Questions raised in catheter lawsuit
SANDPOINT - Attorneys for an Oldtown man who claims he was catheterized against his will during a drug investigation are pressing the question of whether an Idaho State Police trooper had a search warrant to obtain the urine sample.
Jason Charles Miller sued state police and the trooper who was involved earlier this year. He argued his constitutional protection against unlawful searches was violated.
Counsel for Jason Charles Miller have a motion pending in 1st District Court to force the state to answer several questions, one of which centers on the issue of a search warrant, court records show.
Miller, 27, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in Priest River in May 2007. A meth pipe was discovered in his vehicle and Miller allegedly exhibited outward signs of stimulant use, according to court documents.
The lawsuit said Miller repeatedly refused to provide a urine sample, which resulted him being taken to Bonner General Hospital so a nurse could withdraw a sample via catheter.
At the time, Miller was awaiting trial on vehicular manslaughter and methamphetamine possession charges stemming from a deadly crash on Highway 57 south of Priest Lake in 2006. The crash killed Richard Martin Boge, the 78-year-old father of Sandpoint Councilman Michael Boge.
The results of the urine analysis were never disclosed in court and Miller subsequently entered into a plea agreement to resolve the DUI charge and the meth charge filed in the manslaughter case. The defense, however, initially planned on suppressing the drug-test evidence, court records indicate.
Miller was sentenced to seven years in prison on the meth charge and a jury convicted him of manslaughter at the misdemeanor level. The lesser sentences ran concurrently with the felony drug conviction and jurisdiction was retained, which enabled Miller to be placed on probation after serving six months.
Miller went on to sue ISP, Trooper Chris Yount, the Bonner County Sheriff's Office and Deputy Jason Slinger over the DUI stop. The county and Slinger were later released from the litigation by stipulation, court records indicate.
Counsel for the state and the trooper, Special Deputy Attorney General Peter Johnson, rejected the allegations and argued Yount was acting reasonably under the circumstances and without malice, according to civil court filings.
In the plaintiff's first set of interrogatories - written questions which are meant to clarify facts prior to trial - Miller seeks an answer to the search warrant question.
Johnson, court papers show, declined to answer the question because it was argumentative. Johnson added that consent to search can be implied under Idaho's motor vehicle laws.
Attorneys Doug Phelps and Peter Jones contend searches done without a warrant are presumptively unreasonable, which places the burden on the defense to establish Yount was acting pursuant to an exception to the warrant requirement.