Alcohol level usable against driver in East Hanover fatal

The Morris County Prosecutor's Office can use at trial blood and urine samples taken from a suspected drunken driver accused of causing the death of East Hanover community leader Ralph J. Politi Jr. in 2012, a Superior Court judge ruled Thursday.

Judge Robert Gilson, sitting in Morristown, issued a written decision that said prosecutors established there were "exigent circumstances" -- a pressing need -- that justified warrantless blood and urine samples taken on May 5, 2012 from defendant Vanessa E. Brown.

Blood was drawn from Brown, now 35, about two and one-half hours after her Toyota Camry jumped a curb on Ridgedale Avenue in East Hanover and struck Politi, 49, as he loaded items into his pickup truck in a parking lot at 30 Ridgedale Avenue. Politi, a local girls softball coach and member of the Hanover Park Regional High School Board of Education, died shortly after he was struck.

The blood sample showed that Brown had a blood-alcohol content of .133 percent, or more than the .08 percent limit at which a driver is considered intoxicated in New Jersey.

Defense lawyer Jessica Moses sought to suppress the blood and urine samples by arguing that police did not get a warrant from a judge. Therefore, the samples were the result of illegal searches that violated Brown's constitutional rights against unreasonable searches, Moses argued.

While the case against Brown has been pending, federal and state case law has evolved so that "a totality of the circumstances test" now applies to the evaluation of whether a warrantless blood draw from a drunken-driving suspect is reasonable.

Gilson conducted several evidentiary hearings and last heard arguments from Moses and Morris County Assistant Prosecutor John McNamara Jr. on admissibility of the samples in June. Gilson ruled that the Prosecutor's Office proved exigent circumstances for taking the blood and urine sample under the totality of circumstances surrounding the crash that killed Politi.

First, police had probable cause to arrest Brown at the scene because she smelled of alcohol, slurred her speech and made disjointed statements, Gilson found. Officers and rescue workers were busy attending to the dying victim, diverting traffic from the scene, collecting evidence, and some even had to respond to a second, nearby crash, Gilson said.

Brown was taken to Morristown Medical Center, where she did not give consent to giving samples of her blood or urine. Police were concerned about the dissipation of alcohol in Brown's bloodstream and the length of time it would take to prepare an affidavit for a search warrant and locate a judge. After consulting with an assistant county prosecutor, an East Hanover detective directed a hospital nurse to draw blood from Brown and take a urine sample, the judge outlined in his opinion.

"By the time defendant was at the hospital, there was an objective basis to believe that any further delay in obtaining a blood sample may have compromised the preservation of evidence," the judge found.

Given all the facts, considered under the "totality of the circumstances," the state established exigent circumstances that justified warrantless taking of the blood and urine samples, Gilson ruled.

All outstanding issues in Brown's case have now been resolved. She is charged with aggravated manslaughter and vehicular homicide. A status conference is tentatively scheduled to occur next Wednesday in Superior Court.

Staff Writer Peggy Wright: 973-267-1142; pwright@GannettNJ.com.