State v. Fischer

• Decision Date: 23 July 2010
• Docket Number: No. 09-0338.,09-0338.
• Citation: 785 N.W.2d 697
• Parties: STATE of Iowa, Appellant, v. Jeffrey Alan FISCHER, Appellee.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

785 N.W.2d 697

STATE of Iowa, Appellant,

v.Jeffrey Alan FISCHER, Appellee.

No. 09-0338.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

July 23, 2010.

Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Karen Doland, Assistant Attorney General (until withdrawal), and then Bridget A. Chambers, Assistant Attorney General, and Karen R. Kaufman Salic, County Attorney, for appellant.

R.A. Bartolomei of Bartolomei & Lange, PLC, Des Moines, for appellee.

CADY, Justice.

In this appeal, we must decide if a law enforcement officer can use a computer screen to make a "written request" to withdraw a bodily substance for testing from a driver suspected of operating while intoxicated. We conclude a computer screen satisfies the statutory requirement of a "written request." We reverse the decision of the district court and remand the case for further proceedings.

I. Background Facts and Proceedings.

On October 6, 2008, at approximately 7:40 a.m., State Trooper Joseph Scott stopped a vehicle driven by Jeffrey Alan Fischer in Crystal Lake, Iowa, because Fischer was not wearing his seat belt. After coming into contact with Fischer, Trooper Scott made several observations leading him to conclude that Fischer had been drinking alcohol prior to driving. Trooper Scott placed Fischer under arrest and transported him to the Hancock County Sheriff's Office.

At the sheriff's office, Trooper Scott used the laptop from his car to complete the processing of the arrest using the Traffic and Criminal Software (TraCS) program.¹ The laptop monitor displayed the form Trooper Scott was completing, entitled "Request and Notice Under Iowa Code Chapter 321J/Section 321.208," also referred to as "Form MOWI." The laptop was also connected to the DataMaster breath test machine located at the sheriff's office. Trooper Scott sat in front of the computer screen while Fischer sat to Trooper Scott's right approximately three to four feet from the computer screen. The computer screen faced Trooper Scott. He testified at the hearing that the screen was not hidden or shielded from Fischer as he implemented the implied-consent procedures. In implementing the procedures, Trooper Scott read Fischer the "Implied Consent Advisory" from the computer screen. He next read Fischer the "Request for Specimen," also displayed on the computer screen. The request contained the following language: "Having read to you the appropriate implied consent advisory, I hereby request a specimen of your Breath for chemical testing to determine the alcohol or drug content." The trooper had checked the box on the computer screen indicating he was requesting a breath sample rather than a blood or urine sample and had inputted the date and time. The trooper then prompted theappearance of a pop-up window of text on the screen of the laptop in front of him.

The pop-up window did not consume the entire computer screen and contained an enlargement of the text following the "Request for Specimen" language from the form the trooper was completing. The form remained in the background of the screen while the pop-up window was active. The text in the window read: "Having been read the Implied Consent Advisory, I ... to submit to the withdrawal of the specimen(s) requested." Two boxes and a signature line also appeared in the window following the text. The first box was labeled "consent," and the second box was labeled "refuse." Using a stylus, Fischer checked the box marked "consent" on the touch screen laptop monitor and signed his name. After checking the box, the word "consent" appeared to fill in the textual space between "I" and "to submit." Fischer's decision to consent to a breath test and his signature were instantly recorded and appeared within the form after the pop-up window disappeared.

After Fischer checked the box next to "consent" and signed his name, Trooper Scott took a sample of Fischer's breath using the DataMaster. The test reported a blood-alcohol level of .157. The trooper completed the form by signing and dating the form on the screen to certify the form's truth and accuracy. Trooper Scott testified a driver is able to withdraw consent to a breath test prior to administration of the test, but after the breath test is complete the information entered in the form on the computer becomes permanent. Fischer was not given a printed version of the "Request for Specimen" before the breath test was administered.

Fischer was charged with operating while intoxicated, second offense. He filed a motion to suppress his breath-test results, alleging the TraCS system's electronic version of the form containing the "Request for Specimen" did not meet the "written request" requirement of Iowa Code section 321J.6(1) (2007). The district court granted the motion to suppress Fischer's breath-test results. The court determined Trooper Scott did not comply with the "written request" requirement because neither the computer screen he used to read the pertinent request nor a paper copy of the form was shown to Fischer prior to the administration of the test. The State sought, and we granted, discretionary review of the district court ruling.

II. Standard of Review.

The district court granted Fischer's motion to suppress based on its interpretation of Iowa Code section 321J.6(1). We review a district court's decision to grant a motion to suppress based on its interpretation of a statute for errors at law. State v. Stratmeier, 672 N.W.2d 817, 820 (Iowa 2003).

III. Overview of Iowa Implied-Consent Law.

It has been a crime to operate a motor vehicle while intoxicated in Iowa since 1911. See 1911 Iowa Acts ch. 72, § 24 (codified at Iowa Code § 1571-m23 (Supp.1913)). Since that time, the operating-while-intoxicated laws have evolved in a number of ways, including the adoption of the implied-consent procedure based on the premise that persons who drive vehicles are deemed to consent to a chemical test to determine the alcohol or drug content of their blood when reasonable grounds exist to believe they were driving while intoxicated. Rachel Hjelmaas, Legislative Services Agency, Legislative Guide to Operating While Intoxicated (OWI) Law in Iowa 1 (2007), available at http:// www. legis. state. ia. us/ Central/ Guides/ OWI. pdf. The underlying rationale of the law isthat the operation of a motor vehicle on public streets is a privilege, not a right, subject to reasonable regulation. Tina Wescott Cafaro, Fixing the Fatal Flaws in OUI Implied Consent Laws, 34 J. Legis. 99, 102 (2008) [hereinafter Cafaro]. Thus, under the implied-consent law, drivers impliedly consent to submit to chemical testing "in return for the privilege of using the public highways." State v. Hitchens, 294 N.W.2d 686, 687 (Iowa 1980).

In 1953, New York became the first state in the nation to enact an implied-consent law.² Cafaro at 103 & n. 25 (referring to codified version of New York's implied-consent law, N.Y. Veh. & Traf. Law § 1194 (McKinney 2001) (originally enacted by L.1953, c. 854)). The concept was first proposed in Iowa in 1957 when a bill modeled after the New York statute was introduced in the House of Representatives. H.F. 257, 57th G.A., Reg. Sess., Explanation of House File 257 (Iowa 1957) (stating the bill is "patterned after the New York statute, which was enacted a few years ago, but is an improvement on this earlier legislation").

The procedures were subsequently introduced in the Senate and enacted by the General Assembly in 1963.³ See S.F. 437, 60th G.A., Reg. Sess. § 34 (Iowa 1963); 1963 Iowa Acts ch. 114, §§ 36-50 (codified at Iowa Code ch. 321B (1966)). The implied-consent procedures were originally enacted as a part of an overall administrative effort to regulate the control, sale, and use of alcohol and were not included as an organic part of the 1966 criminal operating while intoxicated (OWI) laws. See 1963 Iowa Acts ch. 114 (entitled "Liquor Control, Sale and Use"). The General Assembly declared its policy in enacting chapter 321B was "to control alcoholic beverages and aid the enforcement of laws prohibiting operation of a motor vehicle while in an intoxicated condition." Iowa Code § 321B.1 (1966). Thus, although enacted and codified separately from the criminal OWI chapter, the legislature intended for the section to have an administrative effect as well as aid in the enforcement of OWI laws. In 1986, the implied-consent statutes from chapter 321B were combined with the criminal OWI laws. 1986 Iowa Acts ch. 1220 (codified at Iowa Code ch. 321J (1987)). The chemical test results and refusals are used today both for license revocation and for OWI criminal prosecutions. See Iowa Code §§ 321J.2, .12 (2009).

Although the implied-consent law is based on the premise that all drivers consent to the withdrawal of a body substance for testing if suspected of driving while intoxicated, the law is tempered by giving drivers the right to withdraw this implied consent and refuse the test. State v. Massengale, 745 N.W.2d 499, 501 (Iowa 2008); see also Iowa Code § 321J.9 (prohibitinga chemical test after a driver has refused the officer's request). Thus, the consent for a chemical test must ultimately be "freely made, uncoerced, reasoned, and informed." State v. Garcia, 756 N.W.2d 216, 220 (Iowa 2008). This voluntariness requirement is captured by Iowa Code section 321J.8, which requires law enforcement officers to advise suspects of all the consequences of a decision to submit or refuse testing. See id. (recognizing section 321J.8 sets out a voluntariness requirement and that consent is involuntary and invalid if a driver is not reasonably informed of the consequences of refusal). Viewing the advisory as an informational component in the procedure, we adopted a reasonableness standard for the methods to be used by law enforcement officers to convey the advisory. Id. at 222.

Pursuant to the implied-consent procedure, an officer who has reasonable grounds to believe a driver is operating a vehicle while intoxicated must first make a written request to withdraw...