Stapleton v. State

In Stapleton v. State, 279 Ga. App. 296 (630 SE2d 769) (2006), the Court held that police conduct similar, if not identical, to Knight's met the "fair and reasonable" requirement set forth in Howell v. State. The suspect in that case also refused at the time of her arrest to submit to chemical blood tests. After transporting Stapleton to jail, an officer prepared the jail's intoxilyzer and "asked Stapleton, 'at this time would you like to take the State's test(?)'" 279 Ga. App. at 296. Stapleton consented, but later moved to suppress the results of that test on the grounds that she had not validly rescinded her initial refusal to submit to the same. Id. at 297 (1). The trial court denied that motion, and this Court affirmed, reasoning: Although Stapleton clearly refused to take a breath test when asked at the scene, she rescinded that refusal by agreeing to take the test at the police station. No evidence was presented showing that the officer coerced or threatened Stapleton to take the test or that Stapleton was intimidated in any way by the officer's request. Under these circumstances, we cannot hold that the officer acted unreasonably when he again asked Stapleton to take a breath test following her initial refusal at the scene. Id.