DIETZEN, Justice.
Appellant Derek Stavish was charged with three counts of criminal vehicular operation resulting in death, two counts of fourth-degree driving while impaired, reckless driving, and careless driving arising out of a single-vehicle rollover crash on June 18, 2012, that resulted in the death of Brent Lehnen and serious injuries to Stavish. Stavish moved to suppress alcohol concentration test results from a blood draw taken after the accident on the grounds that his blood was drawn without a warrant and without his consent. The district court granted the motion to suppress concluding, in part, that the State failed to satisfy the exigent circumstances exception as applied in Missouri v. McNeely, ___ U.S. ___, 133 S.Ct. 1552, 185 L.Ed.2d 696 (2013). The court of appeals reversed, concluding that the State established exigent circumstances that justified the warrantless search. State v. Stavish, 852 N.W.2d 906, 909 (Minn.App. 2014). Because we agree that the State established that exigent circumstances justified the warrantless blood draw in this case, we affirm.
On the evening of June 18, 2012, the Minnesota State Patrol responded to a 911 call regarding a vehicle crash in rural Nicollet County. Based upon an investigation at the scene, officers determined that the accident resulted in one fatality, that the alleged driver, appellant Derek Stavish, was seriously injured, and that alcohol may have been a factor in the accident. An officer obtained a blood draw from Stavish and later testing of that blood revealed an alcohol concentration of 0.20.
The State filed seven criminal charges against Stavish: (1) criminal vehicular operation resulting in death, in violation of Minn.Stat. § 609.21, subd. 1(1) (2012) (operating a motor vehicle in a grossly negligent manner); (2) criminal vehicular operation resulting in death, in violation of Minn.Stat. § 609.21, subd. (1)(2)(i) (operating a motor vehicle in a negligent manner while under the influence of alcohol); (3) criminal vehicular operation resulting in death, in violation of Minn.Stat. § 609.21, subd. 1(3) (operating a motor vehicle while having an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or
Stavish brought a motion to suppress the alcohol concentration test results. The parties acknowledged that when Stavish's blood was drawn, our decision in State v. Shriner, 751 N.W.2d 538, 548-50 (Minn. 2008), abrogated by Missouri v. McNeely, ___ U.S. ___, 133 S.Ct. 1552, 185 L.Ed.2d 696 (2013), permitted a warrantless, non-consensual blood draw from a defendant, provided that the officer had probable cause to believe the defendant had committed criminal vehicular homicide or operation. But the parties also acknowledged that the United States Supreme Court's decision in McNeely, ___ U.S. ___, 133 S.Ct. 1552, which abrogated Shriner, was released prior to the omnibus hearing and was applicable to this case. Stavish argued that the blood draw constituted a warrantless, nonconsensual search taken in violation of his constitutional rights. The State countered that the exigencies of the situation justified a warrantless search under McNeely, ___ U.S. at ___, 133 S.Ct. at 1561.
After a contested omnibus hearing, the district court set forth the operative facts in two pretrial orders. Law enforcement received a report of a crash at 10:28 p.m. Sergeant Martens testified that the first officers to arrive at the accident scene observed that there had been a single-vehicle rollover crash involving a pickup truck. When Sergeant Martens arrived at the crash site around 10:45 p.m., he was informed that two people had been ejected from the vehicle and that one person had died. The other person ejected, later identified as Stavish, sustained serious injuries, was transported by ambulance to New Ulm Medical Center (NUMC), and would possibly be transported by helicopter from NUMC to a medical trauma center. Before he was transported to NUMC, Stavish admitted to one of the officers that he was the driver of the vehicle.
The officers at the accident scene decided that Sergeant Martens would go to the hospital to determine the involvement of alcohol in the crash. Upon arrival at the NUMC emergency room, Sergeant Martens spoke to Stavish, who was being tended by multiple medical personnel. Stavish smelled strongly of alcohol, and admitted to Sergeant Martens that he had been drinking prior to the crash. Sergeant Martens advised an emergency room nurse that he needed a blood draw from Stavish, and a sample was drawn at 11:18 p.m. Testing of the blood sample revealed an alcohol concentration of 0.20.
Sergeant Martens testified that he believed he had the authority to obtain the blood sample under Minnesota law, and therefore did not secure a warrant or obtain Stavish's consent. Sergeant Martens admitted that, at the time Stavish's blood was drawn, 70 minutes remained in the 2-hour window for obtaining a blood sample. Sergeant Martens did not ask hospital personnel whether Stavish would be airlifted to another medical center, and did not attempt to contact the on-call judge or prosecutor to obtain a telephonic warrant.
In a September 2013 pretrial order, the district court denied Stavish's motion to suppress the alcohol concentration test results. The court concluded the State failed to prove exigent circumstances justifying a warrantless blood draw, but that
Stavish filed a motion for the district court to reconsider its decision. The district court, relying upon State v. Brooks, 838 N.W.2d 563 (Minn.2013), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 134 S.Ct. 1799, 188 L.Ed.2d 759 (2014), filed a second pretrial order in May 2014 that granted Stavish's motion to reconsider and suppressed the alcohol concentration test results on the ground that this court declined to resolve Brooks on the basis of a good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule. The court denied the State's motion to reconsider the exigency determination. The State appealed the second pretrial order.
The court of appeals reversed the district court's order suppressing the alcohol concentration test results, concluding that the exigencies of the situation justified a warrantless blood draw, and that the blood draw was therefore constitutional. State v. Stavish, 852 N.W.2d 906, 909 (Minn. App.2014). The court of appeals did not reach the good-faith exception issue. We granted review.
Because this is a State's pretrial appeal, we first must determine whether the suppression of the alcohol concentration test results will have a critical impact on the State's case. A pretrial order may be appealed only when the State shows "the district court's alleged error, unless reversed, will have a critical impact on the outcome of the trial." Minn. R.Crim. P. 28.04, subd. 2(b). When a pretrial order suppresses evidence in a criminal prosecution, the State must show that excluding the evidence "significantly reduces the likelihood of a successful prosecution." State v. Zais, 805 N.W.2d 32, 36 (Minn. 2011) (citations omitted). Previously, we have held that critical impact is established if the exclusion of evidence would prevent the State from successfully prosecuting one of the specific charges. State v. Underdahl, 767 N.W.2d 677, 684 (Minn.2009) (holding that "an order that dismisses DWI charges, even when other charges remain, will have a critical impact on the prosecution's case"); State v. Hicks, 301 Minn. 350, 353, 222 N.W.2d 345, 347 (1974) (holding that a pretrial order suppressing the results of an alcohol concentration test was appealable by the State because the order prevented successful prosecution for the charged offense of driving with an alcohol concentration of 0.10 or greater, even though other charges were not affected).
We conclude the State has established that it cannot prove an essential element of two of the charged counts if the alcohol concentration evidence is suppressed. Specifically, the count charging Stavish with criminal vehicular homicide, in violation of Minn.Stat. § 609.21, subd. 1(3), and the count charging Stavish with fourth-degree DWI, in violation of Minn. Stat. § 169A.20, subd. 1(5), require the State to establish that Stavish's alcohol concentration was at or exceeded 0.08. Because two of the charges in this case will be dismissed if the alcohol concentration evidence is suppressed, the State has established critical impact in this case.
We next address whether Stavish's warrantless blood draw violated his Fourth Amendment rights. The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides:
U.S. Const. amend. XIV. It is well-settled that a blood draw is a search that is subject to Fourth Amendment protections. McNeely, ___ U.S. at ___, 133 S.Ct. at 1558.
The Fourth Amendment expressly requires (1) that a search and seizure be reasonable, and (2) that "a warrant may not be issued unless probable cause is properly established and the scope of the authorized search is set out with particularity." Kentucky v. King, 563 U.S. 452, 131 S.Ct. 1849, 1856, 179 L.Ed.2d 865 (2011). A warrantless search or seizure is presumptively unreasonable. See, e.g., id. (referring to the search of a home); McNeely, ___ U.S. at ___, 133 S.Ct. at 1558 (referring to the search of the person). The presumption, however, may be overcome in some circumstances because "the ultimate touchstone of the Fourth Amendment is reasonableness." Brigham City v. Stuart, 547 U.S. 398, 403, 126 S.Ct. 1943, 164 L.Ed.2d 650 (2006) (citations omitted).
A warrantless search of a person is reasonable only if it falls within a recognized exception to the warrant requirement. McNeely, ___ U.S. at ___, 133 S.Ct. at 1558. One well-recognized exception to the warrant requirement applies when "the exigencies of the situation make the needs of law enforcement so compelling that the warrantless search is objectively reasonable under the Fourth Amendment." Mincey v. Arizona, 437 U.S. 385, 394, 98 S.Ct. 2408, 57 L.Ed.2d 290 (1978) (citations omitted). Exigent circumstances justifying a warrantless search may exist when "there is compelling need for official action and no time to secure a warrant." Michigan v. Tyler, 436 U.S. 499, 509, 98 S.Ct. 1942, 56 L.Ed.2d 486 (1978).
The United States Supreme Court has recognized several circumstances that may give rise to an exigency that justifies a warrantless search, including preventing the imminent destruction of evidence. King, 563 U.S. at ___, 131 S.Ct. at 1856-57. To resolve whether a law enforcement officer faced an emergency that justified acting without a warrant, the Court applies the totality-of-the-circumstances approach. See McNeely, ___ U.S. at ___, 133 S.Ct. at 1559. The exigent circumstances analysis requires an objective evaluation of the facts reasonably available to the officer at the time of the search. See Brigham City, 547 U.S. at 404, 126 S.Ct. 1943.
The United States Supreme Court has considered whether exigent circumstances existed to justify a warrantless blood draw of a suspected drunk driver in two relevant cases. McNeely, ___ U.S. ___, 133 S.Ct. 1552; Schmerber v. California, 384 U.S. 757, 86 S.Ct. 1826, 16 L.Ed.2d 908 (1966). In Schmerber, the defendant was arrested at a hospital on suspicion of driving under the influence while he was receiving treatment for injuries suffered in an accident in which he had been the driver. Id. at 758, 86 S.Ct. 1826. The officer ordered a blood sample taken without a warrant and over the defendant's objection. Id. at 768-69, 86 S.Ct. 1826.
The Court held that the exigencies of the situation made the warrantless blood draw reasonable, and therefore that the defendant's Fourth Amendment rights were not violated. Id. at 771, 86 S.Ct. 1826. It reasoned that "special facts" rendered
In Missouri v. McNeely, the Supreme Court granted certiorari to resolve a split of authority regarding whether "the natural metabolization of alcohol in the bloodstream presents a per se exigency that justifies an exception to the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement for nonconsensual blood testing in all drunk-driving cases." ___ U.S. at ___, 133 S.Ct. at 1556. The case involved a DWI investigation, in which McNeely was stopped by a Missouri police officer for speeding and suspected of DWI. Id. The officer, who observed several indicia that McNeely was intoxicated, requested that McNeely provide a breath sample. Id. When McNeely failed to provide a breath sample, the officer had a blood sample drawn at a hospital, which measured McNeely's alcohol concentration at 0.154. Id. at ___, 133 S.Ct. at 1556-57.
The Court concluded that the natural and gradual dissipation of alcohol in the defendant's bloodstream, in and of itself, does not constitute an exigency in every drunk-driving case sufficient to justify a warrantless blood draw. Id. at ___, 133 S.Ct. at 1563. Nevertheless, the Court recognized that in some circumstances law enforcement may conduct a warrantless blood draw to prevent the imminent destruction of alcohol concentration evidence. Id. at ___, 133 S.Ct. at 1561. But whether exigent circumstances exist must be decided in each case, based on the totality of the circumstances. Id.
In considering whether exigent circumstances are present, the Court in McNeely reaffirmed that "the metabolization of alcohol in the bloodstream and the ensuing loss of evidence are among the factors that must be considered in deciding whether a warrant is required." Id. at ___, 133 S.Ct. at 1568. "[B]ecause an individual's alcohol level gradually declines soon after he stops drinking, a significant delay in testing will negatively affect the probative value of the results." Id. at ___, 133 S.Ct. at 1561. The Court also acknowledged that even though experts can work backwards and use an alcohol concentration at the time a sample was taken to determine an alcohol concentration at the time of an alleged offense, long "intervals may raise questions about the accuracy of the calculations." Id. at ___, 133 S.Ct. at 1563. At the same time, the Court noted that advancements since Schmerber" was decided allow for more expeditious processing of warrant applications. Id. at ___, 133 S.Ct. at 1561-63. Thus, if under the totality of the circumstances, law enforcement "can reasonably obtain a warrant before a blood sample can be drawn without significantly undermining the efficacy of the search, the Fourth Amendment mandates that they do so." Id. at ___, 133 S.Ct. at 1561.
In light of McNeely and Schmerber, the relevant inquiry is whether, under all of the facts reasonably available to the officer at the time of the search, it was objectively reasonable for the officer to conclude that
With this framework in mind, we turn to the question of whether the State established that exigent circumstances justified the warrantless blood draw. See State v. Ture, 632 N.W.2d 621, 627 (Minn.2001) ("The state bears the burden of establishing an exception to the warrant requirement."). We review the district court's factual findings under the clearly erroneous standard. State v. Zornes, 831 N.W.2d 609, 621 (Minn.2013). But we review the district court's legal conclusions de novo. Id. Thus, we review the court's ultimate determination of exigency de novo. See In re Welfare of D.A.G., 484 N.W.2d 787, 791 (Minn.1992) ("[W]e make our own evaluation of the found facts in determining whether exigent circumstances exist.").
The relevant circumstances in this case are that officers from the State Patrol responded to a report of a single-vehicle accident involving a fatality and injuries to Stavish, who was ejected from his vehicle. Upon his arrival at the accident scene, Sergeant Martens learned from other officers that Stavish had admitted to being the driver, had sustained serious injuries, had been transported by ambulance to a nearby hospital, and would possibly be airlifted to a different hospital. Sergeant Martens then drove to the hospital to talk with Stavish and determine the involvement of alcohol in the accident. When he spoke with Stavish in the emergency room, Sergeant Martens detected the strong odor of alcohol. The record also indicates that Sergeant Martens observed multiple medical personnel tending to Stavish in the emergency room.
We conclude that the State established under the totality-of-the-circumstances approach that exigent circumstances justified the warrantless blood draw. The relevant circumstances are that law enforcement had reason to believe that Stavish, who allegedly admitted to being the driver, had consumed alcohol, and that alcohol contributed to the accident. Thus, it was important to draw
First, existing federal and state privacy laws limit information that may be disclosed about a person's medical condition and treatment without the person's written consent.
Stavish next argues, and Justice Page's dissent asserts, that the State failed to establish exigent circumstances because it did not prove that Sergeant Martens could not have obtained a telephonic warrant within 2 hours of the accident. See Minn. R.Crim. P. 36.01-.08 (authorizing search warrants on oral testimony). It is true that when Sergeant Martens obtained the blood sample from Stavish, there were 70 minutes left in the 2-hour window established by Minn.Stat. § 169A.20, subd.
Although we agree with the court of appeals' ultimate determination that the warrantless blood draw was justified by exigent circumstances, we conclude that the court of appeals erred in its underlying reasoning in two respects. First, the court of appeals relied upon the fact that law enforcement "was attempting to obtain evidence essential to a probable vehicular homicide charge, not merely a DWI charge." Stavish, 852 N.W.2d at 909. The seriousness of the offense does not itself create exigency, Mincey, 437 U.S. at 394, 98 S.Ct. 2408, and does not reduce the quantum of evidence the State must present to prove exigent circumstances.
Second, the court of appeals relied upon the fact that the accident took place in one county while Stavish was taken to a hospital in a second county for treatment. Stavish, 852 N.W.2d at 908. The fact that the hospital is located in a different county than the accident site does not itself create exigent circumstances. Instead, the relevant consideration is whether the time necessary to bring the accused to the hospital, or for the officer to travel to the hospital, impacted the officer's ability to obtain a warrant before the blood draw without significantly undermining the efficacy of the search. In this case, the hospital was only a 10-15 minute drive from the crash site, and Stavish was already at the hospital when Sergeant Martens arrived. Therefore, the fact that the location of the crash site and the hospital were in different counties was not by itself relevant to Sergeant Martens' ability to obtain a warrant before the blood draw.
Because we conclude that the State proved the existence of exigent circumstances justifying the warrantless blood draw, we do not need to address the State's alternative argument that the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule applies. See Davis v. United States, ___ U.S. ___, ___, 131 S.Ct. 2419, 2429, 180 L.Ed.2d 285 (2011) (holding that evidence
Affirmed.
GILDEA, Chief Justice (dissenting).
I respectfully dissent and join Justice Page's dissent in part. I agree with Justice Page that the State did not meet its burden to prove exigency, and I join in sections I and II of Justice Page's dissent on the exigency issue except to the extent he discusses State v. Bernard, 859 N.W.2d 762 (Minn.2015).
For the reasons set forth in my separate dissent in State v. Lindquist, ___ N.W.2d ___, 2015 WL 4928147 (Minn. Aug. 19, 2015), I would not apply the good faith exception in this case.
PAGE, Justice (dissenting).
I respectfully dissent. In this case, the court continues its efforts, begun in State v. Bernard, 859 N.W.2d 762 (Minn.2015), and reiterated in State v. Lindquist, ___ N.W.2d ___, 2015 WL 4928147 (Minn. Aug. 19, 2015), to protect its erroneous decision in State v. Shriner, 751 N.W.2d 538 (Minn.2008) (establishing that the evanescent nature of alcohol in the bloodstream is a single-factor exigency), abrogated by Missouri v. McNeely, ___ U.S. ___, 133 S.Ct. 1552, 185 L.Ed.2d 696 (2013) (holding that, contrary to this court's decisions in Shriner, the dissipation of alcohol in the blood does not create a per se exigency), and Shriner's progeny. In Bernard, we "fundamentally depart[ed] from longstanding Fourth Amendment principles" to justify a warrantless breath test as a valid search incident to arrest — "creating a novel bright-line rule" that "simply readopts a per se exigency under a different name." 859 N.W.2d at 774, 779 (Minn.2015) (Page, J., & Stras, J., dissenting jointly). Here, the court doubles down and again "readopts a per se exigency," id. at 779, this time by refusing to hold the State to its "heavy burden" to rebut the presumption of unreasonableness associated with a warrantless search of the person, Welsh v. Wisconsin, 466 U.S. 740, 749-50, 104 S.Ct. 2091, 80 L.Ed.2d 732 (1984), by establishing that "the delay necessary to obtain a warrant, under the circumstances, threatened the destruction of evidence,'" Schmerber v. California, 384 U.S. 757, 770, 86 S.Ct. 1826, 16 L.Ed.2d 908 (1966) (citation omitted). The record upon which the court finds the existence of exigent circumstances is so minimal that the decision here, in effect, nullifies the warrant requirement in every suspected drunk-driving case involving an accident with serious injuries — contradicting basic Fourth Amendment principles and the Supreme Court's decision in McNeely.
The Fourth Amendment provides, in relevant part, that "[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause." A blood draw is a search of the person that is subject to Fourth Amendment protections. Missouri v. McNeely, ___ U.S. ___, ___, 133 S.Ct. 1552, 1558, 185 L.Ed.2d 696 (2013).
A warrantless search of a person is reasonable only if it falls within a recognized exception to the warrant requirement. McNeely, ___ U.S. at ___, 133 S.Ct. at 1558. One well-recognized exception to the warrant requirement applies when "the exigencies of the situation make the needs of law enforcement so compelling that [a] warrantless search is objectively reasonable under the Fourth Amendment." Kentucky v. King, 563 U.S. 452,
The United States Supreme Court has considered whether exigent circumstances existed to justify a warrantless blood draw of a suspected drunk driver in two relevant cases. McNeely, ___ U.S. ___, 133 S.Ct. 1552; Schmerber v. California, 384 U.S. 757, 86 S.Ct. 1826, 16 L.Ed.2d 908 (1966). In Schmerber, the Court considered whether the warrantless taking of blood from a person injured in a car crash and arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol violated the Fourth Amendment. 384 U.S. at 766-68, 86 S.Ct. 1826. The Court concluded that the warrantless blood draw was not unconstitutional because the officer who ordered the blood draw "might reasonably have believed that he was confronted with an emergency, in which the delay necessary to obtain a warrant, under the circumstances, `threatened the destruction of evidence.'" Id. at 770, 86 S.Ct. 1826 (citation omitted). More specifically, the Court explained that
Id. at 770-71, 86 S.Ct. 1826. "Given these special facts," the warrantless blood draw did not violate the Fourth Amendment. Id. at 771, 86 S.Ct. 1826. The Court noted that it "reach[ed] this judgment only on the facts of the present record." Id. at 772, 86 S.Ct. 1826 (emphasis added).
In McNeely, the Court considered "whether the natural metabolization of alcohol in the bloodstream presents a per se exigency that justifies an exception to the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement for nonconsensual blood testing in all drunk-driving cases." ___ U.S. at ___, 133 S.Ct. at 1556. The Court held that, "while the natural dissipation of alcohol in the blood may support a finding of exigency in a specific case, as it did in Schmerber, it does not do so categorically." Id. at ___, 133 S.Ct. at 1563. Instead, "[w]hether a warrantless blood test of a drunk-driving suspect is reasonable must be determined case by case based on a totality of the circumstances." Id. The Court rejected the assumption that there is never time to secure a warrant in drunk-driving cases, reasoning that the collection of BAC evidence does not present a "now or never" situation because BAC evidence "dissipates over time in a gradual and relatively predictable manner." Id. at ___, 133 S.Ct. at 1561. The Court also reasoned that technological advances and changes in court rules since Schmerber was decided permit "the more expeditious processing of warrant applications." Id. at ___, 133 S.Ct. at 1561-62. Accordingly, the Court declined to "depart from careful case-by-case
In light of McNeely and Schmerber, I agree with the court that the relevant inquiry is whether, under all of the facts reasonably available to the officer at the time of the search, it was objectively reasonable for the officer to conclude that he or she was faced with an emergency in which the delay necessary to obtain a warrant, under the circumstances, would "significantly undermin[e] the efficacy of the search."
The district court found that "[t]he blood draw occurred at 11:18 p.m., 50 minutes after the crash was reported," and that "there was thus still 70 minutes remaining to obtain a sample from defendant." The district court also found that "Trooper Martens could have begun the telephonic warrant process even earlier, while driving from the crash site to the [hospital]" because Martens had his personal cell phone with him. These findings are supported by the record, and thus are not clearly erroneous.
In light of these findings regarding the time available to Sergeant Martens, it is clear that the State did not meet its burden to prove exigent circumstances. No finding by the district court or evidence in the record suggests that Sergeant Martens could not have obtained a warrant within the time remaining in the 2-hour window.
The court, however, asserts that the State met its burden to prove exigent circumstances because Stavish's medical condition was serious, possibly requiring air transport to another medical center, and because his diagnosis and treatment were evolving. The court also relies on the fact that Martens could not verify Stavish's medical condition or need for transport with hospital personnel given limitations imposed by federal and state privacy laws. But what the court ignores is the complete lack of evidence presented by the State regarding the length of time necessary to obtain a warrant. Notwithstanding the uncertainty surrounding Stavish's medical condition and the possibility of air transport, the State failed to establish that Martens could not have obtained a warrant in a sufficiently short period of time — particularly since the district court found that Martens could have taken steps to initiate the telephonic warrant process before arriving at the hospital.
The court draws an analogy to Schmerber, 384 U.S. 757, 86 S.Ct. 1826, but disregards the key differences between that case and this one. In Schmerber, the Court highlighted two "special facts" that, in combination with the natural dissipation of alcohol from the bloodstream, would have led an officer to reasonably believe there was no time to seek out a magistrate and secure a warrant: "time had to be taken to bring the accused to a hospital and to investigate the scene of the accident." 384 U.S. at 770-71, 86 S.Ct. 1826. Those same "special facts" are not present here. Sergeant Martens' testimony established that the hospital was only 10 minutes away and that other officers assumed the responsibility of investigating the scene. Moreover, as noted in McNeely, technological advances and changes in court rules in the 47 years since Schmerber was decided now permit remote warrant applications and more expeditious warrant processing. 133 S.Ct. at 1561-62; see also Minn. R.Crim. P. 36.01-36.08 (outlining the requirements for telephonic warrant applications).
To conclude otherwise is to, in effect, create a new per se rule that permits a warrantless, nonconsensual blood draw any time a drunk-driving suspect is seriously injured and taken to the hospital. It is difficult to understand how, if this record is sufficient to justify a warrantless blood draw, any record will not be sufficient, at least in the context of an accident. The only way I can understand this decision is the court, once again, pretending that McNeely never happened. See State v. Bernard, 859 N.W.2d 762, 774 (Minn. 2015) (Page, J., & Stras, J., dissenting jointly); State v. Lindquist, ___ N.W.2d ___, ___, 2015 WL 4928147 (Minn. Aug. 19, 2015) (Page, J., dissenting). In the process, the court not only ignores McNeely's requirement of a case-by-case assessment of exigency, but also the basic principle that a warrantless search of a person is presumptively unreasonable, imposing a "heavy burden" on the State "to demonstrate an urgent need" that justifies such a search. Welsh, 466 U.S. at 749-50, 104 S.Ct. 2091.
The only remaining question is whether the BAC evidence should nevertheless be admissible under the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule because the blood draw, at the time it was taken, was deemed constitutional by our pre-McNeely precedent, State v. Netland, 762 N.W.2d 202 (Minn.2009), and State v. Shriner, 751 N.W.2d 538 (Minn.2008). In United States v. Davis, ___ U.S. ___, ___, 131 S.Ct. 2419, 2434, 180 L.Ed.2d 285 (2011), the United States Supreme Court held that "[e]vidence obtained during a search conducted in reasonable reliance on binding precedent is not subject to the exclusionary rule." We adopted the Davis good-faith exception in State v. Lindquist, ___ N.W.2d ___, 2015 WL 4928147 (Minn. Aug. 19, 2015). I dissented in Lindquist on the basis that the good-faith exception violates Minn. Const. art. I, § 8,
For these reasons, I respectfully dissent.
Stavish argues that Minn.Stat. § 169A.20, subd. 1(5), is unconstitutional as a legislative attempt to create a statutory exigency that circumvents constitutional protections. This argument lacks merit. Under section 169A.20, subdivision 1(5), measurement of an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or higher within 2 hours of driving is an element of the offense of driving while impaired. McNeely does not prohibit a State from criminalizing such conduct. See generally McNeely, ___ U.S. ___, 133 S.Ct. 1552; cf. State v. Olson, 325 N.W.2d 13, 17-18 (Minn.1982) ("The power to define the conduct which constitutes a criminal offense... is vested in the legislature."). Moreover, section 169A.20, subdivision 1(5), does not authorize a blood draw without a warrant or purport to establish the natural dissipation of alcohol as a single-factor exigency, in circumvention of McNeely. It also does not eliminate the State's burden to prove that, because of the circumstances present in a particular case, a warrant could not have been reasonably obtained before a blood draw without significantly undermining the efficacy of the search. Thus, section 169A.20, subdivision 1(5), is not unconstitutional.