Court Opinion

ID: 9717777
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 07:10:08.790419+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:55.332328
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE WOMBACHER, dissenting: The trial court found that the defendant’s refusal to submit to the officer’s request that he take a second breathalyzer test, upon the mechanical failure of the printing mechanism during the first test, was not a refusal as defined by section 11 — 501.1(c). I agree with that statement and, therefore, respectfully dissent. The State claims that the failure of the printer made the first test “not a valid test” and “worthless.” I do not believe this to be so. On the record before us, both chambers of the breathalyzer filled with air, the second cylinder clicked shut, and the digital readout registered .22%. The only thing that did not operate was the printing mechanism. The State claims that the machine, therefore, malfunctioned. Only the printer did. The rest of the machine worked properly. To say that, because the printer did not work, therefore the breathalyzer is defective and the test invalid, is a non sequitur. The printer has nothing to do with the analysis of air. The printer is an added facility or convenience that in no way inhibits, enhances or otherwise affects the intended function of the machine. To hold otherwise would be tantamount to saying that the machine could not analyze air without paper in the printer! An analogy to everyday usage is a calculator with a printing function. The calculator can still calculate even if its printer is broken. Likewise, the breathalyzer can still analyze breath without a printer. We must decide whether the defendant ultimately complied with the officer’s instructions that yielded blood alcohol readings (People v. Naseef (1984), 127 Ill. App. 3d 70, 468 N.E.2d 466), or whether the defendant circumvented the statutory requirement by refusing to cooperate to obtain test results. (People v. Schuberth (1983), 115 Ill. App. 3d 302, 450 N.E.2d 459.) This is the test the majority has put forth, and I wholeheartedly agree. The test that defendant submitted to yielded blood alcohol readings. The machine’s digital readout registered a .22%. Objective evidence was provided. Given a proper foundation at trial, there is no reason why the officer’s report of the reading from the digital readout would not be admissible. Nothing in the statute nor case law insists that the readout be printed. Just as an officer’s report of a readout from a radar gun is admissible, the digital readout from the breathalyzer should also be. While a printout would be helpful, it would not be necessary. This defendant was apparently too drunk to read the digital readout. That, in and of itself, does not render the readout inadmissible. Finally, I do not interpret the statute as my brothers do. I do not think, as they state, that the legislature anticipated that machines would malfunction by not printing the results of the first test, and therefore used the plural of “test” to require two or more tests of one kind, if demanded. While it speaks in the plural, it is also speaking of blood, breath, or urine tests. Section 11 — 501 proscribes driving under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or both. The implied consent statute is to provide evidence for the prosecution of those offenses, but does not require more than one of each test. For example, assume an officer saw someone driving erratically. He then suspected that the driver was under the influence of either drugs or alcohol, but could not determine which. The officer could first require a breath test for alcohol. The officer could also require a blood or urine test for drugs. It is in this sense I believe the statute speaks when it uses the term “tests.” To carry the majority’s interpretation of “tests” to the extreme, the police could constantly request defendants to submit to tests under the guise of mechanical malfunction until they obtained the desired result. This defendant was not so drunk he could not recognize the danger of repeated tests, even if he did not realize he had already “flunked” the test! I also find it helpful that the legislature recently reduced the number of results required from a breath test from two to one. (Pub. Act. 82— 311, sec. 1.) This amendment also allowed for blood and urine tests. Thus, the inescapable conclusion is that only one of each test is consented to under the statute. For the foregoing reasons, I would affirm the circuit court of Tazewell County, and, therefore, dissent.