Com. v. Tarbert

• Decision Date: 06 December 1985
• Citation: 348 Pa.Super. 306,502 A.2d 221
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Joseph D. TARBERT, Appellant. 00553 Harrisburg 1984.
• Court: Pennsylvania Superior Court

Page 221

502 A.2d 221

348 Pa.Super. 306

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Joseph D. TARBERT, Appellant.

00553 Harrisburg 1984.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued Sept. 18, 1985.

Filed Dec. 6, 1985.

William H. Poole, Jr., York, for appellant.

Thomas L. Kearney, Asst. Dist. Atty., York, for Com., appellee.

Before WICKERSHAM, CIRILLO and JOHNSON, JJ.

CIRILLO, Judge:

This is an appeal from the judgment of sentence entered by the Court of Common Pleas of York County. Appellant, Joseph D. Tarbert, was arrested and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. Following a trial by jury, appellant was convicted of the charged crime. Timely post-verdict motions were filed and denied. Tarbert was sentenced to thirty days to twelve months imprisonment, a $500.00 fine, and to pay the costs of prosecution. We reverse.

In the early morning hours of July 30, 1983, the York Township Police Department established a roadblock on a county road, at which all vehicles proceeding in each direction were stopped. The operators of the stopped vehicles were asked to produce their licenses and owner's cards. The officers involved in the operation made a physical examination of each automobile to determine whether any inspection violations were present. Each motorist was carefully observed to ascertain whether he was under the influence of alcohol.

Tarbert's van was stopped at the roadblock site. The officer who stopped appellant testified that he noticed the odor of alcohol coming from the vehicle. As a result, several field sobriety tests were administered, and appellant was placed under arrest. A subsequent breathalyzer test resulted in a .12 reading. Appellant filed a pre-trial suppression motion based upon a lack of probable cause to stop his vehicle. The motion was denied.

We are asked to pass upon the constitutionality of police roadblocks, which, without probable cause or a reasonable suspicion that a crime has been or is being committed, stop all vehicles travelling on a public highway for the purposes of checking licenses, registrations, inspection violations, and for drivers operating vehicles under the influence of alcohol.

I ADEQUATE AND INDEPENDENT STATE GROUNDS

Initially, we are compelled to note that our decision today is based entirely upon the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Any reliance on federal cases is only for the purpose of guidance, with these cases not compelling the result reached. Michigan v. Long, 463 U.S. 1032, 1041, 103 S.Ct. 3469, 3476, 77 L.Ed.2d 1201 (1983). We intend to clearly and expressly indicate that our decision rests "on bona fide, separate, adequate, and independent [state] grounds ..." Id.

II

A. CONSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK

Embodied in any state constitutional analysis is the power of a state to guard an individual's rights more zealously than that mandated by the Federal Constitution. Commonwealth v. Sell, 504 Pa. 46, 470 A.2d 457 (1983); Kroger Co. v. O'Hara Township, 481 Pa. 101, 392 A.2d 266 (1978); In re Gartley, 341 Pa.Super. 350, 491 A.2d 851 (1985); Western Pennsylvania Socialist Workers v. Connecticut General Life Insurance Co., 335 Pa.Super. 493, 485 A.2d 1 (1985). "[A] state may provide through its constitution a basis for the rights and liberties of its citizens independent from that provided by the Federal Constitution, and that the rights so guaranteed may be more expansive than their federal counterparts." Commonwealth v. Tate, 495 Pa. 158, 169, 432 A.2d 1382, 1387 (1981). One commentator has characterized the function of a state constitution as "a second line of defense for those rights protected by the federal constitution and as an independent source of supplemental rights unrecognized by federal law." Note, The Interpretation of State Constitutional Rights, 95 Harv.L.Rev. 1324, 1367 (1982), quoted with approval in Commonwealth v. Beauford, 327 Pa.Super. 253, 263, 475 A.2d 783, 788 (1984). Indeed, Pennsylvania courts interpreting our Constitution have not hesitated in "affording greater protection to defendants than the federal Constitution." Commonwealth v. Sell, 504 Pa. at 64, 470 A.2d at 467. See e.g., Commonwealth v. Bussey, 486 Pa. 221, 404 A.2d 1309 (1979) (waiver of Miranda rights requires an explicit waiver; contra North Carolina v. Butler, 441 U.S. 369, 99 S.Ct. 1755, 60 L.Ed.2d 286 (1979)); Commonwealth v. DeJohn, 486 Pa. 32, 403 A.2d 1283 (1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 1032, 100 S.Ct. 704, 62 L.Ed.2d 668 (1980) (police cannot gain access to banking records without a warrant based on probable cause; contra Smith v. Maryland, 442 U.S. 735, 99 S.Ct. 2577, 61 L.Ed.2d 220 (1979)); Commonwealth v. Triplett, 462 Pa. 244, 341 A.2d 62 (1975) (statements of a defendant declared inadmissible by suppression court cannot be used for impeachment purposes; contra Harris v. New York, 401 U.S. 222, 91 S.Ct. 643, 28 L.Ed.2d 1 (1971)); Commonwealth v. Beauford, supra (use of a pen register requires a warrant based upon probable cause; contra Smith v. Maryland, supra ).

"Article 1 [of the Pennsylvania Constitution] is entitled 'Declaration of Rights' and all of the first twenty-six sections of Article 1 which states those specific rights, must be read as limiting the powers of government to interfere with the rights provided therein." Commonwealth v. National Gettysburg Battlefield Tower, Inc., 454 Pa. 193, 200, 311 A.2d 588, 592 (1973) (emphasis added). The fundamental rights delineated by our Constitution serve as "commands to the legislature to enact laws to carry out the purposes of the framers of the Constitution, [and may act as] ... restrictions upon the power of the legislature to pass laws." O'Neill v. White, 343 Pa. 96, 99, 22 A.2d 25, 26 (1941) (citation omitted).

Perhaps a most basic example of a provision evidencing a deep-rooted fundamental right recognized by the framers of our Constitution can be found in Section 8 of Article 1.

§ 8. Security from searches and seizures

The people shall be secure in their persons, houses, papers and possessions from unreasonable searches and seizures, and no warrant to search any place or to seize any person or things shall issue without describing them as nearly as may be, nor without probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation subscribed to by the affiant.

This right, also acknowledged in the Federal Constitution, "safeguard[s] the privacy and security of individuals against arbitrary invasions by governmental officials." Camara v. Municipal Court, 387 U.S. 523, 528, 87 S.Ct. 1727, 1730, 18 L.Ed.2d 930 (1967). Accord Marshall v. Barlow's, Inc., 436 U.S. 307, 98 S.Ct. 1816, 56 L.Ed.2d 305 (1978); United States v. Ortiz, 422 U.S. 891, 95 S.Ct. 2585, 45 L.Ed.2d 623 (1975). So important is the right guaranteed by Section 8, that it has been held to extend "beyond the home to protect the individual against unwarranted government intrusions into any area where the individual may harbor a reasonable expectation of privacy. Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 88 S.Ct. 507, 19 L.Ed.2d 576 (1967); Commonwealth v. Morrison, 275 Pa.Super. 454, 418 A.2d 1378 (1980), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 1080, 101 S.Ct. 863, 66 L.Ed.2d 804 (1981); Commonwealth v. Gabrielle, 269 Pa.Super. 338, 409 A.2d 1173 (1979); Commonwealth v. Adams, 234 Pa.Super. 475, 341 A.2d 206 (1975)." Commonwealth v. Beauford, 327 Pa.Super. at 261-62, 475 A.2d at 787.

To achieve the ends sought by our constitutions, the proscriptions contained in the Fourth Amendment and in Section 8 of Article 1 of our Constitution "impose a standard of 'reasonableness' upon the exercise of discretion by government officials, including law enforcement agents...." Delaware v. Prouse, 440 U.S. 648, 653-54, 99 S.Ct. 1391, 1396, 59 L.Ed.2d 660 (1979). Consequently, any encroachment upon one's privacy rights by "a particular law enforcement practice [must be] judged by balancing its intrusion on the individual's Fourth Amendment [and Section 8] interests against promotion of legitimate governmental interests." Id. at 654, 99 S.Ct. at 1396 (footnote omitted).

B. ROADBLOCKS

Dicta from the United States Supreme Court's decision in Delaware v. Prouse, supra, is the foundation for many state courts finding roadblocks such as the one in this case constitutional. However, no court has adopted a per se rule of constitutionality. Rather, these courts hold that, only where the efficacy of the roadblock in achieving increased safety and minimal intrusion upon society's rights are both shown by the state, can a seizure at a roadblock pass constitutional muster.

Our analysis of the issue sub judice begins with the notion that "[a]n automobile is a place where an individual has a reasonable expectation of privacy." Commonwealth v. Swanger, 453 Pa. 107, 111, 307 A.2d 875, 877 (1973). When a vehicle is stopped by a police officer and its occupants are detained, a seizure within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment and Section 8 has occurred. Id. See also Delaware v. Prouse, supra; United States v. Martinez--Fuerte, 428 U.S. 543, 96 S.Ct. 3074, 49 L.Ed.2d 1116 (1976); Commonwealth v. Berry, 305 Pa.Super. 8, 451 A.2d 4 (1982). Cf., Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968).

Prouse involved a random stopping of motor vehicles to check an occupant's license and the vehicle's registration. The Supreme Court held that,

except in those situations in which there is at least articulable and reasonable suspicion that a motorist is unlicensed or that an automobile is not registered, or that either the vehicle or an occupant is otherwise subject to seizure for violation of law, stopping an automobile and detaining the driver in order to check his driver's license and the registration of the automobile are unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment.

440 U.S. at 663, 99 S.Ct. at 1401. In dicta contained in the next two sentences of the decision however, the Court, in essence, "signaled to local authorities that they could still stop vehicles absent any...