Court Opinion

ID: 9746803
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-27 14:38:55.948329+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:25:17.017480
License: Public Domain

Grimes, C.J., and Bois, J.,
dissenting: It is quite obvious that the sole purpose of RSA 262-A:69-e (Supp. 1979), which was first enacted in Laws 1965, 238:1, is to obtain more blood alcohol tests by inducing persons to consent to such tests. The entire thrust of the statute points to the need for consent and to the means of obtaining it.
In 1965, when the statute was first enacted, considerable doubt existed as to whether, under the fourth and fifth amendments to *329the Constitution of the United States, the police could obtain a blood sample from an unwilling subject incident to an arrest. Schmerber v. California, 384 U.S. 757, 761 (1966), decided after the enactment of the implied consent law, held that a blood sample was not testimonial in nature and therefore not within the protection of the privilege against self-incrimination. The Supreme Court also held that the warrantless taking of blood from a person under arrest without his consent is not proscribed by the fourth amendment if there is probable cause to believe that the tests will show intoxication, if exigent circumstances exist which will excuse the obtaining of a warrant, and if the test is performed in a reasonable manner. Id. at 770-72. These conditions were satisfied in Schmerber. Thus, it became clear that the subject’s consent to a test for blood alcohol was not necessary if the requirements of the fourth amendment were met. But the purpose of the statute was to obtain consent to tests which could not constitutionally be taken without consent.
There is nothing in the language of the statute or its legislative history which gives the slightest indication that the legislature intended to restrict or bar the taking of blood alcohol tests without the individual’s consent when the State was not prohibited from doing so by the State and Federal Constitutions.
It is of course true that RSA 262-A:69-e (Supp. 1979) provides that if a person under arrest refuses to submit to a test for blood alcohol, “none shall be given.” The majority construes these words as an absolute prohibition against the taking of blood samples without consent even when consent is constitutionally unnecessary and as requiring that the results of a test taken without consent be excluded from evidence. Although we recognize that this is a possible construction of the statute, we do not think that the legislature intended this result. We believe that the legislature intended to prohibit such testing without consent only when consent is necessary to comply with constitutional requirements.
Even assuming that RSA 262-A:69-e (Supp. 1979) does prohibit the taking of blood samples without consent in cases where the State and Federal Constitutions would allow them, we cannot read into the statute an intent to exclude the results of tests taken in violation of this provision. No such prohibition is found in RSA 262-A:69-e (Supp. 1979), although we do find an express provision for exclusion of the results in RSA 262-A:69-c for failure to inform the arrested person of his rights to have similar tests made and of the consequences of his refusal to consent. That exclusion, however, is confined to instances in which there is a failure “to comply with the provisions of this section.’’ (Emphasis added.) Similarly, RSA *330262-A:69-i provides that “[n]o chemical tests authorized by RSA 262-A:69-a shall be considered as evidence . . . unless such test is performed in accordance with methods prescribed by the director of the division of public health.” The inclusion of exclusion from evidence provisions in RSA 262-A:69-i and RSA 262-A:69-c, which are strictly confined to violations of those sections, and the omission of such a provision from RSA 262-A:69-e (Supp. 1979) is a clear indication that the legislature did not intend that the evidence be excluded because of the violation of that section.
Although we adhere to the exclusionary rule in cases of constitutional violations, we would not impose it in this case for a mere statutory violation absent a legislative mandate. We would remand the case for a hearing to determine whether the taking of the blood sample in this instance violated any constitutional provision and would exclude the evidence only if it did.
The fact that the court is so evenly divided as to the legislative intent clearly indicates a need for legislative clarification. Of course, the legislature can, if it wishes, permit tests without consent in cases where they are allowed by the State and Federal Constitutions and can also provide for the admission of the results obtained without consent. We, of course, express no opinion as to what should be done but only point out the need for a clearer expression of the legislature’s intent.