It is generally considered more reliable than the other tests. State Department of Highways v. McWhite (1970), 286 Minn. 468, 176 N.W.2d 285, 287.
One indication that the legislature accorded these tests different status with reference to what it believed was their reliability is shown by the fact that the statute explicitly provides that if the officer elects to administer a breath test, he may also require either the saliva or urine test.
*419Although the commissioner does not concede the original statutory language would justify, even if it stood by itself, our conclusion that the legislature intended that the blood test be offered first, he argues that the sentence inserted into Code section 32IB.3 by the 63rd General Assembly makes it even clearer that only one test need be offered and the choice is the officer’s. Reference is to the following language: “Subject to the right of a person to refuse a blood test or to refuse to submit to any chemical testing, such peace officer may determine which of said substances shall be tested; * * *.”
This amendment does not change the obligation to first offer the blood test. This provision simply makes clear that the arrested motorist has an absolute right to refuse to take a blood test provided that he is willing to submit to a secondary test or tests chosen by the officer. It is primarily an accomodation to those motorists whose religious beliefs or physical condition make the blood test unsuitable. All others can take advantage of this absolute right.
The amendment merely codifies our holding in Gottschalk v. Sueppel (1966), 258 Iowa 1173, 140 N.W.2d 866. There the arrested motorist was offered a blood test which he refused. He was then offered a urine test which he also refused. It was argued on appeal that after the motorist’s refusal to submit to the blood test, he had his choice as to which of the other three tests he would take and unless he refused to take all three his license could not legally be revoked. We rejected this argument stating:
“We think a fair construction of [section 321B.3] is that if an arrested motorist requests that a specimen of his blood not be withdrawn, the officer may then request a specimen of breath, saliva or urine for chemical testing. The choice as to which of the three is requested is the officer’s, not the motorist’s.’’ 258 Iowa at 1184, 140 N.W.2d at 872. (Emphasis supplied)
The implication in the above quotation is that the arresting officer must first offer the blood test.
To briefly summarize our interpretation of section 321B.3, Code of 1971, we set out the procedure to be followed before a person’s license to drive can be revoked under 321B for his refusal to submit to a chemical test.
(1) The arresting officer must first request a blood test.
(2) If, and only if, this request is refused, he can then request the breath, saliva, or urine test. Refusal of the arrested motorist to submit to any one of these tests is grounds for revocation.
(3) If the officer chooses the breath test, he can also request either a saliva or urine test. Refusal to submit to the second test is also grounds for revocation.
The decision of the district court is affirmed.
Affirmed.
MOORE, C. J., and RAWLINGS, BECKER and REYNOLDSON, JJ., concur.
UHLENHOPP, LeGRAND and REES, JJ., dissent.
MASON, J., takes no part.