Blasi v. State
| Decision Date | 02 March 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. 2633, Sept. Term, 2004.,2633, Sept. Term, 2004. |
| Parties | Michael James BLASI v. STATE of Maryland. |
| Court | Court of Special Appeals of Maryland |
C. William Michaels, Baltimore, David M. Williams, Chestertown, for appellant.
Brian S. Kleinbord (J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Atty. Gen., on brief), for appellee.
Panel ADKINS, MEREDITH, WOODWARD, JJ.
On January 18, 2005, the Circuit Court for Harford County convicted appellant, Michael James Blasi, of driving under the influence of alcohol, in violation of Maryland Code (1977, 2002 Repl.Vol.), section 21-902(a)(1), of the Transportation Article (hereinafter "Trans. Art., § ____"). On appeal, appellant raises two important issues for our consideration. First, appellant asks us to find that the traffic stop was unlawful, because the police officer did not have probable cause to believe that appellant made an unsafe lane change in violation of Trans. Art., § 21-309(b). Second, appellant requests that we decide, for the first time in Maryland, that the administration of field sobriety tests by a police officer during a valid traffic stop constitutes a "search" within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and consequently, the officer must have probable cause that the driver is under the influence of alcohol before conducting such tests.
For the reasons set forth herein, we hold that: (1) under the facts of this case, the police officer had probable cause to believe that appellant made an unsafe lane change in violation of Trans. Art., § 21-309(b); and (2) the administration of field sobriety tests by a police officer constitutes a "search" within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment, but applying Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968), the constitutionally mandated prerequisite for conducting such tests is reasonable articulable suspicion, not probable cause, that the driver is under the influence of alcohol. Accordingly, we shall affirm the judgment of the circuit court.
Appellant's motion to suppress the vehicle stop and the evidence flowing from that stop came before the circuit court on January 18, 2005. The State called one witness: Trooper Harris of the Maryland State Police. Appellant testified on his own behalf, and called Karen Mitchell, his friend and a passenger in his vehicle during the stop at issue. Because the trial court found Trooper Harris "to be a very credible witness" and "accept[ed] his version of what he observe[d]," we will set forth only those facts of the events in question that appear in the testimony of Trooper Harris.
On the night of March 17, 2004, Trooper Harris was assigned to traffic enforcement in Harford County. At approximately 11:30 p.m., while on secondary patrol in the vicinity of northbound Route 24 at Wheel Road in Bel Air, he observed a medium colored Acura traveling northbound in lane two on Route 24.1 Trooper Harris, in his marked patrol car, was in lane one, a short distance behind the Acura.2 There was "medium traffic" on the road at that time.
While following the Acura, Trooper Harris observed two things: (1) the vehicle was unable to drive within its lane, and (2) the vehicle's speed fluctuated about eight to ten miles an hour above and below the posted speed limit of 55 m.p.h. Trooper Harris described the vehicle's movements:
[The Acura was] failing to drive within a single lane. In the slow lane there would be a solid white l[i]ne that would be separating the shoulder and the right lane, and a dotted line would be separating the lane that I was in and the Defendant's lane. I noticed the vehicle would travel over the right shoulder. When I say travel over the right shoulder, the whole vehicle wasn't on the shoulder two wheels were over the solid line. The vehicle would come back across the lane that I was traveling in and two wheels would go over the dotted line. At no time was the vehicle completely over the white line or completely over the dotted line.
Trooper Harris observed the Acura leave its lane twice: once over the solid white line separating lane two from the shoulder, and then back the other direction, across the dotted line, and into the lane occupied by Trooper Harris. He noted that "[a]lmost half" of the vehicle swerved over the solid white line and on to the shoulder of Route 24. These movements were in conjunction with the vehicle speeding up to 65 m.p.h., and then down to 45 m.p.h. The vehicle's movements and variations in speed occurred over approximately one quarter of a mile, on a straight and level section of Route 24.3 Trooper Harris was not aware of any external factor, thing, or other car that might have caused the Acura to leave its lane. Trooper Harris noted, "I never lost sight of the vehicle."
Based on his observations, Trooper Harris activated his emergency equipment and initiated a traffic stop of the Acura. Upon approaching the Acura, Trooper Harris advised appellant, the driver, as to why he was stopped, at which time Trooper Harris detected the odor of alcohol within the vehicle. Trooper Harris asked the driver for his license and registration. He identified the driver as appellant, Michael James Blasi.
Noting that appellant had a passenger in the vehicle, Trooper Harris sought to determine whether the driver or the passenger had been drinking. He asked appellant to get out of the car and step to the rear of the vehicle. As Trooper Harris stood an arm's length away from appellant, he "detect[ed] a strong odor of alcoholic beverage emanating from [appellant's] breath and person." Trooper Harris observed that appellant's "eyes were bloodshot and glassy," and that his speech was "absolutely slurred." Trooper Harris asked appellant if he "had anything to drink," to which appellant replied, "just a few."
Trooper Harris then asked appellant to submit to a battery of field sobriety tests; appellant responded, "no problem."4 Trooper Harris administered three standardized field sobriety tests: (1) the horizontal gaze nystagmus ("HGN"), (2) the walk-and-turn, and (3) the one-leg-stand. Prior to commencing the tests, Trooper Harris inquired of appellant as to whether he had any mental or physical impairments that would prohibit him from doing the field sobriety tests; appellant replied in the negative.
The field sobriety tests were conducted on the side of Route 24, between appellant's vehicle and the police car. The surface was flat, level, and clear of debris. On the basis of the HGN test, which measures the involuntary jerking of the eye, Trooper Harris concluded that appellant had alcohol in his system. On the remaining tests, the walk-and-turn and one-legstand, appellant was unable to maintain his balance or walk heel to toe without stepping off the line. At the conclusion of the tests, Trooper Harris placed appellant under arrest. At no time did appellant object to performing the field sobriety tests, and at all times appellant was polite and cooperative.
In arguing the motion to suppress, appellant raised two issues: (1) that the initial stop of appellant was unlawful, and (2) that the field sobriety tests were unlawful because appellant was coerced into performing them, and further that the tests require probable cause because they constitute a "search in the person's mind and cogn[i]tive abilities." The State countered that the stop was proper based upon Trooper Harris's observations of appellant's vehicle as it traveled northbound on Route 24, and that "field sobriety tests are not a search."
After hearing the testimony and both parties' arguments, the court stated in relevant part:
In any event, I found the officer to be very credible and I so accept his version of what he observes.
In a quarter to a half a mile the trooper sees the Defendant's car go one half of the way over the shoulder line and back over to the left one half of the way over into another travel lane occupied by the officer's vehicle. This is quite different from the Rowe case, and all of this is on Route 24[,] which is a major highway. This is coupled with speeding up to sixty-five and dropping down to forty-five. All of this gives reasonable articulable suspicion to make the stop.
Upon stopping the vehicle and encountering the driver[,] he smells alcohol. Quite frankly, in fairness to the occupant driver he asks him to go to the rear so as to isolate the Defendant to make sure that the odor is coming from him and is not coming from another source inside of the car; i.e., the second individual. He goes to the back of the car and it is coming or emanating from him, and the Defendant even acknowledges that he has had a few.
Now, the trooper asks him to do some field tests and the Defendant consents. The Court finds absolutely no coercion, no promises, no threats, no subtle threats. The Defendant due to his upbringing feels that he has no choice. The officer did nothing to coerce, et cetera. There is nothing coercive about him requesting him to come to the back of the car, nothing about the questions asked or about taking the tests, and the Court will deny the motion to suppress.
The case immediately went to trial before the circuit court, sitting without a jury. The State proceeded on only one charge, driving under the influence of alcohol in violation of Trans. Art., § 21-902(a)(1). Appellant entered a plea of not guilty, with consent to submission on an agreed statement of facts. Based on that statement, the court found appellant guilty and sentenced him to thirty days incarceration, a partially suspended fine, and three years of supervised probation. Thereafter, appellant noted a timely appeal to this Court.
Appellant presents one issue with eight sub-parts for our review, which we have re-phrased as follows:5
I. Whether the trial court erred by determining that the police officer had probable cause of a traffic violation that justified a...
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