STATE OF MINNESOTA
IN COURT OF APPEALS
A14-1813
State of Minnesota,
Respondent,
vs.
David Ray Bennett,
Appellant.
Filed July 27, 2015
Affirmed
Johnson, Judge
Concurring specially, Cleary, Chief Judge
Ramsey County District Court
File No. 62SU-CR-13-3597
Lori Swanson, Attorney General, St. Paul, Minnesota; and
Thomas R. Hughes, Hughes & Costello, St. Paul, Minnesota (for respondent)
Charles A. Ramsay, Daniel J. Koewler, Suzula R. Bidon, Ramsay Law Firm, P.L.L.C.,
Roseville, Minnesota (for appellant)
Considered and decided by Ross, Presiding Judge; Cleary, Chief Judge; and
Johnson, Judge.
SYLLABUS
Minnesota’s test-refusal statute does not violate the unconstitutional-conditions
doctrine by imposing a criminal penalty on a person who has been arrested for driving
while impaired and has refused to submit to a breath test.
OPINION
JOHNSON, Judge
David Ray Bennett was arrested on suspicion of driving while impaired and
refused to submit to a breath test. After a stipulated-evidence court trial, the district court
found Bennett guilty of third-degree refusal to submit to chemical testing, in violation of
Minnesota Statutes section 169A.20, subdivision 2. On appeal, Bennett argues that the
statute that criminalizes test-refusal violates the unconstitutional-conditions doctrine. We
affirm.
FACTS
During the afternoon of September 5, 2013, Bennett was involved in a two-vehicle
collision when he rear-ended another vehicle in stop-and-go traffic on interstate highway
35W in the city of New Brighton. When State Trooper Zachary Hill arrived at the scene,
he found Bennett lying across the front seat of his vehicle “in a hyper relaxed state.”
Bennett had difficulty finding his driver’s license, his speech was heavily slurred, he had
bloodshot and watery eyes, he smelled of alcohol, and he had difficulty standing.
Trooper Hill administered some road-side field sobriety tests while Bennett was seated,
and Bennett failed those tests. Trooper Hill believed that it would be unsafe to administer
field sobriety tests that would require Bennett to stand because of his unsteadiness. A
preliminary breath test indicated that Bennett’s alcohol concentration was .152. Trooper
Hill arrested Bennett, transported him to the Ramsey County jail, read him the implied-
consent advisory, and requested that he take a breath test. Bennett refused.
2
The state charged Bennett with one count of third-degree refusal to submit to
chemical testing, in violation of Minn. Stat. § 169A.20, subd. 2 (2012), and one count of
fourth-degree driving while impaired (DWI), in violation of Minn. Stat. § 169A.20, subd.
1(1) (2012). In November 2013, Bennett moved to suppress evidence and to dismiss the
charge of refusal to submit to chemical testing. In support of his motion to dismiss,
Bennett argued that the test-refusal statute is unconstitutional. In July 2014, the district
court issued an 18-page order in which it denied Bennett’s motion to dismiss.
In September 2014, the parties agreed to a stipulated-evidence court trial. See
Minn. R. Crim. P. 26.01, subd. 4. The district court found Bennett guilty of third-degree
test refusal and dismissed the charge of fourth-degree DWI. The district court imposed a
sentence of 91 days in the workhouse but stayed execution of the sentence, placed
Bennett on probation for two years, and ordered a $300 fine. Bennett appeals.
ISSUE
Does Minnesota’s test-refusal statute violate the unconstitutional-conditions
doctrine by imposing a criminal penalty on a person who has been arrested for DWI and
has refused to submit to a breath test?
ANALYSIS
Bennett argues that the district court erred by denying his motion to dismiss the
charge of refusal to submit to chemical testing. More specifically, Bennett argues that the
test-refusal statute is unconstitutional because it violates the unconstitutional-conditions
doctrine.
3
The constitutionality of a statute is a question of law, to which this court applies a
de novo standard of review. State v. Ness, 834 N.W.2d 177, 181 (Minn. 2013). We
presume that Minnesota statutes are constitutional and will declare a statute
unconstitutional “with extreme caution and only when absolutely necessary.” Id. at 182
(quotation omitted). The party challenging a statute on constitutional grounds must meet
“the very heavy burden of demonstrating beyond a reasonable doubt that the statute is
unconstitutional.” State v. Johnson, 813 N.W.2d 1, 11 (Minn. 2012) (quotation omitted).
In Minnesota, any person “who drives, operates, or is in physical control of a
motor vehicle within this state or on any boundary water of this state consents . . . to a
chemical test of that person’s blood, breath, or urine for the purpose of determining the
presence of alcohol.” Minn. Stat. § 169A.51, subd. 1(a) (2012). A law-enforcement
officer may impose this duty on a person if the officer has probable cause to believe that
the person has committed the offense of DWI and the person has been arrested for DWI.
Minn. Stat. § 169A.51, subd. 1(b). If a person refuses to submit to chemical testing,
however, “a test must not be given.” Minn. Stat. § 169A.52, subd. 1 (2012); see also
State v. Brooks, 838 N.W.2d 563, 571 (Minn. 2013) (“If a driver refuses the test, the
police are required to honor that refusal and not perform the test.”), cert. denied, 134 S.
Ct. 1799 (2014). But there are consequences for such a refusal. One consequence is that
the commissioner of public safety will temporarily revoke the person’s driver’s license.
Minn. Stat. § 169A.52, subd. 3. Another consequence is that the state may charge the
person with the criminal offense of refusal to submit to chemical testing. Minn. Stat.
§ 169A.20, subd. 2.
4
Bennett contends that the statute criminalizing a person’s refusal to submit to
chemical testing is unconstitutional because it compels a person to relinquish Fourth
Amendment rights as a condition of maintaining a driver’s license and avoiding criminal
punishment. Bennett relies on the legal theory known as the unconstitutional-conditions
doctrine. “The unconstitutional-conditions doctrine is a creature of federal law that may,
in some situations, be invoked to protect or vindicate a constitutional right.” Stevens v.
Commissioner of Pub. Safety, 850 N.W.2d 717, 723 (Minn. App. 2014).
In State v. Netland, the supreme court considered an argument that was essentially
the same as Bennett’s argument. 762 N.W.2d 202 (Minn. 2009), abrogated in part by
Missouri v. McNeely, 133 S. Ct. 1552 (2013), as recognized in Brooks, 838 N.W.2d at
567. The appellant in Netland invoked the unconstitutional-conditions doctrine as a
means of challenging the constitutionality of the statute that criminalizes test refusal. Id.
at 210-11. The supreme court began its analysis by summarizing the United States
Supreme Court caselaw on the unconstitutional-conditions doctrine. Id. at 211-12. The
supreme court noted that the doctrine might not apply to rights other than those protected
by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Id. at 211; see also Stevens,
850 N.W.2d at 724 (noting that Supreme Court has declined to apply unconstitutional-
conditions doctrine to Fourth Amendment rights). The supreme court observed that the
unconstitutional-conditions doctrine “is properly raised only when a party has
successfully pleaded the merits of the underlying unconstitutional government
infringement.” Netland, 762 N.W.2d at 211. Accordingly, the supreme court recognized
that, “in order to proceed with her claim, Netland must establish that the criminal test-
5
refusal statute authorizes an unconstitutional search.” Id. at 212. The supreme court
resolved Netland’s challenge by reasoning that the “‘rapid, natural dissipation of alcohol
in the blood’” is sufficient to satisfy the “‘single-factor exigent circumstances’” exception
to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement. Id. (quoting State v. Shriner, 751
N.W.2d 538, 549-50 (Minn. 2008)). The supreme court’s reliance on Shriner provided a
basis for concluding that a warrantless search of Netland’s breath would not have been an
unconstitutional search, which meant that imposing a criminal penalty for her refusal to
submit to a breath test would not violate the unconstitutional-conditions doctrine, if the
doctrine were to apply. See id. at 214.
Bennett contends that the supreme court’s opinion in Netland no longer is good
law because Shriner was overruled by the United States Supreme Court in McNeely.
Bennett is correct insofar as the Supreme Court in McNeely held that the natural
dissipation of alcohol from a person’s bloodstream is not a per se exigency justifying a
warrantless blood test. See McNeely, 133 S. Ct. at 1560-63. Rather, the exigency
analysis is a fact-specific analysis that must consider the totality of the circumstances,
including, among other things, the natural dissipation of alcohol from a person’s
bloodstream. Id. at 1558-60. The Supreme Court in McNeely cited Shriner as a case that
had recognized the natural dissipation of alcohol from a person’s bloodstream as a per se
exigency justifying a warrantless blood test. Id. at 1558 n.2. Because Shriner is
inconsistent with McNeely, Netland also is inconsistent with McNeely, to the extent that
Netland depends on Shriner.
6
Even if a warrantless search cannot be justified by Shriner, the search may be
justified by another exception to the warrant requirement. In its responsive brief, the
state contends that a warrantless search of a person’s breath now is justified by the
exception for a search incident to arrest. The state cites State v. Bernard, 859 N.W.2d
762 (Minn. 2015),1 in which the supreme court recently held that the search-incident-to-
arrest exception would have justified the warrantless administration of a breath test
following a valid arrest for DWI. Id. at 767. Even though the appellant in Bernard
challenged the constitutionality of the criminal test-refusal statute with a different legal
theory (substantive due process), the holding in Bernard nonetheless is relevant to the
unconstitutional-conditions doctrine because that doctrine requires this court to determine
whether the search that Bennett refused, a breath test, would have been an
unconstitutional search. See Netland, 762 N.W.2d at 212. That is essentially the same
question that was presented in Bernard, in which the supreme court considered “whether
a warrantless search of Bernard’s breath would have been constitutional under the Fourth
Amendment.” 859 N.W.2d at 766. In short, the Bernard holding may be inserted into
the Netland analysis in lieu of the Shriner holding.
1
At oral argument, Bennett’s attorney argued that the state failed to preserve its
Bernard-based argument by not presenting it to the district court. But it is well-
established that the respondent on appeal in a criminal case may present to this court an
alternative reason for affirming the district court, if the alternative reason is permitted by
both the law and the factual record and would not expand the relief granted. See Minn.
R. Crim. P. 29.04, subd. 6; State v. Grunig, 660 N.W.2d 134, 137 (Minn. 2003) (applying
Minn. R. Crim. P. 29.04, subd. 6, to state’s alternative ground for affirmance). In this
case, the prerequisites of the Grunig principle are satisfied.
7
In light of Bernard, Bennett’s unconstitutional-conditions-doctrine argument is
easily resolved. The warrantless breath test that Bennett refused would not have been an
unconstitutional search because it would have been a valid search incident to a lawful
arrest. See Bernard, 859 N.W.2d at 767; Netland, 762 N.W.2d at 212. Because Bennett
cannot “establish that the criminal test-refusal statute authorizes an unconstitutional
search,” he cannot “proceed with [his] claim” that the criminal-refusal statute violates the
unconstitutional-conditions doctrine. See Netland, 762 N.W.2d at 212. Therefore,
Bennett’s constitutional challenge fails.
DECISION
The district court did not err by denying Bennett’s motion to dismiss the charge of
refusal to submit to chemical testing.
Affirmed.
8
CLEARY, Chief Judge (concurring specially)
While I agree with the majority as to the result in this case, I concur specially to
emphasize the limited purview of this decision. Specifically, I believe that the search-
incident-to-arrest exception found in State v. Bernard, 859 N.W.2d 762 (Minn. 2015) is
limited to providing that a warrantless breath test is constitutional under these facts. The
Bernard court noted that other courts have refused to apply the search-incident-to-arrest
exception to warrantless blood tests and that the supreme court itself had previously
“determined that a warrantless blood sample search was unconstitutional” in a non-DWI
context. Bernard, 859 N.W.2d at 768 n.6. Putting aside my continuing concerns
regarding the taking of a breath sample from an individual’s body as part of a search
incident to arrest, see id. at 774 (Page and Stras, JJ., dissenting jointly) (“[T]he Supreme
Court has never implied, much less stated, that the search-incident-to-arrest exception
extends to the forcible removal of substances from within a person’s body.”), even the
majority in Bernard drew a line by expressing “no opinion as to whether a blood or urine
test of a suspected drunk driver could be justified as a search incident to arrest.” Id.
Consequently, in a blood or urine test-refusal case, the majority could not simply
insert the Bernard holding “into the Netland analysis in lieu of the Shriner holding,” to
determine whether there is an underlying unconstitutional government infringement for
the purpose of deciding whether the test-refusal statute imposes unconstitutional
conditions on a person’s exercise of Fourth Amendment rights. Because the test-refusal
statute penalizes the refusal of all types of chemical alcohol concentration testing, and
because no Minnesota precedent holds that warrantless blood and urine tests are justified
CS-1
under the search-incident-to-arrest exception, I write separately to posit that the test-
refusal statute may well violate the unconstitutional-conditions doctrine as it pertains to
warrantless blood and urine tests.
CS-2