Court Opinion

ID: 9636485
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 14:30:50.736189+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:09:45.143762
License: Public Domain

Amestoy, CJ.
In this appeal from defendant’s conditional nolo contendere plea for driving under the influence of intoxicating liquor (“DUI”) we are asked to decide whether the State’s videotaping of defendant’s telephone conversation with his attorney violates the statutory right to counsel under 23 V.S.A. § 1202(c) warranting dismissal of the charges or suppression of defendant’s refusal to submit to a breath test. Because we agree with the district court’s determination that defendant failed to demonstrate that the videotaping affected his consultation with his attorney, or that the *29State made any use of the recording or information contained therein to defendant’s prejudice, we affirm.
The undisputed facts establish that a state trooper observed defendant’s vehicle speeding on Route 7 in Salisbury, Vermont in the late evening of March 14, 2000. The trooper pursued defendant with his siren on and blue lights flashing. After about a mile, defendant stopped his car, and his passenger jumped out and fled. The trooper drew his weapon and ordered defendant to remain in the car fearing he might also attempt to flee. During his initial conversation with defendant, the trooper noted signs of intoxication. The trooper thereafter administered roadside dexterity tests and a preliminary breath test, which led the trooper to take defendant into custody to process him for DUI at the state police barracks.
While the trooper went through the standard DUI processing procedure at the barracks, defendant was handcuffed, although he was cooperative. Defendant’s handcuffs were removed while he spoke to his attorney by telephone, and he was allowed to walk around the processing room during the conversation. The trooper moved about on the other side of the one open door to the processing room, but did not monitor or overhear any of defendant’s conversation. The second door to the processing room remained closed. Another trooper was also in the building at the time and passed by the open door; but like her colleague, she did not show any interest in defendant’s telephone conversation. After consulting with counsel, defendant refused to provide an evidentiary sample of his breath.
Defendant’s entire conversation with his attorney, like the entire processing, was videotaped. The system also captured the sound, but defendant was unaware of that fact at the time. The taping comported with the trooper’s standard practice of recording the whole processing event to eliminate any possibility that a defendant could claim the State tampered with the tape. Taping was also generally done for security reasons. In addition to the tape, the processing was televised on a monitor in the sergeant’s office, but no voices could be heard over the monitor because the sound had been turned down. No one in the barracks that evening watched the monitor during defendant’s conversation with his lawyer, however.
After defendant learned of the existence of the videotape, which included a recording of the conversation he had with his lawyer, he moved to dismiss the charges against him on the grounds that the secret taping violated his right to a private consultation with a lawyer *30under 23 V.S.A. § 1202(c).* In the alternative, defendant requested that the court suppress his refusal to supply a breath sample. The court denied both requests. It found that although the State did not have a legitimate security concern, defendant failed to show he was prejudiced by the trooper’s surreptitious taping. The court found, based on defendant’s testimony, that defendant thought his consultation with counsel was meaningful and that he was not inhibited during the conversation. The court also found that defendant did not show that either the police or the prosecution made any use of the recorded conversation to defendant’s detriment. The court noted its disapproval of the practice, but concluded that neither dismissal nor suppression was justified under established precedent in the absence of some showing of prejudice. Consequently, defendant entered a conditional plea of nolo contendere and appealed the issue to this Court.
We have had several occasions to define the scope of a person’s right to counsel under 23 V.S.A. § 1202(c), including the standard by which to evaluate whether the State has violated that right. The statute mandates that a law enforcement officer permit a person from whom the officer has requested a breath sample an opportunity to consult with a lawyer prior to deciding whether to provide the sample. 23 V.S.A. § 1202(c); State v. Lombard, 146 Vt. 411, 415, 505 A.2d 1182, 1184 (1985). As we have previously observed, the statutory right to counsel addresses the legislature’s concern “that any refusal to be tested not be lightly decided.” State v. Carmody, 140 Vt. 631, 636, 442 A.2d 1292, 1295 (1982). Thus, the opportunity for legal consultation must be both meaningful and reasonably private. State v. West, 151 Vt. 140,144, 557 A.2d 873, 876 (1988). Absolute privacy is not required so that the police may address any security concerns arising from the *31interaction with the defendant. Id. We must balance the defendant’s right to a private consultation with an attorney with the public’s need to preserve important evidence. Id. Therefore, we have held that a defendant’s statutory right to counsel is violated where the police unjustifiably monitor a defendant’s legal consultation and the monitoring inhibits, coerces, or otherwise restricts the defendant’s ability to meaningfully engage with his attorney. Id. at 144, 557 A.2d at 876-77; see also Brow v. Dist. Court of Vt., 153 Vt. 488, 490, 572 A.2d 1347, 1348 (1990) (absent some evidence that defendant was inhibited, restricted, or coerced by an officer’s presence during defendant’s conversation with counsel, the mandate of the statutory right to counsel may be fulfilled).
When analyzing a claim that the State violated the statutory right to a lawyer by monitoring a defendant’s communication with counsel, we use an objective test and consider whether the State afforded the defendant an opportunity to consult with his attorney in private. West, 151 Vt. at 145, 557 A.2d at 876. We apply that standard in light of the totality of the circumstances to account for the State’s legitimate security concerns, if any such concerns exist. Id. at 144, 557 A.2d at 876.
Applying the objective standard to the facts of this case, we conclude that the State violated defendant’s right to a private consultation with his lawyer by taping the conversation. The tape itself is evidence that defendant’s conversation with counsel was not, in fact, ■ private. As the trial court found, the State did not have a legitimate security concern regarding defendant. Thus, there was no justification for taping defendant’s legal consultation. Under the totality of the circumstances, therefore, defendant was not provided his statutory right to a private legal consultation prior to his decision to take or forego the breath test.
Our inquiry does not end here, however. Defendant’s right to consult counsel must also be meaningful, West, 151 Vt. at 144, 557 A.2d at 876, and the district court in this case determined that it was. It also found that defendant did not feel inhibited in his conversation, presumably because he was unaware it was being recorded, and that the State did not use the conversation against defendant. Defendant does not contest these findings, which demonstrate that the State’s violation did not result in prejudice to him. Nevertheless, defendant urges us to adopt a standard which makes dismissal of the charges automatic in cases like this to deter law enforcement from deceptively taping confidential communications between DUI suspects and their *32lawyers. He argues that he should not have to demonstrate that the State’s misconduct prejudiced him. We decline to adopt such a standard.
We first note that dismissal is an extraordinary remedy that impinges on society’s interest in the effective administration of criminal justice. See United States v. Morrison, 449 U.S. 361, 364 (1981) (remedy for constitutional violations must not unnecessarily infringe other competing interests like society’s interest in administering criminal justice); State v. Baker, 474 P.2d 254, 258 (Wash. 1970) (dismissal of criminal charges is an extraordinary remedy available only when the accused’s rights Have been prejudiced). Consequently, prejudice is an essential element to warrant dismissal of charges in appropriate circumstances. Baker, 474 P.2d at 258. Notably, even where the government’s violation of a defendant’s right to counsel under the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution “may have been deliberate,” the United States Supreme Court requires a defendant to show prejudice to justify dismissal of criminal charges. Morrison, 449 U.S. at 365. We therefore see no reason to modify the prejudice requirement, and observe that our conclusion is consistent with the law in other jurisdictions. See, e.g., Kiehl v. State, 901 P.2d 445, 447 (Alaska 1995) (police tape of defendant’s conversation with counsel, although improper, did nothing to impair defendant’s consultation and therefore did not affect defendant’s decision to take breath test); People v. Pobliner, 298 N.E.2d 637, 642 (N.Y. 1973) (dismissal of charges not sufficiently justified by mere showing that defendant’s conversations with counsel were intercepted; defendant must show the interception undermined his right to counsel and could not be remedied by holding a new trial). The remedy of dismissal is simply not warranted in the absence of prejudice to the defendant’s substantial rights.
Moreover, we find it instructive that dismissal is not the remedy we employ when redressing unconstitutional searches and seizures and violations of a defendant’s constitutional privilege against self-incrimination. In those cases, we prohibit the State from using any illegally obtained evidence against the defendant at trial in part to deter unlawful police conduct. See State v. Badger, 141 Vt. 430, 452-53, 450 A.2d 336, 349 (1982). The suppression remedy thus appropriately accounts for society’s interest in seeing criminals brought to justice by allowing the prosecution to go forward, but without using evidence gathered through illegal means.
*33Suppression of his refusal to submit to a breath test is the alternative remedy defendant seeks in this appeal. Suppression is neither appropriate nor required in this ease. Some causal nexus must exist between the alleged illegality and the evidence a defendant seeks to keep from the jury. State v. Jewett, 148 Vt. 324, 329, 532 A.2d 958, 960 (1986). Defendant’s refusal to provide an evidentiary sample of his breath can in no way be construed as the product of the surreptitious videotaping of which he was completely unaware at the time he decided to refuse to submit to the test. Cf. Kiehl, 901 P.2d at 447 (because the surreptitious recording did not impair defendant’s consultation with counsel, the police misconduct did not affect the ensuing breath test and thus was not a product of the police impropriety); see also State v. Phillips, 140 Vt. 210, 218, 436 A.2d 746, 751 (1981) (illegality of defendant’s initial detention does not warrant suppression of evidence gathered during search after probable cause had been established because evidence was not product of initial illegality).
Defendant finally claims that the videotaping violated his rights under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Chapter I, Article 11 of the Vermont Constitution. We do not address those claims because defendant failed to raise them before the district court in the first instance and thereby waived them on appeal. See State v. Ben-Mont Corp., 163 Vt. 53, 61, 652 A.2d 1004, 1009 (1994) (to preserve issue for appeal, party must first raise issue with trial court).
In denying defendant the relief he sought, the district court cautioned against the practice of recording attorney-client conversations even where, as here, the court found no intent by the police to determine the content of the conversations. We add that in affirming the district court’s decision, “we in no way sanction or approve of police conduct which effectively prevents defendants from freely communicating with their attorneys in private.” Lombard, 146 Vt. at 415, 505 A.2d at 1185. Although the State represented at oral argument that there was no practice of videotaping such conversations and steps had been taken in Addison County to ensure that “inadvertent” recordings were no longer made, we reiterate this Court’s warning that we will not tolerate police practices which unjustifiably interfere with the statutory right of a defendant to be afforded a meaningful opportunity to consult with counsel before submitting to a breath test. See id.

Affirmed.

 The State’s response to defendant’s motions set forth in some detail the contents of defendant’s disclosures to his attorney. The State asserts that it became necessary to disclose that information because defendant raised the issue in his motions. Our evidentiary and ethical rules reflect the importance of confidential attorney-client communications to the fair administration of justice, however. See V.R.E. 502(b) (confidential attorney-client communications inadmissible absent client consent); Vt. R. Profl. Conduct 1.6(a) (a lawyer shall not reveal information related to representation of client without client’s consent). Rather than disclose in public court filings the contents of confidential attorney-client communications obtained without proper authorization, as the prosecutor did in this case, the prosecutor should have requested the court to review the videotape in camera, or asked to submit the information under seal. Such a procedure would have protected defendant’s confidences while also allowing the prosecution to advance its arguments opposing defendant’s motions.