Court Opinion

ID: 9704461
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 00:36:35.188807+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:02.625093
License: Public Domain

Lindemer, J.
(dissenting). These cases concern the exclusion of evidence of blood alcohol levels in *395civil cases. McNitt v Citco Drilling Co involves an allegedly intoxicated plaintiff (now deceased) who sought to exclude from evidence the results of a chemical blood test. In Gilbert v Leach, an allegedly intoxicated defendant asked the trial court to exclude similar evidence.
Arguably the blood chemical tests in McNitt and Gilbert were performed in violation of MCLA 257.625d; MSA 9.2325(4). However, the prohibition against the use of the test in § 625d refers to criminal actions and to motor vehicle license revocation hearings, neither of which consideration is pertinent here. See the concurring opinion of Justice Coleman in People v Keen, 396 Mich 573; 242 NW2d 405 (1976).
The Court of Appeals in both McNitt and Gilbert held that the evidence of intoxication should be suppressed. In making these decisions the Court of Appeals relied upon a ruling of this Court in Lebel v Swincicki, 354 Mich 427; 93 NW2d 281 (1958). We believe that decision does not control these cases.
The Lebel court made much of Breithaupt v Abram, 352 US 432; 77 S Ct 408; 1 L Ed 2d 448 (1957). Blood taken from an unconscious person had been introduced into evidence during a prosecution for manslaughter in New Mexico. The state supreme court upheld admission. The United States Supreme Court noted that the evidence would be subject to exclusion in Federal courts. The majority, citing Wolf v Colorado, 338 US 25; 69 S Ct 1359; 93 L Ed 1782 (1949), said this exclusionary rule did not automatically apply to a state prosecution for a criminal offense under state law.
The Lebel court, noting the similarity between the search and seizure provisions of the Federal *396and Michigan Constitutions, said Breithaupt was authority for excluding such evidence in state criminal prosecutions. The question then became "whether the obtaining of [a test] in violation of the constitutional provision * * * renders it inadmissible in a civil action”. Although there was "a lack of authority bearing directly on the proposition” the Court thought "testimony based on the analysis of such blood should not be admitted in evidence”.
Lebel’s analytical foundation has been undermined by Schmerber v California, 384 US 757; 86 S Ct 1826; 16 L Ed 2d 908 (1966). The defendant was arrested for driving under the influence. The arrest occurred at a hospital where he was being treated. A blood sample was taken at a police officer's request. The analysis was admitted at defendant’s trial.
The defendant in Schmerber claimed that the analysis should be excluded as the product of an unlawful search and seizure. The Court said "the Fourth Amendment’s proper function is to constrain, not against all intrusions as such, but against intrusions which are not justified in the circumstances or which are made in an improper manner”.
The Court said a warrant was not required. The officer "might reasonably have believed that he was confronted with an emergency, in which the delay necessary to obtain a warrant under the circumstances” might have resulted in the destruction of evidence. The Court was satisfied that the test used to measure blood alcohol level required a "minimal” quantity of blood and used procedures "that for most people * * * involves virtually no risk, trauma or pain”. The record also showed "that the test was performed in a reasonable manner”.
*397We believe the Lebel decision should no longer be followed to the extent that it would exclude admission of blood-alcohol analyses in civil cases. Lebel assumed the Fourth Amendment would prohibit admission in Federal court; Schmerber has deflated that assumption.
We also believe the rule fashioned by LebeLexclusion of the evidence in a civil case — has been rejected. The United States Supreme Court in United States v Janis, — US —; 96 S Ct 3021; 49 L Ed 2d 1046 (1976), discussed
"an issue of the appropriateness of an extension of the judicially created exclusionary rule: is evidence seized by a state criminal law enforcement officer in good faith, but nonetheless unconstitutionally, inadmissible in a civil proceeding by or against the United States?”
Based on information obtained pursuant to a state search warrant, the IRS assessed the respondent for wagering excise taxes. A state court subsequently quashed the warrant saying it was based on illegally obtained evidence. The lower Federal court then quashed the assessment.
The Supreme Court reviewed the history of the exclusionary rule noting that in "the complex and turbulent history of the rule” it had never been applied "to exclude evidence from a civil proceeding, Federal or state”. If the exclusionary rule was extended in the manner suggested, "the enforcement of admittedly valid laws would be hampered * * * and, as is nearly always the case with the rule, concededly relevant and reliable evidence would be rendered unavailable”.
The deterrent function of the rule had already been served because no criminal prosecution, state or Federal, could use the evidence. The offending *398officer was "already 'punished’ by the exclusion of the evidence in the state criminal trial”. The Court concluded "that exclusion from Federal civil proceedings of evidence unlawfully seized by a state criminal enforcement officer has not been shown to have a sufficient likelihood of deterring the conduct of the state police so that it outweighs the societal cost imposed by the exclusion”.
Scientific methods for determining the degree of intoxication based upon the alcohol content of the blood have lifted the fact-finding process from the morass of conjecture into an area in which greater certainty is available. The thrust of the law should encourage such a quest for factual certainty. The question is not one of the constitutionally protected freedom from self-incrimination; rather, it is one of the reasonableness of search and seizure. To exclude evidence of blood alcohol analyses in civil cases, we would require a showing that the sample was obtained by some means shocking to the conscience or offensive to our sense of justice. Acquiring of any evidence by such offensive methods should not be condoned by our judicial system. On that basis, I cannot say that the taking of the blood test in McNitt and Gilbert was unreasonable under all of the circumstances for the purposes of subsequent use in connection with those civil actions.
Because we have rejected the basis for the decisions below, the Court of Appeals and trial courts should be reversed. This matter should be remanded to permit the parties to proceed in accordance with this opinion.
Coleman and Ryan, JJ., concurred with Lindemer, J.