Court Opinion

ID: 9731978
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 16:03:23.564006+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:22.261406
License: Public Domain

Gibson, J.,
dissenting. I respectfully dissent.
Our law gives a person a statutory right to consult an attorney before deciding whether to submit to an evidentiary DUI test. 23 V.S.A. § 1202(c); State v. West, 151 Vt. 140, 143-44, 557 A.2d 873, 875-76 (1988). This right is conditioned, however, on the consultation taking place within a prescribed period of time. Section 1202(c) provides that a person who is requested by a law enforcement officer to submit to such a test “must decide” whether to do so “within a reasonable time, but no later than 30 minutes from the time of the initial attempt to contact the at*108torney.” (Emphasis added.) Clearly, the statute contemplates that thirty minutes is an outside limit within which to make the decision, whether or not the individual has been successful in the attempt to talk with an attorney during this period. The condition is a reasonable one, given the fact that a person’s blood-alcohol level diminishes steadily once drinking has ceased and the alcohol consumed has been absorbed into the system. The Legislature was well within its prerogatives when it attached such a condition. State v. Brean, 136 Vt. 147, 152, 385 A.2d 1085, 1088 (1978) (“motorist’s refusal right is not absolute, but has been made expressly conditional — a change that is manifestly within the prerogative of the Legislature”).
In the instant case, the officer made a bona fide effort to contact an attorney for defendant for more than the required thirty minutes. Fourteen calls to attorneys went unanswered. The majority opinion presupposes that a deliberate tactic of not answering the telephone in the wee morning hours is a temptation to which professionals would not succumb. I can only note that this is not the first time we have encountered this phenomenon in this same county. See Gilman v. Commissioner of Motor Vehicles, 155 Vt. 251, 253-55, 583 A.2d 86, 87-88 (1990) (Dooley, J., dissenting) (seven unanswered calls within county plus one unanswered call to attorney in adjacent county). I believe the statute was fully complied with herein and that the trial court properly concluded that defendant had refused to give a sample of his breath after being accorded his legal rights.
I, therefore, dissent, and am authorized to say that the Chief Justice joins in this dissent.