Search & seizure; Warrant timing; MCL 780.651(5); People v Armstrong; Warrant validity; Franks v Delaware; Blood-test foundation; MCL 257.625a(6)(c); People v Cords; Sentencing; Proportionality; People v Posey

The court held that the trial court properly denied suppression of defendant’s blood-test results and that her within-guidelines sentence was proportionate. She drove the wrong way on a highway while intoxicated, causing a multicar crash that killed one person and injured others. Her blood later tested at 0.151 grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters. The trial court denied defendant’s motions to quash the warrant and suppress the blood-test results. After a jury convicted her of operating while intoxicated causing death and reckless driving causing death, the trial court imposed concurrent sentences of 86 to 180 months. On appeal, the court held that the record supported the finding that the warrant was signed and received before the blood draw because the timestamps placed the warrant at about 11:00 p.m. and the draw between 11:30 p.m. and 11:38 p.m., while witnesses confirmed officers showed hospital staff a warrant before the draw began. The court next found no basis to invalidate the warrant under Franks because, at the suppression stage, there was no evidence that Trooper L lied or acted with reckless disregard for the truth. Further, the information that defendant drank vodka and smelled of alcohol was enough to establish probable cause. The court also found that minor timing discrepancies in the blood-draw paperwork did not undermine reliability because the testimony explained the “‘chaotic’” draw and defendant did not dispute that the sample was hers. The court finally held that defendant failed to rebut the presumption that her top-of-the-guidelines sentence was proportionate. Affirmed.