State v. Oevering

• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: WAHL, (dissenting)
• Citation: State v. Oevering, 268 N.W.2d 68 (Minn. 1978)
• Decision Date: 23 June 1978
• Docket Number: No. 46836.,46836.
• Parties: STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Steven John OEVERING, Appellant.

268 N.W.2d 68 (1978)

STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Steven John OEVERING, Appellant.

No. 46836.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

June 23, 1978.

C. Paul Jones, Public Defender, Minneapolis, for appellant.

Warren Spannaus, Atty. Gen., Thomas L. Fabel, Deputy, Richard G. Evans, Spec. Asst. Atty. Gen., St. Paul, Julius E. Gernes, County Atty., Winona, for respondent.

Heard before TODD, SCOTT, and WAHL, JJ., and considered and decided by the court en banc.

TODD, Justice.

This case arises out of a head-on collision between two motor vehicles. Following the accident, Steven J. Oevering, the alleged driver of one of the vehicles, was charged with criminal negligence and several other offenses. Over Oevering's objection, the trial court admitted the blood-alcohol analysis of a blood sample taken from him without his consent in the hospital emergency room. The jury found Oevering guilty as charged. On appeal, Oevering challenges the admission of the blood-alcohol test and the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his conviction. We affirm.

On the afternoon of April 15, 1975, Oevering completed repair work on a pickup truck belonging to his friend, Daniel Beranek. To celebrate the occasion, the pair commenced an extensive drinking spree which covered several communities in the area of their home. During the course of the evening, they were joined by Paul Gardner, a friend of Beranek.

Shortly after midnight, Gardner requested his companions to leave the bar in which the three had been drinking for several hours. When Oevering and Beranek refused, Gardner left the bar, climbed into the pickup truck and fell asleep. Thereafter, at approximately 12:30 a. m., Oevering and Beranek were joined by Susan Ziemer. She testified that Oevering was "very much drunk." At about 1:15 a. m., Oevering, Beranek, and Ziemer left the tavern. As they proceeded to the pickup truck, Oevering had to be helped. Beranek got in on the passenger side of the truck, and Oevering followed Ziemer in on the driver's side, pushing the sleeping Gardner toward the passenger side.

Oevering drove the three and one-half blocks to Ziemer's residence in Stockton, Minnesota, in an extremely reckless manner. Ziemer alighted from the truck when her home was reached, but remained outside, waiting for the truck to return from the Oevering residence. She assumed that Oevering would be dropped off at his home. Within about 10 or 15 minutes, Ziemer saw the truck returning from the direction of the Oevering residence. The truck appeared to be driven in a more normal fashion and the horn was sounded as the truck passed Ziemer, but she was unable to see who was behind the wheel.

What transpired when the truck stopped at the Oevering residence is unknown, but contrary to Ziemer's assumption, Oevering did not remain at his home. In any event, the pickup truck was driven back through Stockton and on toward Winona, following Highway No. 14. As the truck came over the top of a hill outside Stockton, it was observed by the driver of a semitruck. At that point, the highway was divided into three adjoining lanes. Two lanes were for uphill traffic and only one lane was available for downhill traffic. The steepness of the hill forced the semitruck to climb slowly in the extreme right-hand or "creeper" lane. As the oncoming pickup truck approached, the driver of the semitruck realized that the pickup truck had crossed the yellow line and was in the wrong lane. The semitruck driver was forced to swerve slightly to the right in order to avoid a collision himself. The pickup truck did collide head on, however, with a jeep which was in the center lane, behind and to the left of the semitruck, killing the driver of the jeep.

The semitruck driver heard the collision and parked his vehicle on the side of the road. He ran back to the point of impact and saw a person crawling out of the passenger side of the pickup truck. This person was later identified as Beranek. Oevering and Gardner, however, were pinned inside the vehicle and had to be extricated by police officers. All three men were taken initially to the Winona Community Hospital for emergency care. Later that evening, Oevering and Beranek were transferred to St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester and Gardner was transferred to a hospital in LaCrosse.

Trooper Richard Duellman of the Minnesota State Highway Patrol arrived to investigate the scene of the accident about 2 a. m. Because the accident had involved a fatality, Duellman at some point contacted the highway patrol dispatcher and requested that an officer visit St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester for the purpose of obtaining any available information from the accident victims (Oevering and Beranek) who had been transferred there. This request was intercepted by Officer Burton Berge of the Olmsted County sheriff's department during his routine patrol. Berge proceeded to St. Mary's Hospital, entered the emergency room, and spoke first to Beranek. Berge identified himself and asked who was driving the truck at the time of the accident. Beranek indicated that he owned the truck, that Oevering had been the driver, and that all of the truck's occupants were extremely intoxicated. He refused to answer any further questions.

Berge then communicated with Duellman, via the highway patrol dispatcher, concerning the information he had received from Beranek. There is some dispute as to whether Duellman at that point offered independent confirmation of the information Berge had received. Following the telephone conversation, Berge approached Oevering and again identified himself. The officer observed that Oevering was "quite seriously injured * * * quite combative and belligerent * * *," and that "it didn't seem that he cared or understood what I was trying to say to him * * *." When Oevering did not respond, Berge ordered that a blood sample be taken. It is undisputed that Oevering had not been placed under arrest at the time. Subsequent analysis of the blood sample revealed a blood-alcohol content of .197 percent alcohol by weight.

At the Rasmussen hearing, Oevering unsuccessfully attempted to have the blood test results suppressed. A jury found him guilty of criminal negligence,¹ and he was sentenced to a prison term not to exceed 2 years.

Two issues are raised on appeal:

(1) Was there sufficient evidence introduced at trial to prove that Oevering was in fact the driver of the pickup truck when the accident occurred?

(2) Did the trial court err in refusing to suppress on Fourth Amendment grounds the incriminating blood test results?

1. We find no merit in Oevering's contention that the evidence is insufficient to establish that he was the driver of the pickup truck at the time of the accident. When reviewing a jury verdict, we must examine the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict and assume that the jury disbelieved any testimony which conflicts with the result it reached. If on the basis of the evidence in the record the jury could reasonably have found as it did, we may not upset that conclusion. State v. Strimling, 265 N.W.2d 423 (Minn.1978); State v. Hawkins, 260 N.W.2d 150 (Minn. 1977); State v. Thompson, 273 Minn. 1, 139 N.W.2d 490, certiorari denied, 385 U.S. 817, 87 S.Ct. 39, 17 L.Ed.2d 56 (1966); State v. Norgaard, 272 Minn. 48, 136 N.W.2d 628 (1965).

At trial, Gardner testified that he awakened as the pickup truck rounded a corner and started down the hill where the accident occurred. According to Gardner's testimony, he was seated between Oevering and Beranek, and Oevering was driving at the time.² Gardner claims to have warned Oevering that the pickup truck was in the wrong lane but apparently received no response.

Also, the police officers who helped to free Oevering and Gardner from the vehicle wreckage testified in detail as to the position of the bodies following the collision. According to their uncontradicted testimony, the force of the impact pushed the truck's firewall back against the seat. This action pinned the feet of Oevering and Gardner between the dash and the seat. Gardner's feet were both trapped on the right, or passenger's side, of the transmission hump. His buttocks were located on the edge of the seat in the middle of the cab. This position is fully consistent with Gardner's testimony that he sat between Oevering and Beranek. Oevering's feet, on the other hand, were caught beneath the dash on the driver's side of the cab. The passenger's side had already been vacated by Beranek when the officers arrived on the scene.

We find the evidence outlined above more than adequately supportive of the conclusion reached by the jury.

2. The second issue in this case is considerably more troublesome. The incriminating blood sample was taken from Oevering without his consent at a time when he was not under arrest. Nevertheless, the analysis of the sample was admitted over defendant's objection and no doubt contributed materially to his conviction. Because the "seizure" of Oevering's blood was effected neither with a warrant nor pursuant to an established justification for a warrantless intrusion, serious Fourth Amendment implications are raised. Our analysis of Oevering's Fourth Amendment rights in this case must begin with the insightful observation of Mr. Justice Bradley in Boyd v. United States, 116 U.S. 616, 635, 6 S.Ct. 524, 535, 29 L.Ed. 746, 752 (1886):

"* * * It may be that it is the obnoxious thing in its mildest and least repulsive form; but illegitimate and unconstitutional practices get their first footing in that way, namely, by silent approaches and slight deviations from legal modes of procedure. This can only be obviated by adhering to the rule that constitutional provisions for the security of person and property should be liberally construed. A close and literal construction deprives them of half their efficacy, and leads to gradual depreciation of the right, as if it consisted more in sound than in substance. It is the

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