State v. Roche

• Decision Date: 20 August 1996
• Docket Number: No. 7774,Docket No. FRA,7774
• Citation: 681 A.2d 472
• Parties: STATE of Maine v. Wayne ROCHE. DecisionLaw94 585.
• Court: Maine Supreme Court

Page 472

681 A.2d 472

STATE of Maine v. Wayne ROCHE.

Decision No. 7774.

Law Docket No. FRA 94 585.

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

Argued June 10, 1996.

Decided Aug. 20, 1996.

Norman R. Croteau, District Attorney, Margot Joly (orally), Assistant District Attorney, Farmington, for the State.

John Alsop (orally), Alsop & Mohlar, Norridgewock, for Defendant.

Before WATHEN, C.J., and ROBERTS, GLASSMAN, RUDMAN, and LIPEZ, JJ.

WATHEN, Chief Justice.

Defendant, Wayne Roche, appeals from the judgment entered in the Superior Court (Franklin County, Chandler, J.) following a jury trial that resulted in a verdict of not guilty on one count of manslaughter and guilty on one count of operating under the influence ("OUI") in violation of 29 M.R.S.A. § 1312 (1992). ¹ The jury considered as part of the evidence relating to the OUI charge the result of a mandatory blood-alcohol test administered pursuant to 29 M.R.S.A. § 1312 in any accident in which a death has occurred or will occur. On appeal defendant challenges the constitutionality of the statute because it mandates testing without probable cause to believe the vehicle operator has been driving while impaired. Defendant also contends that the court erred in finding that probable cause existed independent of the blood test result to believe that he had operated his vehicle under the influence. Finally he contends that the court erred in admitting the blood test evidence without expert testimony to support its admission. We affirm the judgment.

The facts giving rise to this case may be summarized as follows. Wayne Roche was employed as a professional truck driver. In March 1993 he was hauling logs in his tractor trailer north of Eustis when he came upon a Maine Department of Transportation ("DOT") work site where four workers were steaming a frozen culvert. One lane only was open where the work site was located, and there were two signs placed on the road north of the site to warn oncoming traffic of the position of the workers. A flagman stood on either end of the site. The flagmen used signs, which read "stop" on one side and "slow" on the other, to direct the traffic through the single lane. The third man was inside the steamer truck in the middle of the work site and the fourth man was working in the ditch with the steamer hose. The work site was at the bottom of a hill.

Defendant slowed his truck as he approached the work site, but he did not obey the flagman's signal to stop. He moved into the open lane of travel and proceeded southbound through the work site. At the same time a northbound truck was traveling through the single lane in the direction of the flagman. Defendant tried to avoid colliding with the truck by swerving to the right and reentering the single lane of travel. As he attempted the maneuver he realized that there were more cars traveling behind the truck and he was forced to pull off to the right again. He brought his truck to a halt on the right shoulder of the road and the truck slowly rolled over, spilling the logs it had carried. Lloyd Sweetser, who had been working in the ditch with the steamer hose, tried to run away but was crushed by the contents of the truck and died.

Defendant was taken to a local hospital for examination and treatment for minor injuries. At the hospital a blood test was ordered by an officer of the Farmington Police Department. The officer brought the blood test kit to the hospital at the request of the Franklin County Sheriff's office, which had informed him that the accident involved a fatality and that therefore defendant was required to be tested.

A few weeks after the accident a state trooper, who investigated the accident scene and interviewed defendant on the day following the accident, went to defendant's home and questioned him about his use of alcohol. Defendant stated that he drank about a fifth of whiskey on the night before the accident. These statements were considered by the court in its determination of probable cause independent of the blood test result pursuant to 29 M.R.S.A. § 1312 and were offered as admissions in the State's case.

Defendant was indicted on one count of manslaughter and one count of operating under the influence. He pleaded not guilty to both charges. His motion to suppress the blood test results was denied. The matter proceeded to trial and the jury returned a verdict of not guilty on the manslaughter count and guilty on the operating under the influence count. The court sentenced defendant to a 60 day jail term.

Defendant contends that although the State fully complied with the statutory requirements of section 1312 the statute itself "abrogates the requirements of the Fourth Amendment." The premise of defendant's argument is that a warrantless search is permissible only when a recognized exception to the warrant requirement is present, for example a search conducted on the basis of exigent circumstances and probable cause. He concedes that exigent circumstances exist in virtually every blood-alcohol testing situation, but he maintains that probable cause must exist simultaneously in order to administer the test.

Defendant cites as support for his argument Schmerber v. California, 384 U.S. 757, 86 S.Ct. 1826, 16 L.Ed.2d 908 (1966), which unquestionably establishes that a blood test is a search within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. Schmerber considered the constitutionality of a blood test conducted incident to a lawful arrest. And were Schmerber the only case bearing on the constitutionality of a blood test conducted without a warrant we would have to hold the statute unconstitutional.

Skinner v. Railway Labor Executives' Ass'n, 489 U.S. 602, 109 S.Ct. 1402, 103 L.Ed.2d 639 (1989), however, resolves any doubt that a blood test in certain limited circumstances may be conducted on less than probable cause and, indeed, on less than individualized suspicion. The justification for such a search is popularly known as the "special needs" exception to probable cause. The State contends that Skinner picks up where Schmerber left off on the question of justification for a governmentally compelled test to determine the presence of intoxicants in the blood. We agree.

In Skinner the Federal Railroad Administration promulgated regulations that required certain employees to be tested for the presence of drugs or alcohol following certain major train accidents (e.g., accidents involving a fatality or property damage in excess of $.5 million). Railway labor organizations filed suit to enjoin the regulations.

The Supreme Court held that the tests were reasonable even though there was no reasonable suspicion that any particular employee was impaired. The Court stated that the compelling governmental interests served by the regulations outweighed the employees' privacy concerns. It further stated that imposing a warrant requirement would do little to further the very...