Wheeler

The Department of Motor Vehicles (the DMV) has a state-approved form (DS 367A) for reporting chemical test results to the DMV when a police officer administratively suspends a licensee’s driving privilege pursuant to Vehicle Code section 13353.2 (driving with a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.08 percent or more). The form requires the test results to be sworn. For reasons which are never explained, the Orange County Sheriff-Coroner Department crime laboratory uses its own homegrown form for reporting chemical test results to the DMV. The local form does not require the test results to be sworn.

Here, the DMV suspended Maureen Jean Wheeler’s driving privilege based upon an unsworn blood test report from the Orange County crime laboratory. Because we hold that under section 23158.2 the results of a chemical test must be sworn, we affirm the judgment of the trial court granting a peremptory writ of mandate commanding the DMV to set aside its decision suspending Wheeler’s driving privilege under sections 13353.2 and 23158.5.

Facts

California Highway Patrol Officer A. W. Lassos observed Wheeler traveling southbound on the Santa Ana Freeway at 12:35 a.m. on February 5,…