Court Opinion

ID: 9698092
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 19:41:35.622775+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:38.198450
License: Public Domain

AMUNDSON, Judge
(dissenting).
Because I believe that allowing Cosky to use the telephone to make outgoing phone calls did not fully vindicate his Sixth Amendment right to counsel and his statutory right to additional testing, I respectfully dissent. After the Park Nicollet Clinic informed Cosky that it would not send anyone to the jail to perform a blood test, Cosky sought counsel’s advice on how to obtain an additional test. In an implied consent proceeding, the driver’s Sixth Amendment right to counsel attaches when deciding whether to submit to testing and continues through each critical stage, including the right to obtain additional testing. Dufloth v. Commissioner of Pub. Safety, 492 N.W.2d 277, 279 (Minn.App.1992), review denied (Minn. Dec. 15, 1992). The limited right to counsel is the driver’s main protection, and courts will ensure that it is protected. Davis v. Commissioner of Pub. Safety, 509 N.W.2d 380, 391-92 (Minn.App.1993), aff'd, 517 N.W.2d 901 (Minn.1994). As the dissent noted in Dufloth, a driver “may well need an attorney to carry out the right to a second test.” Dufloth, 492 N.W.2d at 280 (Parker, J., dissenting).
Allowing Cosky to make a telephone call to his attorney was meaningless because Cosky could only reach the attorney’s answering service. The police officer’s refusal to allow Cosky to receive a call back from his attorney was equivalent to a police officer allowing a driver to call his attorney, but then putting his hands over the driver’s ears to prevent the driver from hearing the attorney’s advice. The majority’s holding ignores the reality that most DWI arrests occur during the late night and early morning hours, a time when attorneys typically can be reached only through an answering service. By refusing to make a reasonable accommodation to allow Cosky to receive a phone call from his attorney, police prevented him from exercising his constitutional right to counsel and his statutory right to additional testing. I would reverse.