People v. Wujkowski

• Decision Date: 05 June 1998
• Docket Number: Docket No. 202060
• Citation: 583 N.W.2d 257,230 Mich.App. 181
• Parties: PEOPLE of the State of Michigan, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Thomas Eugene WUJKOWSKI, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Michigan — District of US

Page 257

583 N.W.2d 257

230 Mich.App. 181

PEOPLE of the State of Michigan, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Thomas Eugene WUJKOWSKI, Defendant-Appellee.

Docket No. 202060.

Court of Appeals of Michigan.

Submitted March 18, 1998, at Lansing.

Decided June 5, 1998, at 9:05 a.m.

Released for Publication Sept. 10, 1998.

Frank J. Kelley, Attorney General, Thomas L. Casey, Solicitor General, Larry J. Burdick, Prosecuting Attorney, and Robert A. Holmes, Jr., Senior Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for the people.

Michael E. Zwick, Mt. Pleasant, for the defendant-appellee.

Before HOEKSTRA, P.J., and JANSEN and GAGE, JJ.

JANSEN, Judge.

The prosecution appeals by leave granted from a March 4, 1997, order suppressing results from a Breathalyzer test administered to defendant. We reverse the order of the circuit court and reinstate defendant's convictions and sentences.

This case arises out of a drunk driving incident that occurred on November 24, 1995. Officer Robert Hall of the Saginaw-Chippewa Tribal Police observed an automobile being driven in a manner that he believed constituted a traffic violation. Officer Hall stopped the automobile, which was being driven by defendant, and Officer Hall arrested defendant for suspected drunk driving. Officer Hall transported defendant to the Isabella County jail to perform a Breathalyzer test. Following the results of the Breathalyzer test ¹ and a search of the vehicle, defendant was charged with operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor, M.C.L. § 257.625(1); M.S.A. § 9.2325(1), possession of marijuana, M.C.L. § 333.7403(2)(d); M.S.A. § 14.15(7403)(2)(d), and transporting or possessing alcoholic liquor in an open container in a vehicle, M.C.L. § 257.624a; M.S.A. § 9.2324(1).

On January 16, 1996, defendant filed a motion to dismiss and a motion to suppress in the district court. Defendant argued that the charges should be dismissed because the traffic violation stop was illegal pursuant to the Fourth Amendment, U.S. Const, Am IV. In the alternative, defendant argued that the results of his Breathalyzer test should be suppressed because the officer performing the test failed to observe defendant for fifteen continuous minutes, as required by 1994 AACS, R 325.2655(1)(e). The district court, in an order dated January 25, 1996, denied defendant's motions, finding that the traffic stop was lawful and that the momentary loss of view by Officer Hall during the fifteen minutes before giving the Breathalyzer test was not significant when viewed in the totality of the circumstances and did not require suppression of the Breathalyzer results.

On March 11, 1996, defendant tendered a conditional guilty plea to the charges of impaired driving and possession of marijuana, and preserved his two issues for appeal. ² On March 20, 1996, defendant was sentenced to ninety days in the county jail for the conviction of impaired driving and four months' probation for the conviction of possession of marijuana. Defendant appealed to the circuit court. The circuit court affirmed the district court's decision that the traffic stop was lawful, but it reversed the district court's order denying suppression of the Breathalyzer test results. Specifically, the circuit court ruled that the administrative rule required the operator of the Breathalyzer machine to observe defendant for fifteen consecutive minutes before administering the test. Because the officer did not observe defendant for fifteen consecutive minutes, the rule was violated and the results of the Breathalyzer test had to be suppressed. The circuit court then ordered the case remanded to the district court to permit defendant to withdraw his guilty plea.

The parties stipulated to stay proceedings in an order dated March 24, 1997, and the prosecution sought leave to appeal in this Court on April 3, 1997. This Court granted the prosecution's application in an unpublished order dated October 28, 1997. On appeal, the prosecution raises one issue. It argues that the circuit court erred in ordering that the results of the Breathalyzer test had to be suppressed because of a violation of the administrative rule. We agree with the prosecution and reverse.

1994 AACS, R 325.2655(1)(e) provides:

A person may be administered a breath alcohol analysis on an evidential breath alcohol test instrument only after being observed for 15 minutes by the operator before collection of the breath sample, during which period the person shall not have smoked, regurgitated, or placed anything in his or her mouth, except for the mouthpiece associated with the performance of the test.

The usual rules of statutory construction apply to administrative rules. People v. Tomko, 202 Mich.App. 673, 676, 509 N.W.2d 868 (1993). One such rule is that statutes should be read in a manner to avoid absurd, illogical, or unreasonable results. People v. Sheets, 223 Mich.App. 651, 660, 567 N.W.2d 478 (1997); People v. Tipolt, 198 Mich.App. 44, 47, 497 N.W.2d 198 (1993).

In this case, Officer Hall was responsible for giving defendant the Breathalyzer test. Therefore, pursuant to the administrative rule, defendant had to be observed by the operator for fifteen minutes before the test was administered in order to prevent defendant from smoking, regurgitating, or placing anything in his mouth except for the mouthpiece used in the test. At the hearing held on January 23, 1996, Officer Hall testified that he brought defendant to the booking room at the county jail. After reading defendant his chemical test rights, Officer Hall noted the time on the Breathalyzer machine as 5:05 a.m. From 5:05 a.m. until 5:23 a.m. (when the first breath sample was taken), Officer Hall continually observed defendant except for approximately six seconds when the officer walked away from defendant to check the machine again to determine if fifteen minutes had elapsed. Officer Hall testified that it took him approximately six seconds to check the time, and that this was the only time that defendant was not in his sight. Additionally, Corrections Officer Susan French was with defendant when Officer Hall left to check the time.

Defendant contended below that the Breathalyzer test results had to be suppressed because Officer Hall did not continually observe defendant for a full fifteen minutes as required by the administrative rule when the officer momentarily left the room to check the time. The district court disagreed, finding that the officer's momentary loss of view of defendant during the observation period was not significant when viewed in the totality of the circumstances. The circuit court took a more restrictive view of the administrative rule and found that because there was a violation, that the officer did not continually observe defendant for the full fifteen minutes, the results of the Breathalyzer test had to be suppressed. We agree with the district court's view that the momentary time that the officer did not observe defendant was so minimal that the test results cannot be assumed to be...