Court Opinion

ID: 9548227
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 18:00:09.684431+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:18:39.954565
License: Public Domain

Hamilton, J.
(dissenting) — The majority order a dismissal of the charges of public intoxication, a misdemeanor, and driving while under the influence of intoxicants, a gross misdemeanor. I dissent. The reasons therefor require a brief resume of the events giving rise to this appeal.
On the evening in question, at approximately 11:15 p.m., in the city of Tacoma, defendant purportedly drove through a red traffic light and into another vehicle. Two city traffic officers investigated the accident. It appeared to them that the defendant was unsteady on his feet, that his eyes were bloodshot, that his speech was slurred, and that his breath reeked with alcohol. The officers formed an opinion that he was intoxicated and arrested him. On the way to the police station, defendant admitted to the consumption of three beers at a local tavern. Upon arrival at the police station, physical co-ordination tests were administered with defendant’s consent. The results confirmed the opinion of the officers. The defendant again admitted to “three beers,” but denied intoxication. He *762further advised the officers he was not injured in the accident, was not ill, and had not visited a doctor or dentist recently. He was offered a Harger sobriety test, which he refused because he had previously been advised by his attorney not to submit to such tests if arrested for an offense involving intoxication. Thereafter, defendant was charged and placed in jail.
At intervals after his arrival at the police station, defendant requested permission to telephone an attorney retained by him. These requests were refused upon the basis of Tacoma Police Department Regulation No. 46 (see footnote 1). At 4 a.m., 4 hours after his arrival at the station, defendant was permitted to telephone his attorney. The attorney contacted a bail bondsman, who posted bail about 6 a.m.
Trial and conviction in Tacoma City Police Court ensued, from which defendant appealed to the superior court. Trial de novo before the superior court, sitting without a jury, followed. Prior to trial in each court, defendant interposed a written motion to dismiss the charges upon the ground that refusal of his request to timely contact counsel, following his arrest, amounted to a violation of his constitutional right to the assistance of counsel. He interposed no other motions and, in each court, a ruling upon his motion to dismiss was deferred until conclusion of trial.
In the superior court, evidence of defendant’s appearance and behavior at the scene of the accident, the results of the physical co-ordination tests at the police station, and the manner of administering Police Department Regulation No. 46, as related to the degree of intoxication, was admitted by stipulation and without objection.
The defendant took the stand and testified to (a) spontaneously taking the day off from his employment because he felt he had worked enough and wanted to try out a new car and visit with friends, (b) visiting and indulging at two taverns, (c) getting sick at the second tavern— which illness he attributed to ulcers, (d) falling asleep in his automobile after departing the second tavern, (e) *763driving to the point of the accident, his arrest and his state of sobriety, (f) his knowledge of the Harger sobriety test and his refusal to take it at the police station, (g) his requests for counsel, and (h) several previous convictions of driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor. Defendant neither produced nor offered to produce any corroborative evidence concerning his activities during the day, his condition of sobriety in or about either tavern he visited or at the scene of the accident, or as to the existence of his ulcers and the effect thereof as the same related to his general health, appearance, coherency, equilibrium or driving capacity.
The attorney called by defendant from the police station then testified that had he been called immediately after defendant’s arrest he would have undertaken to arrange a blood-alcohol test. He did not state he would have then rendered any other assistance.
At the conclusion of the evidence, defendant renewed his motion to dismiss the charges. The trial court entered findings of fact, conclusions of law, and judgment denying defendant’s motion and adjudging him guilty of the offenses of public intoxication and driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor.
Against this background, the majority state the question to be determined on this appeal as follows:
Is the denial of a request for permission to contact counsel as soon as a person is charged with a crime involving the element of intoxication, the denial of a constitutional right resulting in irreparable prejudice to his defense? (Italics mine.)
The majority then turn to the cases of Hamilton v. Alabama, 368 U.S. 52, 7 L. Ed. 2d 114, 82 Sup. Ct. 157 (1961); Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335, 9 L. Ed. 2d 799, 83 Sup. Ct. 792 (1963); White v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 59, 10 L. Ed. 2d 193, 83 Sup. Ct. 1050 (1963) (cases dealing with furnishing an indigent with counsel at the preliminary hearing or arraignment stage); and Haynes v. Washington, 373 U.S. 503, 10 L. Ed. 2d 513, 83 Sup. Ct. 1336 (1963) (a case dealing with admissibility of a confession *764obtained after denial of a request for counsel at the investigative state), and assert:
(1) The sixth amendment of the United States Constitution has, via the Fourteenth Amendment, been extended to the states, under Gideon v. Wainwright, supra;
(2) The “fundamental fair trial” test, as applied to determining when the constitutional right to counsel attaches under due process concepts, as utilized in Betts v. Brady, 316 U.S. 455, 86 L. Ed. 1595, 62 Sup. Ct. 1252 (1942), has been replaced by the “critical stage” test as found in Hamilton v. Alabama, supra;
(3) The “critical stage” in public intoxication cases, drunken driving cases, or any case involving the element of intoxication, is upon the booking or charging of the accused person; and
(4) The “sum total of the circumstances” test, as applied to determining the constitutional validity of any conviction, following a refusal to honor a request for counsel at the investigative or accusatorial stage, as utilized in the cases of Crooker v. California, 357 U.S. 433, 2 L. Ed. 2d 1448, 78 Sup. Ct. 1287 (1958); Cicenia v. LaGay, 357 U.S. 504, 2 L. Ed. 2d 1523, 78 Sup. Ct. 1297 (1958); and Culombe v. Connecticut, 367 U.S. 568, 6 L. Ed. 2d 1037, 81 Sup. Ct. 1860 (1961), has been, will be, or should be totally abandoned.
From these premises, the majority answer the question posed by stating:
Under the “critical stage” rule, the denial to the defendant of-the assistance of his attorney after the officers had conducted their tests and questioning, violated his constitutional right to have counsel and due process, and any conviction obtained thereafter was void. (Italics mine and footnote omitted.)
In dissenting,-1 agree with the first three premises advanced by the majority, but I cannot conscientiously agree with the wisdom, the import, or the everyday practicality of the result produced by the fourth. In short, I cannot agree that denial of a request for permission to contact counsel as soon as a person is charged with a crime involv*765ing the element of intoxication invariably and irreparably prejudices that person’s defense to an extent compelling a dismissal of the charge.
At the outset, I have no quarrel with the proposition that, insofar as the police regulation in question purports to and does prohibit any reasonable and timely telephonic communication between one charged with intoxication and his attorney, a doctor, a friend, or a member of his family, the regulation is in conflict and incompatible with pertinent constitutional and statutory requirements and should be struck down. After such a person has been observed, questioned, and charged no proper law enforcement purpose is to be served by denying such a telephonic communication. Certainly, he should not be accorded unrestricted and unlimited use of the telephone, nor should he be permitted to call the governor, the mayor, the city attorney, or other like persons who could have no rational relationship to or concern with his then predicament. But, if he makes a request to call his home, his doctor, a friend, or his attorney and is afforded reasonable access to a telephone, e.g., a dial telephone, for such purpose, then his immediate physical capabilities, and his coherence and intelligibility would either serve to ultimately assist him or condemn him. In either event his constitutional rights would be unimpaired.
The majority’s disposition in this matter, however, does not turn upon the bare denial of an accused person’s constitutional and statutory right to telephonically communicate with his attorney. The majority’s conclusion that the charges in this case, and similar cases of this type, must be dismissed turns, rather, upon a quasi-factual determination that any such denial invariably and irreparably prejudices the accused person’s defense. As indicated, it is with this phase of the majority opinion that I disagree.
Traditionally, and today in those geographic areas of the world where blood or chemical tests are not readily available, determination of the issue of intoxication in this type of a case has revolved about the testimony of persons who have dealt with or have heard, observed, or smelt the accused at or before the time of arrest. This type of evidence, *766while not as scientifically pure as a blood or chemical test, is nevertheless predicated upon the common experience of mankind and his association with and observation of the effect of alcohol. In this light, it has been considered and evaluated over the years by judges and juries alike and given its appropriate weight in a determination of guilt or innocence. Parenthetically, it might well be observed that such testimony, accompanied in appropriate instances with the opinions and conclusions of the witnesses, has long been utilized to convict or acquit persons charged with far more serious offenses than public intoxication or drunken driving.
Frequently, too, the prosecution’s eyewitness’ testimony finds support in “two beer” admissions (made by an accused before he could be charged and advised of his constitutional rights), or in the presence at the scene of the arrest of physical evidence relevant to the issue of crapulence. On the other hand, it is not novel to find the accused’s version of events supported by the testimony of friends, acquaintances, or bystanders who had occasion to observe him prior to arrest, or by medical or dental charts, records or testimony bearing upon the accused’s alleged debilitation.
The advent of scientific tests for the detection of alcohol in the human blood stream has by no means invalidated or rendered worthless these traditional modes of proof. Neither, does it seem to me, should every failure to accord one accused of intoxication a speculative opportunity to obtain a blood-alcohol test eradicate all other evidence of intoxication and render law enforcement impotent. Society, as well as the individual, is entitled to due process of law. Particularly would this seem to be so when one considers the fact that in the year of 1964 there were some 47,700 deaths in the nation attributable to automobile accidents, with drinking a factor in as many as half of the fatal occurrences.6
In the instant case, the observations of the investigating officers at the scene of the accident, coupled with the defendant’s “three beer” admission, were sufficient to warrant *767defendant’s arrest. The physical co-ordination tests administered with defendant’s consent at the police station confirmed the officers’ evaluation. When the defendant, proclaiming his sobriety and acting upon the advice of his attorney, refused to take the proffered Harger sobriety test, he not only deprived himself of any scientific evidence such a test would provide, but he also compelled the police to rely upon the evidence then in their possession in determining whether to prefer charges. Denial of defendant’s right to further communicate with his attorney under such circumstances, while improper, did not eliminate or destroy the validity of the officers’ observations at the scene of the accident or the results of the physical co-ordination tests.
■ Neither did it deprive defendant of the opportunity of gathering and presenting the testimony of persons who had observed him fa) during the course of the day, (b) during his sojourn in the different taverns prior to the accident, or (c) during his presence at the scene of the accident. Likewise, defendant was not precluded from corroborating by medical testimony his complaint of ulcers and the effect of alcohol thereon as the same related to coherency, equilibrium, or driving capacity.
Defendant, however, did not gather any such corroborative evidence. Instead, he contented himself with presenting his own uncorroborated testimony and standing upon his motion to dismiss, predicated, as it is, upon the speculative prospect that his attorney could have, between the hours of 11:30 p.m. and 4 a.m. induced a doctor, a laboratory technician, or a hospital attendant to come to the police station and procure a blood sample for analysis, and that such analysis, if made, would have been significantly more revealing than the rejected Harger sobriety test.
Confronted with this situation, the trial court, after observing and hearing the defendant testify as to the events surrounding his arrest, incarceration, and requests, in substance found that the defendant, at the time of the accident and upon his arrival at the police station, was in fact intoxicated, that a realistic, practical, and substantial question existed as the availability of a blood-alcohol test at the time *768and under the circumstances prevailing, and that his detention without permission to communicate with his attorney for the period of time involved did not irreparably prejudice his defense.
A review of the record satisfies me that the trial court gave full, fair, and impartial consideration to the defendant’s evidence and contentions, and that the denial of communication under the circumstances here present does not justify or compel a dismissal of the charges. Balancing the rights of due process of law between the defendant and society, it seems to me that the denial of communication here involved would warrant at most no greater a remedy than suppression of the evidence accumulated by the police at the police station. Defendant did not, however, ask this.
I would accordingly affirm the judgment.
Finley and Ott, JJ., concur with Hamilton, J.

Accident Facts (1965 ed.), National Safety Council, pp. 40, 52.