Court Opinion

ID: 9632779
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 11:25:01.313247+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:08:22.607065
License: Public Domain

JOHNSON, Judge,
concurring in part/dissenting in part.
I respectfully dissent to the holding of the court in this case as it relates to the finding that there was not a proper arrest and, therefore, the blood sample taken was inadmissible. I concur with the court’s findings as it relates to the last part of the opinion dealing with certain questions that could not be brought before this Court due to the fact that several questions were not properly reserved pursuant to the provisions of 22 O.S.1981, § 1053.
It seems odd that you can take blood from someone who was involved in an accident that caused a fatality where the person giving the blood was conscious, but you could not take blood from the person that was comatose. This, quite frankly, does not make sense.
The U.S. Supreme Court has held that it is permissible to draw blood from an unconscious driver that is believed to be under the influence of alcohol because of exigent circumstances. Breithaupt v. Abram, 352 U.S. 432, 77 S.Ct. 408, 1 L.Ed.2d 448 (1957).
Therefore, the only true question in this case is what does or does not constitute an arrest of an unconscious person. Again, to say that the arrest can only occur as it relates to the unconscious person when we have some form of restraint does not make sense. How do you tell a passed-out drunk that he or she is under arrest.
The court suggests that one way to accomplish an arrest would be to place a police officer or guard outside an individual’s room in the hospital, thereby restraining or constraining the accused. If there ever was a case for “exigent circumstances” the unconscious drunken driver would fit the mold. Obviously, with the passage of time the blood alcohol content is lowered. You do not have time to obtain a search warrant or wait for someone to be revived to ask for consent. Therefore, a speedy test is required.
It is clear under the law that if you can take the blood from a conscious person that refuses to give such blood, why should you not be able to take blood from the unconscious or nonconsenting individual. With every breath that the party takes, the blood content goes away. There is no time to wait for search warrants, etc.
The problem then, as the court has addressed, is what is an arrest of an unconscious person. Without making a definite bright-line rule, it would seem that any form of restraint or constraint would be appropriate, and the trial judge would have to determine under the totality of the circumstances whether the party was under arrest or not. Such factors could be notice *648or statement to a nurse at the nurses station that the party is under arrest and they are not to leave the hospital and the department should be notified when the party regains consciousness, an officer at the door, a note or notice on the door together with some possible notice in the room; in other words, some overt act by the police to as best possible notify the accused or family of the arrest.
As noted above, the U.S. Supreme Court has basically decided two cases in this area, the one the court cites as Schmerber, but one more direct in point case is Breithaupt. Schmerber would apply where we have the conscious driver; Breithaupt would apply to the unconscious driver. It is my opinion that this Court has answered the arrest portion of the case when we have effectively held that arrest occurs when ones liberty of movement is interrupted. Castellano v. State, 585 P.2d 361 (Okl.Cr.1978). The court in that case adopted the arrest standard as outlined in corpus juris. 6A C.J.S. Arrest § 2. Therefore, I would hold that if the trial court finds that there was, as the standard says, any act which indicates an intention to take a person into custody and subject the person to arrest, then the trial court could find that the arrest did occur and this would be sufficient for the taking of the blood. Therefore, I would reverse the holding of the magistrate.