State v. Diaz, No. 32422.

• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Idaho
• Writing for the Court: Jones
• Citation: 144 Idaho 300,160 P.3d 739
• Decision Date: 29 March 2007
• Docket Number: No. 32422.
• Parties: STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Benito A. DIAZ, Defendant-Appellant.

160 P.3d 739 144 Idaho 300 STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent,
v.
Benito A. DIAZ, Defendant-Appellant. No. 32422. Supreme Court of Idaho, Boise, March 2007 Term. March 29, 2007. Rehearing Denied June 21, 2007.

[160 P.3d 740]

Molly J. Huskey, State Appellate Public Defender, Boise, for appellant. Eric D. Fredericksen argued.

Honorable Lawrence G. Wasden, Attorney General, Boise, for respondent. Jessica Lorello argued.

JONES, Justice.

Appellant Benito Diaz entered a conditional guilty plea to a felony charge of driving under the influence (DUI). Diaz had moved to suppress the results of a blood alcohol content (BAC) test, claiming that a "forced" blood draw violated his constitutional rights. The district court denied his motion. We affirm.

I.

On April 9, 2005, Officer Scott Montgomery stopped a red Ford Mustang on Highway 30 in Buhl for erratic driving. The driver was later identified as Diaz. Montgomery noticed that Diaz's eyes were bloodshot and glassy and that his speech was slurred. After reviewing his license and registration he asked Diaz to leave his car and perform field sobriety tests. Diaz tried to start his car instead. Montgomery arrested Diaz for obstructing

160 P.3d 741

and delaying and took him to the Twin Falls County Jail.

At the jail Montgomery conducted several standardized field sobriety tests, but Diaz refused to take the walk and turn test and the one leg stand. Montgomery advised Diaz of the consequences of refusing to undergo such testing, which Diaz said he understood. He then asked Diaz to take a breathalyzer test but he refused. Montgomery informed him that if he continued to refuse, he would be taken to a hospital and his blood would be drawn. After stating that he would submit to a breathalyzer test Diaz again refused to cooperate so Montgomery handcuffed him and took him to the Magic Valley Regional Medical Center where a hospital technician drew his blood. Diaz did not physically resist transportation to the hospital or the taking of his blood, but he continued to protest the blood draw. Diaz had prior DUI convictions in 2001 and 2003 so he was charged with felony DUI. I.C. §§ 18-8004, 18-8005(5). Diaz's BAC concentration was 0.26, more than three times the legal limit.

The district court denied Diaz's motion at trial to suppress the results of the BAC test under the Fourth Amendment and the Idaho Constitution. Diaz subsequently entered a conditional plea of guilty to felony DUI, reserving the right to appeal the district court's denial of his motion to suppress.

II.

In this opinion we address two issues: 1) whether an involuntary blood draw violates federal or state constitutional protections in cases where no death or serious bodily injury is involved, and 2) whether Idaho Code § 18-8002(6)(b) prohibits involuntary BAC testing in cases where no death or serious bodily injury is involved.

A.

In reviewing an order granting or denying a motion to suppress evidence, this Court will defer to the district court's factual findings unless clearly erroneous. State v. Donato, 135 Idaho 469, 470, 20 P.3d 5, 6 (2001). This court exercises free review over the district court's determination as to whether constitutional requirements have been satisfied in light of the facts found. Id.

B.

The administration of a blood alcohol test constitutes a seizure of a person and a search for evidence under both the Fourth Amendment and Article I, § 17 of the Idaho Constitution. Halen v. State, 136 Idaho 829, 833, 41 P.3d 257, 261 (2002) (citing Schmerber v. California, 384 U.S. 757, 767, 86 S.Ct. 1826, 1834, 16 L.Ed.2d 908, 917-18 (1966); State v. Woolery, 116 Idaho 368, 370, 775 P.2d 1210, 1212 (1989)). Searches and seizures performed without a warrant are presumptively unreasonable. State v. LaMay, 140 Idaho 835, 837-8, 103 P.3d 448, 450-1 (2004). To overcome the presumption, the State bears the burden of establishing two prerequisites. First, the State must prove that a "warrantless search fell within a well-recognized exception to the warrant requirement." LaMay, 140 Idaho at 838, 103 P.3d at 451. Second, the State must show that even if the seizure is permissible under an exception to the warrant requirement, it "must still be reasonable in light of all of the other surrounding circumstances." Halen, 136 Idaho at 833, 41 P.3d at 261.

Diaz argues that death or serious bodily injury is required to justify an involuntary blood draw under the exigency exception to the warrant requirement. Exigency, however, is not the lone applicable exception here; consent is also a...