State v. Hester, A09–1784.

• Decision Date: 27 April 2011
• Docket Number: No. A09–1784.,A09–1784.
• Citation: 796 N.W.2d 328
• Parties: STATE of Minnesota, Respondent,v.Brian Noel HESTER, Appellant.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

796 N.W.2d 328

STATE of Minnesota, Respondent,

v.Brian Noel HESTER, Appellant.

No. A09–1784.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

April 27, 2011.

Syllabus by the Court

1. A person can commit criminal test refusal in violation of Minn.Stat. § 169A.20, subd. 2 (2010), only if he or she refuses a request to take a chemical test of the person's blood, breath, or urine that is made by a “peace officer,” as defined in Minn.Stat. § 169A.03, subd. 18 (2010).

2. When the Lower Sioux Indian Community satisfies the requirements of Minn.Stat. § 626.91, subd. 2 (2010), a Lower Sioux police officer can be treated as a county police officer for purposes of Minn.Stat. § 169A.03, subd. 18(3), with the same authority as a peace officer employed by the Redwood County Sheriff.

3. Because the Lower Sioux did not comply with Minn.Stat. § 626.91, subd. 2(a)(2), by failing to carry the required liability insurance limits at the time of appellant's arrest, the Lower Sioux police officer did not have the authority to request that appellant take a chemical test.

Lori Swanson, Attorney General, Joan M. Eichhorst, Assistant Attorney General, St. Paul, Minnesota; and Patrick R. Rohland, Redwood County Attorney, Redwood Falls, Minnesota, for respondent.Allen P. Eskens, Eskens Gibson and Behm Law Firm, Chtd., Mankato, Minnesota, for appellant.

OPINION

GILDEA, Chief Justice.

The question presented in this case is whether a Lower Sioux Indian Community (“Lower Sioux”) police officer is a peace officer authorized to invoke the implied-consent law and request that a person suspected of driving while impaired submit to a chemical test for the presence of alcohol or controlled substances. Because we conclude that the Lower Sioux must have liability insurance limits in the amounts required by statute in order for a Lower Sioux police officer to qualify as a peace officer under Minn.Stat. § 169A.03, subd. 18(3) (2010), and because those limits were not in place at the time appellant was arrested for driving while impaired, we reverse.

On July 9, 1998, the Lower Sioux and Redwood County entered into a Mutual Aid and Assistance Agreement “to address the[ir] respective roles and responsibilities ... in providing law enforcement services on the Lower Sioux Indian Reservation.” The agreement reflects that if the Lower Sioux satisfied “certain statutorily defined requirements,” they would “share concurrent jurisdiction with the County over persons in the geographical boundaries of property held by the United States in trust for the” Lower Sioux. Each party agreed to assist the other with respect to law enforcement duties to the extent each was “reasonably able in the event of an emergency situation.”

The parties do not dispute that the agreement was in effect on December 16, 2008, the date of appellant's arrest. On that evening, Officer Jonathan Meece, a Lower Sioux police officer, responded to a motorist assist call. When Meece arrived at the scene, he found that appellant Brian Hester had driven his car into a ditch on a steep hill. The temperature was between 10 and 15 degrees below zero and the roads were packed with snow and ice. Meece suspected that Hester was impaired and called for assistance. Officer Neil DeBlieck, also a police officer with the Lower Sioux, responded to the scene. DeBlieck administered a preliminary breath test to Hester, and the test indicated that Hester had an alcohol concentration of .13. Meece transferred Hester to the Redwood County Jail to conduct further tests to determine Hester's level of impairment, because Meece concluded that it was safer to conduct further testing at an indoor location given the conditions outside.

After completing the field sobriety tests administered at the jail, Meece placed Hester under arrest and read Hester the implied-consent advisory, informing Hester that Minnesota law required that he submit to further testing and that refusing to submit to further testing would constitute a crime. Hester refused to submit to further testing.

The State subsequently charged Hester with first-degree driving while impaired in violation of Minn.Stat. §§ 169A.20, subd. 1(1), 169A.24, subd. 1(1) (2010), and first-degree test refusal, in violation of Minn.Stat. §§ 169A.20, subd. 2, 169A.24, subd. 1(1) (2010).¹ The first count was dismissed prior to trial. A Redwood County jury found Hester guilty of test refusal.

Hester filed a motion for a new trial and, in the alternative, a motion to vacate the judgment. Hester contended that he did not commit a crime when he refused Meece's request to submit to testing because Meece was not a peace officer under the definition set forth in Minn.Stat. § 169A.03, subd. 18. Hester asserted that under Minn.Stat. §§ 169A.41 and 169A.51 (2010), only police officers who satisfy the definition of a peace officer under section 169A.03 are authorized to administer a preliminary breath test and the implied-consent advisory. Hester argued in the alternative that the Lower Sioux did not have the authority to appoint peace officers with the same powers as peace officers employed by the Redwood County Sheriff pursuant to Minn.Stat. § 626.91 (2010), because the Lower Sioux had not complied with the liability insurance requirements in that statute.

The district court denied Hester's post-trial motions. The court concluded that Lower Sioux police officers satisfied the definition of a peace officer under section 169A.03, subdivision 18. The court also held that the Lower Sioux had complied with the liability insurance filing requirements in Minn.Stat. § 626.91, subd. 2(a). Specifically, the court concluded that at the time of Hester's arrest, the Lower Sioux had substantially complied with the requirements of Minn.Stat. § 626.91, subd. 2(a), regarding liability insurance, and that substantial compliance was all that was required.

The court of appeals affirmed the district court in an unpublished decision. State v. Hester, No. A09–1784, 2010 WL 3000144, at *6 (Minn.App. Aug. 3, 2010). The court held that the definition of peace officer in section 169A.03 did not “exclude all tribal peace officers.” Hester, 2010 WL 3000144, at *4. The court also held that the Lower Sioux officers were peace officers under section 169A.03 because the Lower Sioux had “substantially complied with the statutory requirements to appoint peace officers.” Hester, 2010 WL 3000144, at *6. We granted Hester's petition for review.

Hester argues that we should set aside his conviction for criminal test refusal because Officer Meece, the officer who requested that Hester take the chemical test, did not have the authority under state law to require that Hester submit to the test. A person commits test refusal if he or she “refuse [s] to submit to a chemical test of the person's blood, breath, or urine” that is required under Minn.Stat. § 169A.51 (2010). Minn.Stat. § 169A.20, subd. 2. Under Minn.Stat. § 169A.51, subd. 1(a), a person who drives a motor vehicle in the state consents to a chemical test of that person's blood, breath, or urine in order to determine the presence of alcohol or other substances. In addition, a chemical test “may be required” when “an officer has probable cause to believe the person was driving, operating, or in physical control of a motor vehicle in violation of section 169A.20.” Id., subd. 1(b). Importantly, the chemical test “must be administered at the direction of a peace officer.” Id. Thus, under the plain meaning of the criminal test-refusal statute, a person can commit test refusal only if he or she refuses a “peace officer['s]” request to take a chemical test of the person's blood, breath, or urine.

Hester makes two arguments that Meece was not an authorized “peace officer” for purposes of the test-refusal statute. He first argues that the Lower Sioux police officer who arrested him did not qualify as a “peace officer” because Lower Sioux police officers are not specifically listed in the definition of “peace officer” in Minn.Stat. § 169A.03, subd. 18. He also argues that the Lower Sioux police officer who arrested him did not have the authority to request that he submit to a chemical test because the Lower Sioux did not satisfy the liability insurance requirements of section 626.91, subdivision 2. We turn to those arguments now.

I.

We first consider whether, as the State argues and as the court of appeals and district court held, a Lower Sioux police officer is a “peace officer” authorized to request and administer a chemical test of a person's blood, breath, or urine. This presents a question of statutory interpretation that we review de novo. See Roby v. State, 787 N.W.2d 186, 190 (Minn.2010). ²

The Minnesota Impaired Driving Code, chapter 169A, defines the term “peace officer” as:

(1) a State Patrol officer;

(2) University of Minnesota peace officer;

(3) police officer of any municipality, including towns having powers under section 368.01, or county; and

(4) for purposes of violations of this chapter in or on an off-road recreational vehicle or motorboat, or for violations of section 97B.065 or 97B.066, a state conservation officer.

Minn.Stat. § 169A.03, subd. 18. The parties present different views on how we should determine whether a Lower Sioux police officer falls under this definition. Hester employs a strict reading of section 169A.03, subdivision 18, contending that Lower Sioux police officers cannot be considered “peace officers” under this subdivision because they are not included as one of the four categories of officers who qualify as “peace officers.” The State contends that we can look beyond section 169A.03, subdivision 18, to answer this question. The State argues that police officers appointed by the Lower Sioux are peace officers within the definition of section 169A.03, subdivision 18, because tribal officers have the same powers as peace officers employed by the Redwood County Sheriff pursuant to Minn.Stat. § 626.91 (2010).

Minnesota Statutes § 626.91...