Cains v. State

• Decision Date: 29 September 1989
• Docket Number: 1 Div. 883
• Citation: 555 So.2d 290
• Parties: Clayton CAINS v. STATE.
• Court: Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals

Page 290

555 So.2d 290

Clayton CAINS v. STATE.

1 Div. 883.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.

Sept. 29, 1989.

Rehearing Denied Nov. 17, 1989.

Judy A. Newcomb, Spanish Fort, for appellant.

Don Siegelman, Atty. Gen., and J. Thomas Leverette, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

BOWEN, Judge.

Clayton Cains was convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol, a violation of § 32-5A-191(a)(2), Code of Alabama 1975, and sentenced to pay a fine of $500. On appeal, he claims that he was illegally arrested and that the State did not establish the proper predicate for introduction of his blood alcohol test results into evidence.

I

On March 13, 1988, State Troopers McGlothlin, Peacock, and Tolbert set up a roadblock on Alabama highway 59, between Stapleton and Loxley, to check for "drivers' licenses, equipment violations, persons who were driving under the influence, [and] anything that would be in violation of the law." Trooper Tim McGlothlin testified that they decided to set up the roadblock "based on problems that we were having in the area." They received approval for the roadblock from their supervisor, Corporal Larry Linden, and Linden later came by to check on the roadblock.

McGlothlin testified that he stopped every car in both the northbound and southbound lanes of traffic, asked the drivers for their licenses, and then waved them on if there were no problems. The duration of each stop was for "five, ten seconds or so, just long enough to pull out their license." When McGlothlin asked the defendant for his license, McGlothlin noticed that the defendant's eyes were "extremely bloodshot," that he acted "sluggish," and that he "looked intoxicated."

At that point, the trooper asked the defendant to pull his vehicle to the side of the road, to step out of the car, and to walk to a nearby patrol car. McGlothlin, who observed the defendant walk about 30 yards, stated that the defendant was "very unsteady on his feet," and "staggered the whole time." When the defendant got in the patrol car, he had a strong odor of alcohol on his breath, he was "thick-tongued," and it was difficult to understand him. McGlothlin gave him an alco-sensor field test for sobriety and, when he failed the test, the officer arrested him for DUI. He was then taken to the Robertsdale police headquarters and administered an Intoxilyzer 5000 test. The results of that test indicated that the defendant had a blood alcohol content of .20%.

Although the defendant does not challenge the constitutionality of his initial stop at the roadblock, he claims that his being directed to pull out of the line of traffic for further inquiry constituted an arrest without probable cause in violation of his Fourth Amendment rights. We hold that no arrest occurred at that time.

Instead, the defendant was detained on reasonable suspicion of DUI pursuant to § 15-5-30, Code of Alabama 1975, and the Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968), line of cases. Following further observation of the defendant's condition, including his failure to pass the field sobriety test, the officer then had probable cause to arrest him for DUI and transport him to police headquarters for an intoxilyzer test. See Buchanan v. City of Auburn, 512 So.2d 145, 146 (Ala.Cr.App.1987), overruled on other grounds, Hays v. City of Jacksonville, 518 So.2d 892 (Ala.Cr.App.1987).

Our holding that the defendant was not arrested, but merely subjected to a Terry-type detention when he was directed to the secondary inspection area for further inquiry necessarily includes the determination that his initial stop at the roadblock was permissible. If the primary stop had been constitutionally infirm, then any additional detention would, of course, have been invalid. See State v. Calhoun, 502 So.2d 808 (Ala.1986).

It is undisputed that "stopping an automobile and detaining its occupants constitute a 'seizure' within the meaning of [the Fourth Amendment]," Delaware v. Prouse, 440 U.S. 648, 653, 99 S.Ct. 1391, 1396, 59 L.Ed.2d 660 (1979). "Checkpoint stops are 'seizures,' " United States v. Martinez- Fuerte, 428 U.S. 543, 556, 96 S.Ct. 3074, 3082, 49 L.Ed.2d 1116 (1976). The Fourth Amendment requires that such seizures be reasonable. Delaware v. Prouse; Martinez-Fuerte; Terry v. Ohio. Generally, a seizure less intrusive than a traditional arrest is reasonable if based on individualized suspicion, gathered from specific and articulate facts, that the individual is, or is about to be, engaged in criminal activity, Terry v. Ohio; see also United States v. Cortez, 449 U.S. 411, 417, 101 S.Ct. 690, 694, 66 L.Ed.2d 621 (1981), or if the seizure is "carried out pursuant to a plan embodying explicit, neutral limitations on the conduct of individual officers," Brown v. Texas, 443 U.S. 47, 51, 99 S.Ct. 2637, 2640, 61 L.Ed.2d 357 (1979).

The nature of a roadblock requires the stopping of cars without individualized suspicion of wrongdoing. Thus, if a roadblock stop is to be upheld, it must be on the second basis, i.e., because it is "carried out pursuant to a plan embodying explicit, neutral limitations on the conduct of individual officers." In a series of decisions stemming from the immigration control cases, the United States Supreme Court has rejected the individualized suspicion requirement for fixed, non-random automobile checkpoints or roadblock stops, and instead has established some criteria for "a plan embodying explicit, neutral limitations on the conduct of individual officers."

In United States v. Brignoni-Ponce, 422 U.S. 873, 95 S.Ct. 2574, 45 L.Ed.2d 607 (1975), the Court held that random vehicle stops by roving border patrols must be based on reasonable and individualized suspicion of criminal activity, but it approved, in United States v. Martinez-Fuerte, 428 U.S. 543, 96 S.Ct. 3074, 49 L.Ed.2d 1116 (1976), the stop of all oncoming traffic at a fixed immigration roadblock-type checkpoint in the absence of individualized suspicion. In Martinez-Fuerte, the Court observed that "the Fourth Amendment imposes no irreducible requirement of such suspicion," 428 U.S. at 561, 96 S.Ct. at 3084, and it utilized a balancing approach to determine reasonableness, weighing the strong public interest in stopping the flow of illegal aliens against the minimal intrusion on " 'the constitutionally protected interests of the private citizen,' " id. (quoting Camara v. Municipal Court of City and County of San Francisco, 387 U.S. 523, 538, 87 S.Ct. 1727, 1735, 18 L.Ed.2d 930 (1967)). In addition to noting a lesser expectation of privacy in an automobile, the Court also found that roadblock stops "both appear to and actually involve less discretionary enforcement activity," id. 428 U.S. at 559, 561, 96 S.Ct. at 3083, 3084.

Then, in Delaware v. Prouse, the Court again focused on the critical element of "discretionary enforcement activity" by holding that a random stop, by an officer on roving patrol, of an automobile to check vehicle registration and licensing requirements violated the Fourth Amendment because it was not based on individualized suspicion. Finding that the "essential purpose of the proscriptions in the Fourth Amendment is to impose a standard of 'reasonableness' upon the exercise of discretion by government officials," the Court determined that the absence of "an objective standard" for making a particular stop made random stops unreasonable. 440 U.S. at 653-54, 99 S.Ct. at 1395-96. The Court concluded with the following observation, which has been the basis for roadblock stops ever since:

"This holding does not preclude the State of Delaware or other States from developing methods for spot checks that involve less intrusion or that do not involve the unconstrained exercise of discretion. Questioning of all oncoming traffic at roadblock-type stops is one possible alternative." Id. at 663, 99 S.Ct. at 1401 (emphasis added).

Four years later, the Court specifically approved drivers' license checkpoints in Texas v. Brown, 460 U.S. 730, 103 S.Ct. 1535, 75 L.Ed.2d 502 (1983). In Brown, while the accused was detained at a roadblock the officer noticed a balloon which, based on his experience, he suspected contained narcotics. The Court upheld the seizure of the balloon and the subsequent search of the vehicle based on the "plain view" exception to the warrant requirement outlined in Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443, 91 S.Ct. 2022, 29 L.Ed.2d 564 (1971). For the plain view exception to apply, "[f]irst, the police officer must lawfully make an 'initial intrusion' or otherwise properly be in a position from which he can view a particular area." Texas v. Brown, 460 U.S. at 737, 103 S.Ct. at 1540; Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. at 465-68, 91 S.Ct. at 2037-39. Regarding the legitimacy of the officer's initial intrusion in Brown, the Court noted the following:

"The [Texas] Court of Criminal Appeals stated that it did not 'question ... the validity of the officer's initial stop of appellant's vehicle as a part of a license check,' [Brown v. State ] 617 S.W.2d , at 200 [Tex.Cr.App.1981], and we agree. Delaware v. Prouse, supra [440 U.S.] at 654-655 ." Texas v. Brown, 460 U.S. at 739, 103 S.Ct. at 1542. (Emphasis added.)

When read together, Brignoni-Ponce, Martinez-Fuerte, Prouse, and Texas v. Brown stand for the proposition that random stops or spot checks are unreasonable in the absence of individualized suspicion of wrongdoing; on the other hand, stops at fixed checkpoints or roadblocks are reasonable if they are carried out pursuant to a neutral and objective plan, are supported by a strong public interest, and are only minimally intrusive to the individual motorist. See generally Hall, Search and Seizure § 10:31.1 (Cum.Supp. § 1986); 4 W. LaFave, Search and Seizure § 10.8(a) and (d) (2d ed. 1987); Ringel, Searches and Seizures, Arrests and Confessions § 11.6 (1986); Pellicciotti, The Law and Administration of Sobriety Checkpoints, 16 Journal of Police Science and...