Goodlataw v. State
| Decision Date | 26 February 1993 |
| Docket Number | No. A-4541,A-4541 |
| Parties | Linda M. GOODLATAW, Appellant, v. STATE of Alaska, Appellee. |
| Court | Alaska Court of Appeals |
Michael Dieni, Asst. Public Defender, and John B. Salemi, Public Defender, Anchorage, for appellant.
David G. Berry, Asst. Dist. Atty., Kenneth J. Goldman, Dist. Atty., Palmer, and Charles E. Cole, Atty. Gen., Juneau, for appellee.
Before BRYNER, C.J., and COATS and MANNHEIMER, JJ.
Linda M. Goodlataw pleaded no contest to driving while intoxicated, AS 28.35.030(a), after the district court denied her motion to suppress the evidence against her. When she entered her plea, Goodlataw reserved the right to appeal the district court's decision of her suppression motion. See Cooksey v. State, 524 P.2d 1251 (Alaska 1974). We affirm.
Goodlataw was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated after State Trooper Bruce Heck stopped her car and administered intoxication tests to her. Goodlataw claimed that Heck had had insufficient basis for stopping her. At the evidentiary hearing, Heck testified that he had been on duty at the Glennallen trooper post in the early morning of February 26, 1992, when he received a telephone call from a woman who told him that Linda Goodlataw had just left the caller's house in Copper Center. The caller said that Goodlataw was driving home to Tazlina, and she told the trooper that Goodlataw had had quite a bit to drink and was intoxicated. Heck asked the caller for her name, but she declined to give it.
Heck was acquainted with Goodlataw and knew the car she drove. Heck asked the caller if Goodlataw was driving her usual gray Chevrolet sedan; the caller said yes.
Acting upon this information, Heck left the trooper post and began driving toward Copper Center. As he reached the highway exit for Copper Center, he saw Goodlataw's car approach the exit and make a turn toward Tazlina. Heck turned his vehicle around and followed the car. He tried to observe the way the driver was handling the car, but heavy snow and blowing wind hampered his vision and made this impossible. Despite his inability to observe any instance in which the driver's driving was noticeably impaired, Heck decided to stop the car. Goodlataw was in fact the driver. Heck gave her field sobriety tests and, based on her performance, Heck arrested her.
Judge Glen C. Anderson upheld the trooper's actions, relying on this court's decision in Effenbeck v. State, 700 P.2d 811 (Alaska App.1985). In Effenbeck, this court upheld a traffic stop under similar facts. Kenai had begun a community program that encouraged people to report drunk drivers. Prompted by this program, a citizen called the police to report an intoxicated driver; the citizen described the suspect vehicle and its location. Under the guidelines of the program, the citizen was not asked to give his name to the authorities. A police officer who responded to the citizen's call found the described vehicle and pulled it over, even though the officer had seen no impaired driving. Id. at 812.
On appeal, Goodlataw argues that there are "subtle" differences between the facts of her case and the facts of Effenbeck. She asserts that there is less reason to believe that the anonymous informer in her case was a disinterested "citizen informer", and that therefore, Trooper...
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