State v. Baker

• Decision Date: 24 December 1985
• Citation: 502 A.2d 489
• Parties: STATE of Maine v. Donald W. BAKER.
• Court: Maine Supreme Court

Page 489

502 A.2d 489

54 USLW 2391

STATE of Maine v. Donald W. BAKER.

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

Argued Nov. 14, 1985.

Decided Dec. 24, 1985.

Gene Libby, Dist. Atty., David D. Gregory (orally), Alfred, for plaintiff.

Michelle Robert (orally), Biddeford, for defendant.

Before McKUSICK, C.J., and NICHOLS, ROBERTS, WATHEN, GLASSMAN and SCOLNIK, JJ.

WATHEN, Justice.

Defendant Donald W. Baker was charged by indictment returned in the Superior Court (York County) with the offenses of manslaughter, 17-A M.R.S.A. § 203(1)(A) (1983), operating under the influence of intoxicating liquor, 29 M.R.S.A. § 1312-B(1) (Supp.1985-1986), and furnishing liquor to minors, 28 M.R.S.A. § 1058 (Pamph.1985). These charges arise out of a traffic accident that resulted in the death of a passenger in an automobile driven by the defendant. The Superior Court granted defendant's motion to suppress the results of a blood test administered shortly after the accident. The State appeals the suppression order pursuant to 15 M.R.S.A. § 2115-A(1) (1980). We vacate the order of the Superior Court.

I.

This case involves a two vehicle collision that occurred near midnight on the evening of June 1-2, 1984 at the intersection of Boom Road and Route 5 in Saco. The first member of the Saco police department to arrive at the scene was Officer Demers. He spoke with two people who identified themselves as the drivers of the two vehicles. He noticed an odor of intoxicating liquor on defendant's breath. When the shift supervisor, Officer Tardif, arrived, Demers advised him that the accident appeared to be alcohol related and identified the two drivers. Tardif then observed the deceased passenger lying beside the highway next to an empty beer bottle. He also found empty beer bottles in defendant's car. Officer Tardif next examined the damage to both vehicles, their relative position, and skid and gouge marks on Route 5. When he first observed the defendant, he noticed that the defendant appeared to stagger. When he interviewed the defendant, Tardif detected a strong smell of alcohol and defendant admitted that he had been drinking. Officer Tardif also noted that defendant's eyes were bloodshot and his speech slurred.

Defendant was transported by ambulance to Webber Hospital where he was met by Officer Bourque, also of the Saco police department. Pursuant to orders received via radio from Officer Tardif, Bourque read the defendant warnings from a so-called implied consent form and requested that he submit to a blood test. Defendant refused the test. Officer Bourque then instructed a registered nurse to administer a blood test to the defendant. Subsequently, Bourque placed the defendant under arrest.

Defendant moved to suppress the results of the blood test, claiming that the blood sample was taken in violation of both the fourth amendment to the United States Constitution and 29 M.R.S.A. § 1312(2) (Supp.1985-1986), Maine's implied consent law. The suppression justice found that the State had probable cause to believe that defendant was under the influence of intoxicating liquor at the time of the accident. Nevertheless, the court held that under Schmerber v. California, 384 U.S. 757, 86 S.Ct. 1826, 16 L.Ed.2d 908 (1966), the involuntary blood test constituted an unconstitutional search in violation of the fourth amendment to the United States Constitution and ordered the test results suppressed.

We disagree with the Superior Court's analysis of Schmerber, and finding no impediment, constitutional or otherwise, to the admission of the blood test results, we vacate the suppression order.

II.

At the outset, defendant contends that the Superior Court erred in finding probable cause to believe that defendant was operating under the influence. The essence of probable cause is knowledge of facts constituting a reasonable ground for belief of guilt. State v. Libby, 453 A.2d 481, 484 (Me.1982); State v. Walker, 341 A.2d 700, 703 (Me.1975). This Court has repeatedly held that probable cause is to be evaluated based upon the collective knowledge possessed by all police officers involved in an investigation. State v. Libby, 453 A.2d at 485; State v. Blais, 416 A.2d 1253, 1256 (Me.1980); State v. Parkinson, 389 A.2d 1, 8 (Me.1978). A finding of probable cause will be reversed only if clearly erroneous. State v. Blais, 416 A.2d at 1256; State v. Carter, 391 A.2d 344, 346 (Me.1978).

Defendant's challenge to the finding of probable cause rests upon his interpretation of Maine case law discussing probable cause based on collective information. Defendant argues that in light of the facts of those cases, and despite language to the contrary, collective information can support the existence of probable cause only if channeled through a single source. Defendant further argues that shift supervisor Tardif is the appropriate single source in this case and that information gathered by or conveyed to Officer Tardif was insufficient to establish probable cause.

We need not decide whether defendant correctly interprets Maine law for if we consider only the information possessed by Officer Tardif, the record amply supports the finding of probable cause. Before ordering Officer Bourque to obtain a blood sample from the defendant, Tardif possessed the following information: A passenger in defendant's automobile lay dead beside the highway. Empty beer bottles littered defendant's car. Defendant smelled of alcohol and admitted to drinking. Defendant displayed slurred speech and bloodshot eyes and had appeared to stagger while at the scene. In addition, Tardif testified that for the purpose of evaluating probable cause, he had inspected the accident scene and had concluded that the accident occurred because defendant's car ran a stop sign. ¹ The Superior Court committed no error in finding the existence of probable cause to believe that defendant was under the influence of intoxicating liquor at the time of the accident.

III.

Despite its finding of probable cause, the Superior Court ordered the results of defendant's blood test suppressed, holding that under Schmerber v. California, 384 U.S. 757, 86 S.Ct. 1826, 16 L.Ed.2d 908 (1966) the blood test was taken in violation of defendant's fourth amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. In Schmerber, the United States Supreme Court considered and rejected various constitutional challenges to the admission of the results of a blood test administered over objection to a person under arrest and suspected of driving while intoxicated. Id. The Superior Court interpreted Schmerber as holding that the results from an involuntary blood test are admissible under the fourth amendment only as a search incident to an arrest. Because defendant was not under arrest when his blood was drawn, the Superior Court ruled that the blood test in this case did not fall within the ambit of Schmerber, and thus violated defendant's fourth amendment rights.

The State argues that the existence of an arrest was not crucial to the holding in Schmerber. Rather, the State contends, the Schmerber decision rested upon the traditional justification for a warrantless search--probable cause and exigent circumstances. We agree.

In its discussion of defendant Schmerber's fourth amendment claim, the Supreme Court stated that "the mere fact of a lawful arrest does not end our inquiry." Id. at 769, 86 S.Ct. at 1835. After reciting the considerations underlying the doctrine of search incident to arrest, the Court concluded:

Whatever the validity of these considerations in general, they have little applicability with respect to searches involving intrusions beyond the body's surface. The interests in human dignity and privacy which the Fourth Amendment protects forbid any such intrusions on the mere chance that desired evidence might be obtained. In the absence of a clear indication that in fact such evidence will be found, these fundamental human interests require law officers to suffer the risk that such evidence may disappear unless there is immediate search.

Id. at 769-70, 86 S.Ct. at 1835.

We interpret the quoted passage as a refusal by the Supreme Court to sanction an involuntary blood test based on the doctrine of search incident to arrest. The Court stated that the considerations underlying that doctrine have "little applicability" in the context of blood tests. More importantly, the Court rejected the administration of blood tests upon the "mere chance" of obtaining evidence, requiring instead that no test be given absent a "clear indication" that desired evidence would be found. Given that a search incident to arrest requires no additional justification beyond the existence of a lawful arrest, United States v. Robinson, 414 U.S. 218, 235, 94 S.Ct. 467, 477, 38 L.Ed.2d 427 (1973), the Court's requirement of a "clear indication" reveals its determination to reject the doctrine of search incident to arrest as a sufficient basis for the taking of an involuntary blood test.

The Schmerber Court went on to analyze the blood test as a warrantless search, finding it constitutionally permissible because there existed both probable cause for the search and exigent circumstances obviating the necessity of obtaining a search warrant. Id. 384 U.S. at 770-71, 86 S.Ct. at 1835-36. Because Schmerber sanctioned the blood test as a warrantless search based upon probable cause and exigent circumstances rather than as a search incident to arrest, ² the existence of an arrest did not control the admissibility of the test results in that case. Thus, the Superior Court erred by ruling that the blood test procedure in this case was constitutionally defective simply because defendant was not arrested before his blood was drawn.

The State argues that the record in this case satisfies the constitutional prerequisites to admission of the results of the blood test administered over defendant's objection. As discussed above, under Schmerber those...