State v. Eldrenkamp, 94-2020

• Decision Date: 20 December 1995
• Docket Number: No. 94-2020,94-2020
• Parties: STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Roy Edward ELDRENKAMP, Appellant.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 877

541 N.W.2d 877

STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Roy Edward ELDRENKAMP, Appellant.

No. 94-2020.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Dec. 20, 1995.

Linda Del Gallo, State Appellate Defender, and Sharon R. Stevens, Assistant State Appellate Defender, for appellant.

Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Mary Tabor, Assistant Attorney General, and Phillip Tabor, County Attorney, for appellee.

Considered by HARRIS, P.J., and CARTER, LAVORATO, SNELL, and ANDREASEN, JJ.

ANDREASEN, Justice.

A jury found the defendant guilty of the crimes of vehicular homicide, child endangerment, and operating a motor vehicle while license was revoked. The court entered judgments and sentences upon the verdicts. On appeal the defendant claims the court erred in failing to grant his motion to suppress and in denying his motion for judgments of acquittal. Upon completion of our review of the record, we affirm.

I. Background.

On the evening of August 25, 1993 a motorcycle accident occurred on the causeway between Sabula, Iowa and the Iowa-Illinois bridge over the Mississippi River. Roy E. Eldrenkamp of Savannah, Illinois, his four-year-old son Corey, and James Townsend were on a 1971 Honda motorcycle owned by Roy when it struck a reflector post and guard rail. The parties dispute who was driving at the time of the accident. The motorcycle came to rest in the middle of the causeway approximately 179 feet from the point of impact.

The causeway extends in a northeast direction from Sabula which is approximately three miles from the bridge. The accident occurred approximately one quarter mile from the bridge in a posted thirty-five miles-per-hour speed zone where the causeway takes a sharp turn to the right before crossing over the bridge into Savannah. At the time of the accident there was a temporary construction stop light on the causeway approximately one mile from Sabula.

As a result of the accident Townsend was killed. Corey and Roy were injured and taken to the Savannah City Hospital by the first motorist who arrived at the accident scene.

The first law enforcement officer to arrive was Savannah police officer Stacey Bradley-Handel. She observed the dead body of Townsend and was told two other persons were injured and had been taken to the Savannah hospital. When Iowa law enforcement officers arrived at the scene, she went back to the Savannah hospital and spoke to Roy.

Roy told her Townsend had been driving the motorcycle and that they had "lost it." The officer had known Roy before the accident and she observed a very strong odor of alcohol on his breath while talking to him in the hospital emergency room. While she was at the Savannah hospital a helicopter was summoned to take Corey, who was seriously injured, and his father Roy, who was released after treatment, to the hospital in Rockford, Illinois. Officer Bradley-Handel then returned to the accident site.

Upon her return she conferred with investigative officers including Chris Turner, a trooper of the Iowa Highway Patrol. Turner was a designated accident reconstructionist as a result of his specialized training and experience. Officer Bradley-Handel concluded Roy may have been the driver of the motorcycle. She returned to Savannah, swore out an affidavit for a warrant, and obtained a search warrant from an Illinois judge to secure a vial of blood taken from Roy upon his admission to the Savannah hospital. After the warrant was served the hospital delivered the vial to Bradley-Handel. She then delivered the vial to a deputy sheriff of Jackson County, Iowa, who turned it over to Trooper Turner. He delivered the vial to the Iowa Criminalistics Laboratory for testing. The test revealed an alcohol content of .172 and a written report was made by the lab.

The Jackson County Medical Examiner, who was at the accident site, determined Townsend's death was caused by a blunt force trauma to the back of his head, "due to collision with the roadway." He took a sample of the deceased's blood which when tested revealed an alcoholic content of .343.

On July 1, 1994, a trial information was filed charging Roy Eldrenkamp with the crime of homicide by vehicle alleging he had unintentionally caused the death of Townsend by operating a motor vehicle while having an alcohol concentration of .10 or more in violation of Iowa Code section 707.6A(1)(a) (1993); with child endangerment by knowingly acting in a manner that created a substantial risk to Corey Eldrenkamp's physical safety in violation of Iowa Code section 726.6(1)(a) and (2); and operating a motor vehicle on a public highway while his license had been revoked pursuant to Iowa Code section 325J.21.

The defendant filed a timely motion to suppress the results of any test of his blood and any testimony connected with the drawing or testing of the blood. The defendant urged the seizure of his blood sample violated the Fourth and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, violated his doctor-patient privilege guaranteed by Iowa Code section 622.10, and the drawing and seizure of blood violated the procedures of Iowa Code sections 321J.10 and .11. Prior to hearing on the motion to suppress the parties stipulated to the facts. After hearing Judge Havercamp, on October 21, 1994, denied the motion to suppress.

The case was tried to a jury beginning on October 31. The trial judge, David H. Sivright, denied the defendant's motions for judgments of acquittal. The case was then submitted to a jury which returned guilty verdicts on all three charges.

On appeal Eldrenkamp raises two issues. First, he urges the motion to suppress should have been granted because the blood sample was seized in violation of his doctor-patient privilege. Second, he argues the motion for judgments of acquittal on all charges should have been granted because there was insufficient evidence to establish that he was the driver of the motorcycle.

II. Ruling on Motion to Suppress.

Eldrenkamp argues the physician-patient privilege prevents the admission of the blood test results. The burden of proof is upon the one who claims the privilege to show that it exists. State v. Tornquist, 254 Iowa 1135, 1155, 120 N.W.2d 483, 495 (1963). The motion to suppress was submitted to the court upon stipulated facts that included:

On August 25, 1993 at approximately 8:30 p.m. there was a motorcycle accident on the causeway, between Sabula, Jackson County, Iowa, and the Iowa-Illinois bridge over the Mississippi River.

As a result of that accident, James E. Townsend was declared dead at the scene. Corey Eldrenkamp and Roy Edward Eldrenkamp were injured. All three individuals were occupants of the motorcycle.

Following the motorcycle accident, Roy Edward Eldrenkamp was transported to Savannah City Hospital. At the Savannah City Hospital, Roy was admitted. As a part of the admission procedure at Savannah City Hospital, a blood sample was taken from Roy Eldrenkamp.

The blood sample from Roy Eldrenkamp was taken by Pat Oviatt, MLT-ASCP, Pinacle Health Services. Pat Oviatt is a certified medical technologist and she took the blood sample according to the procedures at the hospital and used proper equipment which was sealed prior to being used and was appropriately used to take the blood sample which she stored in an appropriate place in the laboratory at Savannah City Hospital.

This blood sample was taken for purposes of medical treatment for injuries sustained by Roy Eldrenkamp, and medical treatment was provided to Roy Eldrenkamp that evening. This blood sample was not tested for alcohol content at the Savannah City Hospital.

This sample was not taken at the request of a peace officer.

Officer Stacey Bradley-Handel is an officer with the Savannah Police Department. Officer Bradley-Handel responded to the scene of the Townsend/Eldrenkamp motorcycle accident. At the scene, she learned that two of the people involved in the accident had left, going to the Savannah City Hospital. Officer Bradley-Handel went to the Savannah City Hospital and made contact with Roy Eldrenkamp and in discussing the traffic accident with Mr. Eldrenkamp, she detected the odor of an alcoholic beverage about Mr. Eldrenkamp's breath. Officer Bradley-Handel noted that Mr. Eldrenkamp was released from the hospital after examination. Officer Bradley-Handel then went back to the scene and in talking with investigating officers, determined that Roy Eldrenkamp may have been the driver of the motorcycle. Officer Bradley-Handel went back to Savannah, Illinois, swore out an affidavit for a search warrant and obtained a search warrant from the Circuit Court of the Fifteenth Judicial District, County of Carroll, State of Illinois, for the vial of blood taken from Roy Eldrenkamp on his admission to the Savannah City Hospital. Officer Bradley-Handel served the warrant at the Savannah City Hospital, along with deputy Steve Schroeder of the Jackson County Sheriff's Department, seized the vial of blood which had been obtained from Roy Eldrenkamp by Pat Oviatt, and turned the blood over to Steve Schroeder of the Jackson County Sheriff's Department. The blood sample was then given to trooper Chris Turner of the Iowa State Patrol, who turned it over to trooper John Simons of the Iowa State Patrol, who turned it over to Iowa DCI lab for testing by Kelvin Rayburn, who tested the blood with a result of .172 grams per 100ml.

Roy Eldrenkamp did not refuse chemical testing and the withdrawal of his blood sample was not done based upon a refusal to consent to chemical testing.

In denying the motion to suppress, the court recognized there was a physician-patient relationship but concluded the privilege was not implicated because the blood sample was seized based upon a search warrant. On appeal the defendant argues the State had no authority to require the production of the blood sample because a confidential relationship existed. Since no implied consent procedure was invoked, he contends the blood sample was protected...