TOPEKA, Kan. — The Kansas Court of appeals Friday reversed the ruling of Judge Trish Rose regarding motion to suppress evidence.
The reversal of the decision by Judge Rose to suppress the blood evidence involves the case against Troy Meitler. The Halstead man is charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with a two-vehicle fatality accident west of Hutchinson in 2011.
Meitler apparently crossed the center line with his vehicle and struck the vehicle driven by 49-year-old Brian Bush head-on. Bush was killed instantly, while his passenger, 50-year-old Annette Bush was badly injured and taken to a Wichita hospital where she later died, but apparently not as a direct result of the accident. The accident occurring on U-S 50 at Salem Road, 3-miles west of Abbyville.
Meitler was taken to a Wichita hospital where a blood sample taken and tested positive for methamphetamine.
Judge Rose had granted the defense motion in the case ruling that law enforcement did not have consent from the defendant to take blood while he was unconscious. The state argued that the troopers took the blood, citing state statute that requires blood be taken when there’s an accident resulting in death of serious injury. After the ruling by Judge Rose, the state immediately filed an appeal.
The Court of Appeals ruled Friday that Judge Rose erred in suppressing the evidence of Meitler’s blood draw, saying the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule is applicable to the facts.
They add that trooper’s Stephen Morris and John Maier’s conduct in ordering the blood draw was reliant on then-existing authority provided by law. With the reversal in the Judge Rose’s ruling, the case is remanded for further proceedings.