Court Opinion

ID: 9601998
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 01:51:13.300656+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:06:28.908984
License: Public Domain

*217CONNOR, Justice,
with whom RABI-NO WITZ, Chief Justice, joins, dissenting.
Marjorie Graham was arrested at approximately 2:30 a. m. on August 6, 1977 in Kodiak. The arresting officer advised her of her Miranda rights1 and then drove her to the police station. The warning read by police to the arrested individual explains that one has the right to remain silent and that one has the right to counsel before answering any questions. At the police station, Officer Bailey requested that Graham submit to a breathalyzer test. At the time of the request, the officer read the standard “consent to a breathalyzer test” warning. At the conclusion of the implied consent warning, Graham was asked whether she would take the test. She contends that her failure to take the test should not be construed as a refusal because she relied on the statement of her Miranda rights which explained that she had the right to remain silent.
The inherent contradictions between the rights mentioned in the Miranda warning and the obligations imposed by an implied consent warning, Wiseman v. Sullivan, 190 Neb. 724, 211 N.W.2d 906, 909 (1973), have been the subject of a number of decisions in the courts of California. In Rust v. Department of Motor Vehicles, 267 Cal.App.2d 548, 73 Cal.Rptr. 366 (1968), Rust was read his Miranda rights after he failed a field sobriety test. The officer then requested that he submit to a blood alcohol test. Rust replied that he wished to telephone his attorney first, relying on his understanding of his Miranda rights. The court likened the facts in Rust to those in People v. Ellis, 65 Cal.2d 529, 55 Cal.Rptr. 385, 421 P.2d 393 (1966). In Ellis, the police officers advised Ellis of his right to remain silent; then they testified that he refused to participate in a voice identification test, allowing the jury to draw an adverse inference from his refusal. The court noted that the Miranda warnings which Ellis heard did not distinguish between speech for communication and speech for voice identification. Further, “[t]hat distinction would hardly occur to a layman unless it was called to his attention.” Id. at 398. The court held that since the refusal might have been the result of the misleading police warnings, the refusal could not be used against Ellis. Id. See Calvert v. State, 184 Colo. 214, 519 P.2d 341, 343 (1974). Applying the same concept of fairness from Ellis to the circumstances in Rust, the court of appeal required that when a driver expresses a misconception of his Miranda rights, by a request for an attorney, the officer “should have qualified his advice” by stating that the right to counsel was inapplicable to the blood alcohol test. 73 Cal.Rptr. at 368.
The majority opinion places the burden on the defendant motorist to establish her confusion before the arresting officer is required to explain that the Miranda rights are not applicable to the breathalyzer examination proceedings.2 Although that holding is consistent with those in a number of jurisdictions, see West v. Department of Motor Vehicles, 275 Cal.App.2d 908, 80 Cal.Rptr. 385, 387-88 (1969); Swenumson v. Department of Public Safety, 210 N.W.2d 660, 663 (Iowa 1973); Wiseman v. Sullivan, 190 Neb. 724, 211 N.W.2d 906, 910 (1973); State v. Riba, 10 Wash.App. 857, 520 P.2d 942, 945 (1974), the result does not contribute to legal certainty. When, at the end of the implied consent warning, the motorist’s Miranda rights are not clarified, the officer may be presented with a difficult decision. Upon refusal by the motorist to take a blood alcohol test, the officer must determine whether that refusal is owing to con*218fusion in understanding the stated rights or stems merely from a knowledgeable refusal. There is no guidance as to what constitutes sufficient evidence of confusion, or whether the sufficiency is tested from the officer’s or the motorist’s point of view.
Further, the majority’s approach does not adequately respond to the conditions surrounding the arrest. An arrest inherently involves interference with one’s liberty and thus puts the motorist in uncomfortable circumstances. In addition, the commingling of the Miranda warnings and the implied consent statute result “at the very best ... in a high degree of ambiguity.” Wiseman, 211 N.W.2d at 910. To require that the motorist manifest confusion to the officer before the ambiguity is explained, when in fairness the ambiguity should not exist in the initial warnings, is unjust.3
Therefore, I would reverse the decision of the superior court.

. Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966).

. The majority did not conclude that Graham was confused. After viewing the videotape, I conclude that ■ she was confused. After the officer read her the implied consent warning, she requested that she be allowed to make a telephone call, that someone be present before she consented and she stated that she had “enough sense not to say a word.” At no time did Officer Bailey explain that her right to remain silent and right to an attorney were inapplicable to the breathalyzer examination proceedings. He repeatedly asked her whether she would consent to the breathalyzer test and told her that if she failed to affirmatively consent, she would lose her license.

. The implied consent warning was modified in California in an effort to avoid confusion. In a current form it states:
“You are required by State law to submit to a chemical test to determine the alcoholic content of your blood. You have a choice of whether the test is to be of your blood, breath or urine. If you refuse to submit to a test, or fail to complete a test, your driving privilege will be suspended fór a period of six months. You do not have the right to talk to an attorney, or have an attorney present, before stating whether you will submit to a test, before deciding which test to take, or during the administration of the test chosen.”
See McDonnell v. Department of Motor Vehicles, 119 Cal.Rptr. 804, 807 n.1, 45 Cal.App.3d 653 (1975). I would suggest that the warning used in Alaska be modified by adding a qualification that the motorist does not have the right to remain silent to avoid answering whether she understands her rights or whether she will take the exam and a qualification regarding her right to an attorney similar to the one quoted above. 1 would further modify the instruction to delete the references to a choice among test methods, as AS 28.35.031 provides only for the breath test and not for blood or urine tests.