THOMAS M. DiGIROLAMO, United States Magistrate Judge.
This matter is before the Court on Defendant's Motion to Dismiss Criminal Refusal Count (the "Motion") (ECF No. 11), which the Government opposed (ECF No. 12). No hearing is required. L.R. 105.6. Defendant's Motion is
The following factual summary is derived from the Government's Response to Defendant's Motion. ECF No. 12. At about 5:00 p.m. on March 26, 2015, Officer Cameron Easter of the United States Park Police observed Defendant's vehicle crash off the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, which is in the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States. Upon assisting Defendant, Officer Easter observed that Defendant appeared disoriented, so the officer called for paramedics, who transported Defendant to the hospital. At the hospital, Officer Matthew Manning arrived and conducted standardized field sobriety tests on Defendant. A roadside breath test was negative for alcohol. On the basis of Defendant's performance on the field sobriety tests, the officers' observations, and the opinion of the examining physician, the officers believed that Defendant was under the influence of drugs. Defendant was thus read the provisions of the "36 CFR Chemical Testing Notice"
Defendant argues that the charge of refusing to submit to a chemical test must be dismissed because the refusal
The Court addressed a similar argument raised by the defendant in United States v. Jones, No. 8:14-po-8559-TMD (D.Md. June 25, 2015). As in Jones, the provisions of 36 C.F.R. § 4.23 and 18 U.S.C. § 3118 apply to this case. Title 36 C.F.R. § 4.23 provides:
36 C.F.R. § 4.23 (emphasis added). Section 4.23(c)(2) is a substantive offense. United States v. Francisco, 413 Fed.Appx. 216, 219 (11th Cir.2011) (per curiam) (citing United States v. Brown, 364 F.3d 1266,
Title 18 U.S.C. § 3118 provides:
18 U.S.C. § 3118 (emphasis added).
Although Defendant's charge of test refusal under § 4.23(c)(2) is based on her refusal to submit to a blood test rather than to a breath test, Defendant contends that, "[s]ince a breath test cannot be compelled in the absence of a warrant, the refusal to submit to a breath test, a search, cannot be made criminal." Def.'s Mot. 2, ECF No. 11.
Id. at 13. In so arguing, Defendant maintains that the reasoning of Missouri v. McNeely, ___ U.S. ___, 133 S.Ct. 1552, 185 L.Ed.2d 696 (2013), "must apply to breath tests." Id. at 4.
Defendant's reliance on McNeely is misplaced, however. The Supreme Court in McNeely held that, "in drunk-driving investigations, the natural dissipation of alcohol in the bloodstream does not constitute an exigency in every case sufficient to justify conducting a blood test without a warrant." McNeely, 133 S.Ct. at 1568 (emphasis added). Rather, the Court "looks to the totality of the circumstances" in evaluating exigency. Id. at 1559. McNeely actually runs contrary to Defendant's argument because the Court stated
"[U]nless a statute affects a fundamental right or some protected class, courts generally accord the legislation a `strong presumption of validity' by applying a rational basis standard of review." Wilkins v. Gaddy, 734 F.3d 344, 347 (4th Cir.2013) (quoting Heller v. Doe, 509 U.S. 312, 319, 113 S.Ct. 2637, 2642, 125 L.Ed.2d 257 (1993)).
Van Der Linde Hous., Inc. v. Rivanna Solid Waste Auth., 507 F.3d 290, 295 (4th Cir.2007). "Under rational basis review, courts generally uphold governmental decisions that are rationally related to a state interest. This is a deferential standard, placing the burden on [the aggrieved party] `to negate every conceivable basis which might support' the governmental action." Stevens v. Holder, 966 F.Supp.2d 622, 642 (E.D.Va.2013) (citation omitted); see Giarratano v. Johnson, 521 F.3d 298, 302-03 (4th Cir.2008).
State courts that have recently considered the constitutionality of state test-refusal statutes similar to those applicable in this case have found them to be reasonable and not coercive. In State v. Yong Shik Won, 134 Haw. 59, 332 P.3d 661 (Haw. Ct.App.2014), cert. granted, No. SCWC-12-0000858, 2014 WL 2881259 (Haw. June 24, 2014), the Intermediate Court of Appeals of Hawai'i considered the Hawaii test-refusal statute, which provided that refusal of a person suspected of drunk driving to submit to a breath, blood, or urine test is a petty misdemeanor subject to a penalty of up to thirty days' imprisonment and a fine of up to $1,000.00. Won, 332 P.3d at 666 (citing Haw.Rev.Stat. §§ 706-663 (1993), 706-640 (Supp.2013)).
The court noted that
In State v. Bernard, 859 N.W.2d 762 (Minn.2015), petition for cert. filed (U.S. June 15, 2015) (No. 14-1470), the defendant was charged with first-degree test refusal when he refused to take a breath test after he was arrested on suspicion of driving while impaired. The defendant asserted that the Minnesota statute that made it a crime for a driver to refuse a request to take a chemical test to detect the presence of alcohol if certain conditions were met violated his right to due process under the United States and Minnesota Constitutions. Bernard, 859 N.W.2d at 764, 765. The Supreme Court of Minnesota recognized the threat that impaired drivers pose to public safety and noted the state's compelling interest in highway safety and keeping impaired drivers off the road. "Securing effective chemical tests to determine whether drivers suspected of being under the influence are in fact driving while impaired is reasonably related to the government's interest in keeping impaired drivers off the road." Id. at 773. "Encouraging drivers to submit to such tests, through criminalizing their refusal, furthers that interest." Id. The court held that "the test refusal statute is a reasonable means to a permissive object and that it passes rational basis review." Id. at 774.
The Supreme Court of North Dakota in State v. Birchfield, 858 N.W.2d 302 (N.D. 2015), petition for cert. filed (U.S. June 12, 2015) (No. 14-1468), held that North Dakota's statute criminalizing a driver's refusal to submit to a chemical test did not violate the driver's right to be free from an unreasonable search or seizure under the Fourth Amendment or the North Dakota Constitution. Birchfield, 858 N.W.2d at 306-10. Under North Dakota law, a motorist who refuses to submit to a chemical test as directed by a law enforcement officer is criminally punished in the same manner as DUI. Id. at 304 (citing N.D. Cent.Code § 39-20-01). The court in Birchfield recognized that
Id. at 307 (quoting State v. Chasingbear, No. A14-0301, 2014 WL 3802616, at *2 (Minn.Ct.App. Aug. 4, 2014), review denied (Minn. Apr. 14, 2015)). The court further noted that "the Constitution does not forbid every government-imposed choice in the criminal process that has the effect of discouraging the exercise of constitutional rights." Id. at 309 (quoting Jenkins v. Anderson, 447 U.S. 231, 236, 100 S.Ct. 2124, 2128, 65 L.Ed.2d 86 (1980)) (internal quotation marks omitted). In finding that North Dakota's criminal refusal statute satisfied the general reasonableness requirement of the Fourth Amendment, the court recognized that "[c]riminally penalizing test refusal reduces the likelihood that drunk drivers will avoid a criminal penalty by refusing to take a test and, therefore, it is reasonable because it is an efficient tool in discouraging drunk driving." Id. at 310 (quoting Chasingbear, 2014 WL 3802616, at *12, *13) (internal quotation marks omitted). The court affirmed the defendant's conviction for misdemeanor test refusal. Id.; see also Beylund v. Levi, 859 N.W.2d 403, 408-14 (N.D.2015), petition for cert. filed (U.S. June 22, 2015) (No. 14-1507).
Defendant has not cited any case, federal or state, holding that a test-refusal statute
In Halseth, the Supreme Court of Idaho held that an implied-consent statute did not justify a warrantless blood draw from a driver who refused to consent or objected to the blood draw. Halseth, 339 P.3d at 371. The court in Halseth affirmed the trial court's granting of the defendant's motion to suppress because the defendant had withdrawn his implied consent by objecting to the blood draw. Id. In Fierro, moreover, a warrantless blood sample was obtained from the defendant after she verbally and physically refused to provide one to the police after her arrest for DUI. Fierro, 853 N.W.2d at 237-38, 242. No exigent circumstances existed. Id. at 240-41. The Supreme Court of South Dakota thus held that, under the totality of the circumstances, the defendant had not consented to the blood draw. Id. at 242. The court also declined to recognize that South Dakota's implied-consent statute was an exception to the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement. Id. at 243 (citing S.D. Codified Laws § 32-23-10).
In Byars, a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper stopped the defendant for speeding and, suspecting that he was under the influence of a controlled substance after conducting field sobriety tests, arrested him. Byars, 336 P.3d at 942. After discovering a handgun in the defendant's vehicle during an inventory search, the trooper read Nevada's implied-consent law to the defendant and informed the defendant that he would conduct a blood test. Id. The defendant refused to submit to the test, but cooperated with the trooper until they reached the hospital and the blood draw was actually performed. Id. The defendant struggled and struck the trooper and a sheriff's deputy during the blood draw, which eventually showed evidence of marijuana in the defendant's system. Id. The defendant ultimately was convicted of driving under the influence of a controlled substance, among other offenses. Id. at 942-43. The defendant appealed, contending, among other things, that his warrantless blood draw violated the Fourth Amendment. Id. at 943.
Nevada's implied-consent statute at the time of the defendant's arrest allowed a police officer to use reasonable force to obtain a blood sample upon a driver's refusal to submit to a chemical test. Id. at 945 (citing Nev.Rev.Stat. § 484C.160(7)). The court in Byars held that the statute was unconstitutional because it permitted police to use force to obtain a blood sample from a motorist rather than give him a choice of submitting to a test or facing a penalty. Id. at 945-46. Because the statute
Finally, in Butler, a sixteen-year-old juvenile and two of his friends arrived late to school. A school monitor smelled marijuana on the boys and also saw drug paraphernalia in the juvenile's car. The boys were detained in separate rooms, and the sheriff's office was contacted. Butler, 302 P.3d at 611.
A deputy sheriff arrived and read Miranda warnings to the juvenile. In the presence of several school officials, the juvenile admitted that he had driven his car to school after smoking marijuana and that he owned some of the drug paraphernalia in the car. The deputy informed the juvenile that he was under arrest for DUI and other offenses. The juvenile became agitated, and the deputy handcuffed him. While retrieving a phlebotomy kit to do a blood draw, the deputy left the juvenile with the assistant principal. Id. Upon his return to the room, the deputy removed the juvenile's handcuffs because he had calmed down and read him an "implied consent admonition" twice, first verbatim and then in "plain English," which provided as follows:
Id. (alteration in original) (emphasis added). The juvenile agreed verbally and in writing to have his blood drawn, and the deputy drew two vials of the juvenile's blood. The State charged the juvenile with DUI. The juvenile moved to suppress evidence of the blood draw, arguing that his consent had not been voluntary but that, as a minor, he lacked the legal capacity to consent.
The Supreme Court of Arizona held that a compelled blood draw, even when administered pursuant to Arizona's implied-consent statute, is a search subject to the Fourth Amendment's constraints. Id. at 612 (citing McNeely, 133 S.Ct. at 1556). Accordingly, the Fourth Amendment requires an arrestee's consent to be voluntary to justify a warrantless blood draw. Id. The court considered the totality of the circumstances in that case, including the juvenile defendant's age and intelligence and the length of detention, before affirming the lower court's determination that the defendant's consent was involuntary. Id. at 613-14. The court did not hold, however, that Arizona's implied-consent statute was per se unduly coercive. See Bales v. Dupnik, No. CV 12-00483-TUC-BPV, 2014 WL 1794277, at *8 (D.Ariz. May 6, 2014) ("Petitioner points to no clearly established Supreme Court precedent which holds that the threat exerted by Arizona's or any other state's, implied consent law is per se unduly coercive."),
Moreover, as the California Court of Appeal recently noted regarding California's implied-consent law in a case involving a warrantless blood draw, "the concept of `implied consent' in this context is confusing and somewhat unhelpful in determining whether a motorist['s] voluntary submission to a chemical test constitutes valid Fourth Amendment consent." People v. Harris, 234 Cal.App.4th 671, 184 Cal.Rptr.3d 198, 210 (2015), review denied (June 10, 2015). "[A]ctual consent to a blood draw is not `implied consent,' but rather a possible result of requiring the driver to choose whether to consent under the implied consent law." Id. (quoting State v. Padley, 354 Wis.2d 545, 849 N.W.2d 867, 876 (Wis.Ct.App.), review denied, ___ Wis.2d ___, 855 N.W.2d 695 (Wis.2014)). The court noted that the "implied consent law is explicitly designed to allow the driver, and not the police officer, to make the choice as to whether the driver will give or decline to give actual consent to a blood draw when put to the choice between consent or automatic sanctions." Id. (quoting Padley, 849 N.W.2d at 879). "Framed in the terms of `implied consent,' choosing the `yes' option affirms the driver's implied consent and constitutes actual consent for the blood draw. Choosing the `no' option acts to withdraw the driver's implied consent and establishes that the driver does not give actual consent." Id. (quoting same). "Withdrawing consent by choosing the `no' option is an unlawful action, in that it is penalized by `refusal violation' sanctions, even though it is a choice the driver can make." Padley, 849 N.W.2d at 879. Thus, rather than determine whether "implied consent" to a chemical test satisfies the Fourth Amendment, the California Court of Appeal held that "a motorist's submission to a chemical test, if freely and voluntarily given, is actual consent under the Fourth Amendment." Harris, 184 Cal.Rptr.3d at 212-13.
In so holding, the court in Harris found that "[t]he fact that a motorist is told he will face serious consequences if he refuses to submit to a blood test does not, in itself, mean that his submission was coerced." Id. at 211. "That the motorist is forced to choose between submitting to the chemical test and facing serious consequences for refusing to submit, pursuant to the implied consent law, does not in itself render the motorist's submission to be coerced or otherwise invalid for purposes of the Fourth Amendment." Id. at 213; accord State v. Brooks, 838 N.W.2d 563, 570-71 (Minn. 2013) ("[A] driver's decision to agree to take a test is not coerced simply because Minnesota has attached the penalty of making it a crime to refuse the test.... Although refusing the test comes with criminal penalties in Minnesota, the Supreme Court has made clear that while the choice to submit or refuse to take a chemical test `will not be an easy or pleasant one for a suspect to make,' the criminal process `often requires suspects and defendants to make difficult choices.'" (footnote omitted) (quoting Neville, 459 U.S. at 564, 103 S.Ct. at 923)), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 134 S.Ct. 1799, 188 L.Ed.2d 759 (2014); Birchfield, 858 N.W.2d at 306 ("Since the McNeely decision, we have held that consent to a chemical test is not coerced and is not rendered involuntary merely by a law enforcement officer's reading of the implied consent advisory that accurately informs the arrestee of the consequences for refusal, including the administrative and criminal penalties, and presents the arrestee with a choice."); State v. Moore, 354 Or. 493, 318 P.3d 1133, 1138 (2013) ("[A]ccurately advising a defendant of a lawful penalty that could be imposed may well play a role in the defendant's
The cases cited by Defendant and discussed above do not directly address the issue before the Court — whether or not the test-refusal statute violates the Fourth Amendment. Rather, they merely restate established Fourth Amendment law — that consent to a Fourth Amendment search must be free and voluntary (and not coercive) under the totality of the circumstances. Consent is not coerced (and thus rendered involuntary) simply because the State has attached criminal penalties for refusing to provide consent. The existence of criminal penalties for test refusal is just one factor to be considered when analyzing the totality of the circumstances, but it alone does not determine the issue. Thus, Defendant's assertion that a defendant's consent is coerced when he is informed of the criminal consequences of refusing chemical testing thus is unavailing. See United States v. Muir, No. 8:13-MJ-03005-TMD, 2015 WL 2165570, at *4-10 (D.Md. May 7, 2015) (finding DUI defendant's consent to breath test to be voluntary and not coerced despite being advised of consequences of refusal under 36 C.F.R. § 4.23(c)(2) and 18 U.S.C. § 3118).
The Court concludes that the test-refusal statute applicable in this case passes rational basis review. "No one can seriously dispute the magnitude of the drunken driving problem or the States' interest in eradicating it. Media reports of alcohol-related death and mutilation on the Nation's roads are legion." Mich. Dep't of State Police v. Sitz, 496 U.S. 444, 451, 110 S.Ct. 2481, 2485, 110 L.Ed.2d 412 (1990). Thus, "the sanction for refusal serves multiple purposes: 1) to serve as a deterrent to drunken driving; 2) as a strong inducement to take the test; and 3) to promptly remove drunk drivers from the road, which contributes to public safety." Beylund, 859 N.W.2d at 413 (citing Mackey v. Montrym, 443 U.S. 1, 18, 99 S.Ct. 2612, 2621, 61 L.Ed.2d 321 (1979)). For these reasons, "[s]ecuring effective chemical tests to determine whether drivers suspected of being under the influence are in fact driving while impaired is reasonably related to the government's interest in keeping impaired drivers off the road." Bernard, 859 N.W.2d at 773. "Encouraging drivers to submit to such tests, through criminalizing their refusal, furthers that interest." Id.; see Chasingbear, 2014 WL 3802616, at *7 ("The statutory condition that every arrested, apparently drunk, driver agrees to submit to a chemical test or be penalized for refusing the test directly and only furthers the state's interest in the sober use of public highways."). Further, criminally penalizing test refusal does not violate a person's substantive due process rights because a suspected drunk driver's right to refuse alcohol testing is not a fundamental right. Chasingbear, 2014 WL 3802616, at *8-14; see Neville, 459 U.S. at 565, 103 S.Ct. at 923 ("Respondent's right to refuse the blood-alcohol test, by contrast, is simply a matter of grace bestowed by the South Dakota legislature."); Bernard, 859 N.W.2d at 773 ("Having decided that the search of [the defendant's] breath would have been constitutional, we find no fundamental right at issue here, as [the defendant] does not have a fundamental right to refuse a constitutional search."). Although a driver has a constitutional right not to be tested without a warrant or a valid warrant exception, he does not have a constitutional
In short, Defendant has neither the statutory nor the constitutional right to refuse testing without penalty. See Chasingbear, 2014 WL 3802616, at *6. Because 36 C.F.R. § 4.23(c) (2) and 18 U.S.C. § 3118 do not violate the Fourth Amendment, Defendant's Motion (ECF No. 11) is