Please E-mail suggested additions, comments and/or corrections to Kent@MoreLaw.Com.
Help support the publication of case reports on MoreLaw
Date: 12-16-2018
Case Style:
COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY V. JAMES E. RIKER, JR.
Case Number: 2017-SC-000483-DG
Judge: Bill Cunningham
Court: Supreme Court of Kentucky
Plaintiff's Attorney: Andy Beshear
Attorney General of Kentucky
Carlos Aundra Ross
Special Assistant Attorney General
Defendant's Attorney: John Lindsay Tackett
Description:
MoreLaw Helps Lawyers Make Money
Around 2:30 a.m. on August 4, 2014, Lexington Police Officer Michael
Steele responded to the scene of an accident in which Appellee, (“Riker”), was
observed driving his vehicle into a parked car on Jersey Street in Lexington,
Kentucky. Detecting the odor of alcohol on Riker, Officer Steele asked Riker to
submit to field sobriety testing and a portable breath test (“PBT”). Riker agreed
to do so. He failed the field sobriety testing and registered a .281 blood alcohol
level on the PBT. After arresting Riker and transporting him to the Fayette
County Detention Center, Officer Steele read the pertinent portion of the
statutory implied consent warning to Riker and asked him to submit to an
intoxilyzer test after the requisite 20-minute waiting period. Riker agreed to do
so. The result of that test administered at approximately 3:45 a.m. was a .266
blood alcohol level.
Pursuant to Kentucky Revised Statute (KRS) 189A. 103(7) and KRS
189A. 105(4), Officer Steele then asked Riker if he desired an independent blood
test at his expense at the University of Kentucky Medical Center (UKMC).
Riker responded in the affirmative and was then transported by Officer Steele
to UKMC. Upon arrival, the hospital receptionist informed Riker that the cost
would be $450. Riker only had $100 dollars on him at the time. Since this
was not enough to pay for the test, Riker informed Officer Steele to “take me
back to jail.”
After an evidentiary hearing, the Fayette District Court denied Riker’s
motions to suppress his .266 intoxilyzer result and to dismiss his third offense
DUI charge. On appeal, the Fayette Circuit Court reversed, concluding that
Riker had been denied his statutory right to obtain an independent blood test.
The court also determined that Riker’s right to due process had been violated
since the results of the independent blood test may have provided him with
exculpatory evidence. The circuit court ordered that the results of the blood
alcohol tests obtained by the police be suppressed. The Court of Appeals
unanimously affirmed the circuit court. We granted discretionary review.
The legal issue in this case concerns the interpretation and application
of two statutes permitting DUl suspects to obtain an independent blood test.
For the following reasons, we reverse the decision of the Court of Appeals.
Analysis
Statutory construction is a matter of law which requires de novo review
by this Court. Heam v. Commonwealth, 80 S.W.3d 432, 434 (Ky. 2002) (citing
Bob Hook Chevrolet Isuzu, Inc. v. Commonwealth Transp. Cabinet, 983 S.W.2d
488 (Ky. 1998)). Claims under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process
Clause are also reviewed de novo. Caesars Riverboat Casino, LLC v. Beach, 336
S.W.3d 51, 54 (Ky. 2011).
Statutory Right
There are two statutes at issue here: KRS 189A. 103(7) and KRS
189A. 105(4). The former permits a DUl suspect to have a medical professional
of his or her own choosing to administer a “test or tests in addition to any tests
administered at the direction of the peace officer.” KRS 189A. 105(4) is similar
but more specific. It provides:
Immediately following the administration of the final test requested by the officer, the person shall again be informed of his right to have a test or tests of his blood performed by a person of his choosing described in KRS 189A.103 within a reasonable time of his arrest at the expense of the person arrested. He shall then be asked “Do you want such a test?” The officer shall make reasonable efforts to provide transportation to the tests.
The plain language of this section lists three requirements: 1) that the
officer inform the suspect of his or her right to have the independent test or
tests performed; 2) the officer must specifically ask “[d]o you want such a
test?”; and 3) that the officer “make reasonable efforts to provide transportation
to the tests.” Id. (Emphasis added). The only portion of this statute that is
remotely ambiguous is the latter. In any event, the reasonableness of the
officer’s efforts to provide transportation is not at issue in the present case. No
other express provision of the statute is at issue here either. As such, we
conclude that Officer Steele satisfied his duties under the plain language of
KRS 189A.105(4).
However, we also acknowledge that such rights are not entirely inelastic,
nor should they be interpreted or applied as such. For example, in analyzing
KRS 189A. 105(4), the Court of Appeals has previously determined that “[i]n
order to give effect to this right, the statute requires some minimal police
allowance and assistance.” Commonwealth v. Long, 118 S.W.3d 178, 183 (Ky.
App. 2003).
In Long, the court determined that a violation of the KRS 189A. 105(4)
occurred where the officer did not permit the suspect to telephone her
roommate to bring her money to pay for the independent drug test. Unlike the
present case, the issue in Long concerned the conduct of the arresting officer.
Here, however, the alleged violation of KRS 189A. 105(4) arises from the price of
the test, which is completely out of the officer’s control. Although the $450
cost of the blood test at issue here is concerning, it is not the prerogative of this
Court to establish or regulate prices on medical services. Most importantly, the
narrow holding in Long only extends to cases where satisfying the purpose of
the statute requires only minimal police assistance. Riker has failed to argue
that any additional assistance whatsoever by Officer Steele could have resulted
in Riker obtaining a blood test. Therefore, we cannot conclude that a statutory
violation occurred here.
Constitutional Right
Riker also argues that the relevant statutes cannot be read in isolation of
greater due process concerns. At the heart of this argument is the notion that
the cost of the test becomes prohibitive at a certain price, which essentially
renders the statutory right meaningless. Although not without merit, that
problem is beyond the purview of the courts.
No provision in either our state or federal constitutions requires purely
statutory rights to be comprehensive in scope. Nevertheless, we also
acknowledge that constitutional rights, like the previously discussed statutory
rights, should not be interpreted too rigidly. As noted by the U.S. Supreme
Court in Little v. Streater, “Due Process, unlike some legal rules, is not a
technical conception with a fixed content unrelated to time, place and
circumstances. Rather, it is flexible and calls for such procedural protections
as the particular situation demands.” 452 U.S. 1, 5 (1981) (internal citations
and quotations omitted).
Little involved a state statute that assigned the cost of blood tests in
paternity cases to be borne by the party requesting the test. The Court held
that the statute violated the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth
Amendments when applied to indigent litigants. Id. at 3. The Court reasoned
as follows:
[N]ot only is the State inextricably involved in paternity litigation such as this and responsible for an imbalance between the parties.
it in effect forecloses what is potentially a conclusive means for an indigent defendant to surmount that disparity and exonerate himself. Such a practice is irreconcilable with the command of the Due Process Clause. Id. at 12.
Relying on Little, Riker also echoes the conclusion of the Fayette Circuit
Court that his right to due process had been violated since the results of the
independent blood test may have provided him with exculpatory evidence.
Unlike Little, however, the blood test in the present case does not present a
“potentially conclusive means for an indigent defendant to . . . exonerate
himself.” Id.
First off, Riker makes no assertion that he is indigent. Second, the
results of a hypothetical independent blood test would have been presented to
the fact finder along with any other relevant evidence, including the results
from the statutorily prescribed breathalyzer test administered by Officer Steele
at the Fayette County Detention Center. In other words, Riker was provided
with testing that indicated his blood alcohol content, even though he may not
have been pleased with the results. Even if an independent blood test might
have revealed a lower blood alcohol content than did the other tests, this
evidence would not have been “conclusive.” Neither are we aware of any cases
which provide for the suppression of any lawfully obtained evidence by law
enforcement. The purpose of the suppression rule is to “punish” law
enforcement for acting unlawfully and in an unconstitutional manner. Such
was not the case here.
6
The only way the indigent defendant in the Little case could obtain the
conclusive means of proving paternity was if he paid for the paternity test
himself. And the only way to obtain a judgment of paternity is to seek judicial
action. As such, the power of the state is “inextricably involved in paternity
litigation.” Little, 452 at 12. Riker, however, did not have to avail himself of
the criminal justice system. He chose to imbibe at least some level of alcohol
prior to operating a motor vehicle on a public street and then crashed his
vehicle into a parked car, thus prompting the police to respond. That triggered
an extensive statutory mechanism which provides DUl suspects with a rather
significant amount of process. See KRS 189A. In sum, we are satisfied that
Riker received due process.
Outcome: For the foregoing reasons, we hereby reverse the Court of Appeals and
reinstate the Fayette District Court’s ruling denying Appellee’s motion to
suppress.
Plaintiff's Experts:
Defendant's Experts:
Comments: