Whisenhunt v. State, Department of Public Safety, Division of Motor Vehicles

OPINION

Before RABINOWITZ, C.J., and BURKE, MATTHEWS, COMPTON and MOORE, JJ. MATTHEWS, Justice.

In Copelin v. State, 659 P.2d 1206 (Alaska 1983), we held that a person arrested for operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated has a right to consult a lawyer before being required to decide whether to submit to a breathalyzer test. We also held that if this right is violated then the test results should be suppressed in an ensuing criminal prosecution. 1 The question here is whether the result of a test secured in violation of the right to counsel should be excluded in a civil license revocation…