People v. Rister

• Decision Date: 10 December 1990
• Docket Number: No. 89SC212,89SC212
• Parties: PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Petitioner, v. Teddy Ralph RISTER, Respondent.
• Court: Colorado Supreme Court

Page 483

803 P.2d 483

59 USLW 2394

PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Petitioner, v. Teddy Ralph RISTER, Respondent.

No. 89SC212.

Supreme Court of Colorado,

En Banc.

Dec. 10, 1990.

Rehearing Denied Jan. 28, 1991.

Stuart A. VanMeveren, Dist. Atty., Loren B. Schall, Asst. Dist. Atty., Daniel J. Kaup, Deputy Dist. Atty., Fort Collins, for petitioner.

David F. Vela, State Public Defender, William S. Schurman, Deputy State Public Defender, Denver, for respondent.

Thomas T. Crumpacker, Carbondale, Bradley H. Dickerson, Denver, for amici curiae The American Civ. Liberties Union Foundation of Colorado and Nat. Lawyers Guild, Colorado Chapter.

Pozner, Hutt, Gilman & Kaplan, Abraham V. Hutt, Denver, for amici curiae The Colorado Crim. Defense Bar, Nat. Ass'n of Crim. Defense Lawyers and Colorado Trial Lawyers Ass'n.

Chief Justice ROVIRA delivered the Opinion of the Court.

This certiorari ¹ proceeding presents the question whether the Colorado State Patrol's brief stop of the defendant, Teddy Ralph Rister, while it was operating a sobriety checkpoint on a county highway violates the fourth and fourteenth amendments to the United States Constitution and article II, section 7, of the Colorado Constitution. The Jackson County District Court affirmed the county court's ruling that the sobriety checkpoint was unconstitutional, and suppressed the evidence obtained as a result of the stop. We reverse.

I

In September 1985, Colonel John Dempsey, Chief of the Colorado State Patrol, issued an "Operational Procedures Bulletin" authorizing the use of sobriety checkpoints "to reduce the number of motor vehicle accidents in which alcohol is a contributing factor" and "to aid in the detection, apprehension and/or deterrence of drivers who are intoxicated or under the influence of alcohol." The bulletin set forth numerous procedures to be followed in establishing and operating a sobriety checkpoint, including providing the criteria for selecting a sobriety-checkpoint site, and the physical requirements of a checkpoint site. The bulletin provided that:

As each vehicle is contacted the trooper will approach the motorist and state "This is a Colorado State Patrol Sobriety Checkpoint set up to determine the sobriety of drivers." The trooper will then normally ask for the driver's license only. If during this brief encounter the trooper perceives no evidence of alcohol impairment, the motorist should be allowed to proceed immediately, being assisted back into traffic by an officer. Constitutional rights of motorists must be foremost in the minds of our officers. The purpose of a sobriety checkpoint is deterrence/apprehension of DUI. If other types of violations or articulable suspicions of other violations are immediately discernible, those may also be investigated; however, as a general rule, the encounter involving checking the driver's license should be adequate to determine any evidence of alcohol impairment.

During the stop, the trooper will be alert for any articulable conditions normally associated with persons driving under the influence. These conditions would include, but not be limited to, odor of alcoholic beverage about the driver, slurred speech, flushed appearance, disorderly or unusual conduct, visual disorders and/or lack of muscular coordination. In the event any condition or combination of conditions exist which give the trooper probable cause to believe the driver may be under the influence of alcohol, the driver may then be requested to perform certain psychomotor coordination tests and/or submit to a chemical test of either his blood or breath. If sufficient evidence of intoxication is then developed, the driver will be arrested.

The bulletin provided that state patrol officers would take no action against motorists who make "an apparent attempt to avoid the checkpoint" by turning around or turning off the highway before reaching the checkpoint, unless "a specific action other than merely turning around would justify pursuit." Moreover, the checkpoints would be maintained for a predetermined period of time, but would be canceled if "significant traffic congestion at the site or other circumstances arise ... as determined by the on-scene officer-in-charge." Under the procedures outlined in the bulletin, the state patrol would publicize the use of sobriety checkpoints and the dates of their use to deter alcohol-impaired driving, but "the exact location and times of scheduled checkpoints will be kept confidential." Written instructions corresponding to the bulletin's specified procedures would be provided to all officers operating the checkpoint.

Lieutenant Ralph Martin of the Colorado State Patrol authorized a sobriety checkpoint in Jackson County to be implemented on July 5, 1986, a Saturday during the Fourth of July weekend. The checkpoint was to be located at the three-way intersection of Highway 14 and County Road 12. On July 5, six state patrol officers, who had been given specific instructions on how to conduct the checkpoint screening of vehicle operators, set up traffic cones in the intersection demarcating two adjacent, off-road areas in which vehicles would be directed to stop. One "stop area" was located on the northwest corner of the intersection, and vehicles southbound on Highway 14 were directed to stop in that area. Another stop area was located on the east side of the intersection where a dirt parking area was located, and vehicles northbound on Highway 14 and eastbound on County Road 12 were directed to stop there. Signs stating "Be Prepared to Stop" and "sobriety checkpoint" were placed two-tenths and one-tenth of a mile before the checkpoint.

The state patrol operated the checkpoint for two and one-half hours, from 4:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., and stopped 233 vehicles that entered the Highway 14-County Road 12 intersection. All vehicles were stopped; however, officers diverted all traffic past the checkpoint on a few occasions when volume would not allow additional vehicles without creating safety hazards or imposing unreasonable delay to motorists. The average stop lasted three minutes. Several vehicles turned around or turned off before reaching the intersection, and the state patrol did not attempt to stop them.

The defendant, who was eastbound on County Road 12, was asked to drive into the checkpoint stop area when he came to a stop sign at the intersection. The defendant requested permission to turn right at the intersection and proceed south on Highway 14. The officer denied the request and directed the defendant into the parking area. After the defendant parked his car, two state patrol officers saw the defendant and the passenger in his car leave the car and switch places so that the passenger was sitting in the driver's seat. An officer subsequently checked the defendant's driver's license on a computer and found that his license had been denied. The officer then issued the defendant a summons and complaint charging him with driving a motor vehicle while license denied in violation of section 42-2-130, 17 C.R.S. (1984 & Supp.1990).

The defendant moved to suppress "any statements or observations made by law enforcement officers surrounding the seizure and arrest of the defendant" on the ground that there was no probable cause to seize and detain him. Following a suppression hearing, the county court ruled that since the stop was not based on probable cause or reasonable suspicion it was unconstitutional under the fourth amendment of the United States Constitution and article II, section 7, of the Colorado Constitution, and suppressed the prosecution's evidence against the defendant. The district court affirmed, holding that "seizures must stem from probable cause or at least an articulable suspicion, the use of warrants or at least legislative authority."

II

The fourth amendment, which is applicable to the states through the fourteenth amendment, ² provides that:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the person or things to be seized.

Because we are bound by the United States Supreme Court's decisions concerning the fourth amendment, People v. Quintana, 785 P.2d 934, 938 (Colo.1990), we look to that Court's decisions to determine whether the state patrol's sobriety-checkpoint stop of the defendant violated his fourth amendment right against unreasonable seizures.

Although the state patrol's stop of the defendant's vehicle was brief, the stop was a "seizure" under the fourth amendment. Michigan Dep't of State Police v. Sitz, 496 U.S. 444, 110 S.Ct. 2481, 2485, 110 L.Ed.2d 412 (1990); see United States v. Martinez-Fuerte, 428 U.S. 543, 556, 96 S.Ct. 3074, 3082, 49 L.Ed.2d 1116 (1976). Accordingly, we must decide whether the state patrol's seizure of the defendant was "reasonable" under the fourth amendment.

Recently the United States Supreme Court considered the constitutionality of highway sobriety checkpoints in a case similar to the one now before us. In Michigan Department of State Police v. Sitz, 496 U.S. 444, 110 S.Ct. 2481, 110 L.Ed.2d 412 (1990), the Michigan State Police established a sobriety-checkpoint pilot program that set forth numerous guidelines governing checkpoint operations, site selection, and publicity.

Under the guidelines, checkpoints would be set up at selected sites along state roads. All vehicles passing through a checkpoint would be stopped and their drivers briefly examined for signs of intoxication. In cases where a checkpoint officer detected signs of intoxication, the motorist would be directed to a location out of the traffic flow, where an officer would check the motorist's driver's license and car registration and, if warranted, conduct further sobriety tests. Should the field tests and...