Court Opinion

ID: 9796127
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 03:49:35.362721+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:47:57.959048
License: Public Domain

IRVINE, Judge,
dissenting.
¶ 15 I agree with the majority that Ad-zona’s Implied Consent Statute does not authorize the police to draw blood from a person arrested for DUI without either the person’s consent or a search warrant.5 Under the statute, a driver arrested for DUI impliedly consents to have his driver’s license suspended if he does not give actual consent to a chemical test of his blood. A.R.S. § 28-1321(D). Informed of this consequence, a driver may give actual, albeit grudging, consent to the test to avoid a license suspension. The statute is clear, however, that the “implied consent” provided by law is no substitute for actual consent, whether directly stated through words or implied from the driver’s conduct. Under the statute, if a person under arrest does not actually consent to a test the “test shall not be given, except ... pursuant to a search warrant.” A.R.S. § 28-1321(D)(l). Consequently, I reject the State’s argument that Carrillo’s consent to the blood draw can be implied as a matter of law.
¶ 16 Therefore, the central question in this case is whether Carrillo gave actual consent. The officers testified that they attempted to explain to Carrillo in Spanish and with gestures that they wanted to draw his blood. They further testified that Carrillo held out his arm and cooperated throughout the test. They testified they did not use force, coercion or pressure to obtain Carrillo’s cooperation and he never indicated any objection through words or actions. Camilo testified that no Spanish was used and the officers took his arm. Under these circumstances, whether there was actual consent hinges on the credibility of the witnesses.
¶ 17 We must view the evidence in the light most favorable to sustaining the trial court’s ruling. State v. Stanley, 167 Ariz. 519, 525, 809 P.2d 944, 950 (1991). Moreover, “[wje will not disturb a trial court’s ruling on a motion to suppress absent an abuse of discretion.” State v. Olquin, 216 Ariz. 250, 252, ¶ 10, 165 P.3d 228, 230 (App. 2007). “Accordingly, we will defer to the trial court’s assessment of witness credibility because the trial court is in the best position to make that determination.” Id.
¶ 18 The trial court denied the motion to suppress. Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to sustaining that ruling, I find no error. Athough best practices would counsel the officers to obtain consent through an interpreter, or to secure a warrant, the evidence here is sufficient to support a finding of actual consent. The presence of evidence that can be interpreted as showing-actual consent distinguishes this case from State v. Flannigan, 194 Ariz. 150, 978 P.2d 127 (App.1998), cited by Camilo, in which the record contained no evidence of consent.
¶ 19 The majority finds error because the trial court did not make an express finding that Carrillo affirmatively consented to the blood draw, and orders that the case be *361remanded for such a determination. Again, best practices would be for the trial court to make such an express finding when the validity of the search hinges on consent. Nevertheless, we do not require such precision on appellate review. When a motion to suppress challenges a blood draw based on lack of consent, and the trial court denies that motion, our standard of review requires us to affirm unless there is an abuse of discretion. Failing to make an express finding when denying the motion to suppress is not an abuse of discretion.
¶ 20 Carrillo argues, however, and the majority agrees, that the trial court applied the wrong standard by equating actual consent with non-refusal. I disagree. Carrillo argued he did not consent to the search, either actually or under the Implied Consent Statute. The State responded that he did consent, actually and under the Implied Consent Statute. Both parties used the phrase “implied consent” rather loosely to refer to both “implied in law” and “implied in fact,” so the arguments to the court were sometimes less than precise. Immediately after hearing the evidence and arguments, the trial court made an oral ruling from the bench. That ruling, in its entirety, provided:
Well, the law in the State of Arizona is that a person who operates a motor vehicle in the state gives consent to a test, or tests of a person’s blood, breath, urine, other bodily substance for the purpose of determining alcohol concentration or drug content. If the person is arrested for any offense arising out of acts alleged to have been committed in violation of this chapter, chapter 28.
And we have that situation here in this case. Mr. Carrillo was under arrest for DUI. And so under Arizona law there is the implied consent law, which basically says as I just read. Defense counsel’s argument is that even though Arizona has the implied consent law, the Defendant still has a right to know what is happening to him. And he has a right to decide whether or not he wants to consent to the test. And in this case he did not expressly consent. And any evidence obtained was obtained illegally and unconstitutionally and should therefore be suppressed.
In a perfect world in a preferred situation it is preferred that anyone who is arrested and accused of a crime knows what is going on with them during the time of the arrest. That they are spoken to in their native language. And they are able to understand what’s happening. And ideally that would be the case, but that’s not the law. There is no law that requires the officers to speak Spanish, or to speak in Spanish to the Defendant, unless they are conveying constitutional rights, such as Miranda warnings, which they did not do in this case.
The officers testified that they made signals, or body motions indicating to the Defendant how they wished him to act. The Defendant says that the officers just grabbed his arm and did not reach it out for — or put it out for the tourniquet to be placed on it. But the law does not require the officers to read the admin per se to any defendant, whether Spanish speaking or not unless the defendant refuses to submit to the test, blood or breath test. There was nothing by Mr. Carrillo’s conduct that indicated to the officers that he was refusing to consent to the test. There was nothing by any words that he said that indicated that he wished to refuse to submit to the test. The defendant doesn’t have the right to refuse an implied consent test, or a blood or breath test in a DUI case. He just has the power to do so. And if he chooses to exercise that power then the officers are required to read the implied consent law to the defendant.
The Arizona Supreme Court has held that the implied consent law is a proper vehicle for regulating the use of Arizona highways and has found that it’s not in any violation of any due process rights.
So based on those conclusions the Court is denying the motion to suppress.
¶ 211 do not read the trial court’s ruling as applying the wrong legal standard. The trial court plainly considered the conflicting testimony of the witnesses. Although the court also discussed Carrillo’s failure to refuse the test, this appears to have been only one *362factor in its analysis, not the determinative legal standard found to be erroneous by the majority. In argument, the parties jumped back and forth in their discussion regarding actual consent and implied consent. It is not surprising that the trial court also did so in its oral ruling. The result was a ruling that was less precise than it could have been, but, given our standard of review, it is not reversible error.6 We should not find an abuse of discretion simply because we suspect the trial court used the wrong legal standard. We should only do so if the record plainly shows the error. The record before us does not.
¶ 22 By remanding for a determination by the trial court of whether Carrillo consented to a blood draw the majority implicitly recognizes that the evidence in the record is sufficient to sustain the denial of the motion to suppress. As noted above, an appellate court must “view the facts in the light most favorable to sustaining the trial court’s ruling.” Stanley, 167 Ariz. at 525, 809 P.2d at 950. Moreover, we will uphold the trial court’s ruling if legally correct for any reason supported by the record. State v. Canez, 202 Ariz. 133, 151, ¶ 51, 42 P.3d 564, 582 (2002). Because I do not find that the trial court applied the wrong legal standard, I would deny the relief requested in the petition for special action. Therefore, I respectfully dissent.

. Warrantless blood draws without consent are allowed under certain circumstances, none of which apply here. A.R.S. § 28-673(F) (Supp. 2008) (person who caused accident involving death or serious physical injury is dead or unconscious); A.R.S. § 28-1321(C) (person arrested for DUI who is dead or unconscious); A.R.S. § 28-1388(E) (2004) (if there is probable cause to believe person violated DUI statute and sample is taken for any reason, a portion shall be provided to law enforcement officer).

. The majority also rejects the superior court’s conclusion that "actual consent to the blood test was established by clear and positive evidence of unequivocal conduct.” See supra at ¶ 13. The superior court’s actual holding was: "Viewing the evidence in a light most favorable to upholding the trial court’s ruling, Defendant’s actual consent to the test was established by clear and positive evidence of unequivocal conduct.” I do not read this as the superior court making a finding of fact when the trial court did not, but as a determination that the facts supported the trial court’s ruling under the applicable legal standards.