People v. Hyde

• Citation: 775 N.W.2d 833,285 Mich. App. 428
• Decision Date: 01 September 2009
• Docket Number: Docket No. 282782.
• Parties: PEOPLE v. HYDE.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Michigan (US)

775 N.W.2d 833

285 Mich. App. 428

PEOPLE v. HYDE.

Docket No. 282782.

Court of Appeals of Michigan.

Submitted May 14, 2009, at Petoskey.

Decided September 1, 2009, at 9:00 a.m.

Michael A. Cox, Attorney General, B. Eric Restuccia, Solicitor General, and Joel McGormley, Assistant Attorney General, for the people.

Gauthier & Goodrich, PC (by Aaron J. Gauthier), for the defendant.

Before: WHITBECK, P.J., and DAVIS and GLEICHER, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

Defendant, George Hyde, appeals as of right his jury trial convictions of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, third offense,¹ operating a motor vehicle while his license was suspended,² and possession of an open alcohol container in a motor vehicle.³ The trial court sentenced Hyde to six months in jail for the conviction of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, three months in jail for the conviction of operating a motor vehicle while his license was suspended, three months in jail for the conviction of possessing an open alcohol container in a motor vehicle, and 18 months' probation. We reverse in part and remand.

I. BASIC FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

This case arises from a police stop of Hyde while he was driving his motor home on January 15, 2007, in Tuscarora Township, Michigan. Officer Dale Williams of the Tuscarora Township Police Department testified that he was on patrol with his partner, Officer Walter Chamberlain, on January 15, 2007, in a marked police car. While traveling south along I-75, Officer Chamberlain noticed tire tracks that went from the extreme right to the extreme left side of the road, covering both lanes of travel. Officer Williams followed the tracks off I-75 at the Indian River exit and then continued to follow the tracks in order to catch up with the vehicle that was leaving them to determine why that vehicle was weaving in the roadway. The tracks, which came from a vehicle with dual rear wheels on each side, continued west along M-68 before making a turn to head south and then turning again to continue traveling on westbound M-68. The vehicle's tracks appeared to make a U-turn at a parking lot and then continued west on M-68. Officer Williams did not stop at the parking lot to determine if the vehicle had stopped there.

Officer Williams caught up with Hyde's vehicle, a motor home, on M-68 when he observed it halfway across the center of the roadway. Officer Williams testified that the roadway was snow-covered, so the centerline was not clearly visible, but the vehicle was in the middle of the roadway. Officer Williams testified that he was positive that Hyde's vehicle was the same vehicle that left the weaving tracks because of the dual-rear-wheel configuration, because of the ease of following the tracks in the light snowfall, and because no other tracks had crossed the ones they were following. Officer Williams testified that he observed that the tire tracks weaved across the roadway six or more times. He also testified that he did not include the weaving tire tracks in his police report because he stopped Hyde's vehicle on the basis of his observation that the vehicle was in the center of the roadway. On cross-examination, Officer Williams testified that he did not put any information about the tracks or I-75 in his first report, but filed a supplemental report just before the proceeding at which Hyde challenged the reason for the traffic stop. Officer Williams also acknowledged that it was not an unusual practice for a person to drive straddling the centerline in inclement weather when there is no oncoming traffic.

Using his emergency overhead lights, Officer Williams stopped Hyde's vehicle at 1:55 a.m., and then approached the vehicle. A video recording of the stop began when the camera for the police car was automatically activated at the same time Officer Williams activated his emergency overhead lights. Officer Williams asked the driver, who was later identified as Hyde, to get out of the vehicle because a dog was inside it. At his first contact with Hyde, Officer Williams smelled intoxicants. Hyde appeared to have slow motor skills and poor balance when he got out of the vehicle. Hyde also demonstrated slurred speech and was unable to say the alphabet or count from 17 to 25 and then back down to 23. Hyde told Officer Williams that he probably could not do the counting exercise sober. When Officer Williams asked him if he was not sober, Hyde responded that he was not going to lie to Officer Williams and then attempted and failed to complete the counting exercise. Officer Williams testified that he was aware that a diabetic may sometimes appear intoxicated because of blood sugar problems and that he was aware Hyde was diabetic because Hyde had told him so. However, Officer Chamberlain testified that, in his experience, someone who was suffering from diabetic problems would still be able to say the alphabet and count.

Hyde said that he did not have a driver's license because it was suspended and provided Officer Williams with a tribal card for identification. Hyde also told Officer Williams that he was coming from Marquette, Michigan, and had consumed five or six beers. According to Officer Williams, Hyde first stated that he had been drinking since Marquette, but there was no audio of this on the video recording of the stop. Later during the stop, Hyde said that he had been drinking since he passed through Newberry, Michigan, at 11:00 p.m.; this statement was recorded on the video. Officer Williams testified that Newberry is 106 miles from Cheboygan and that Marquette is 103 miles from Newberry. Officer Williams did not have Hyde do any field tests involving balance because Hyde indicated that he had a medical condition other than his diabetes that Officer Williams had never heard of and also because Officer Williams did not want Hyde to slip and fall in the snow.

Later during the stop, Officers Williams and Chamberlain entered Hyde's motor home after Hyde said he was cold, and Hyde then produced his registration and proof of insurance. While inside the motor home, Officer Williams observed a brown paper bag directly to the right of the driver's seat with a six-pack of Coors beer inside it. There were four empty bottles, while the fifth bottle was three-quarters empty and the sixth was unopened. There were also beer cans in the sink that Hyde claimed were his daughter's from a previous night. Officers Williams and Chamberlain, who had both made more than 100 drunk-driving arrests in their careers, believed that Hyde was under the influence of alcohol.

The police arrested Hyde, and before leaving the scene, Officer Williams asked Hyde if he needed his insulin, but Hyde stated that he had already taken some. Hyde was advised of his rights and asked to complete a sobriety test at the Cheboygan County Jail, which was videotaped. A sample of Hyde's blood was taken at 3:30 a.m. The parties stipulated that the proper procedures were used in withdrawing Hyde's blood. There were no fingerprints taken from the beer bottles, and Hyde's blood sugar levels were not checked. The blood test revealed that Hyde's blood alcohol content was 0.13 grams per 100 milliliters of blood.

The video recording of the stop and the video recording of what happened at the jail were both admitted into evidence, and both tapes were played for the jury. Officer Williams also testified that he had received certification from the state of Michigan indicating that Hyde's driving privileges had already been revoked when the stop took place. The parties also stipulated that Hyde's license was revoked and that he was aware of this revocation.

Hyde moved to suppress all evidence that resulted from his stop because it violated his constitutional right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. During the hearing, the prosecution argued that because the police officers had observed the swerving tracks and saw Hyde driving over the centerline, the stop was reasonable and that the motion should be denied. Hyde argued that the videotape of the stop showed that no lines were visible on the road because of the snow, and the officer agreed that no lines were visible. On the basis of this, Hyde contended that there were no grounds for the stop and any evidence seized as a result of the stop should be suppressed.

The trial court denied Hyde's motion, finding that Officer Williams was able to observe the tracks because of the freshly fallen snow and the absence of other tire tracks. The trial court reasoned that although the centerline was not visible because of the steady snowfall, with reasonable observation one could estimate the vehicle's position on the roadway. The trial court also reasoned that since they had followed Hyde's vehicle's tracks, it was reasonable for these officers to conclude that Hyde was driving with impaired abilities because the tracks went back and forth across the roadway and because Officer Williams observed Hyde's vehicle cross the center of the road. The trial court concluded that these facts were enough for a reasonable person to believe that Hyde was operating a vehicle while he was under the influence of alcohol.

Hyde also moved to suppress his blood sample and the blood test results, arguing that his Fourth Amendment rights were violated because his consent to the blood drawing was the product of coercion when the police incorrectly told him that the implied consent statute still applied to him even though he had diabetes. The trial court denied Hyde's motion to suppress, concluding that although Hyde had been improperly informed about the consequences of his refusal to take a blood test because he was a diabetic, his bodily alcohol content would have been inevitably discovered had the officer followed the correct procedure. The trial court reasoned that the officer had the option to request that Hyde take either a breath or urine test. The trial court stated that it was unaware of any advantage a blood test...