Regula v. Commonwealth
| Decision Date | 06 September 2016 |
| Docket Number | No. 57 C.D. 2016,57 C.D. 2016 |
| Parties | Jeffrey Ryan Regula, Appellant v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Transportation, Bureau of Driver Licensing. |
| Court | Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court |
Jay M. Nigrini, Reading, for appellant.
Terrance M. Edwards, Assistant Counsel, Harrisburg, for appellee.
BEFORE: HONORABLE RENÉE COHN JUBELIRER, Judge MICHAEL H. WOJCIK, Judge and ROCHELLE S. FRIEDMAN, Senior Judge
OPINION BY JUDGE RENÉE COHN JUBELIRER
Jeffrey Ryan Regula (Licensee) appeals from the Order of the Court of Common Pleas of Berks County (common pleas), which denied Licensee's appeal from a one year suspension of his operating privilege imposed by the Department of Transportation, Bureau of Driver Licensing (Department), pursuant to the Section 15471 of the Vehicle Code, known commonly as the Implied Consent Law, for refusing to submit to a chemical test. On appeal, Licensee argues that common pleas erred and/or abused its discretion “when it refused to consider that the evidence supporting a finding that Licensee's traffic stop was illegal had been suppressed.” (Licensee's Br. at 4.) Discerning no error or abuse of discretion, we affirm.
By notice mailed March 23, 2015, the Department notified Licensee that it was suspending his operating privilege for one year pursuant to the Implied Consent Law for refusing a chemical test on March 9, 2015. (Notice of Suspension, Dep't Ex. C-1, at 1.) Licensee appealed the suspension on April 14, 2015, and a de novo hearing was held before common pleas.
At the hearing, the Department presented evidence of Licensee's certified driving records and a DL-26 form, indicating that Licensee had signed the form acknowledging that the form had been read to him. Also introduced was the testimony of the arresting Pennsylvania State Police trooper, Jeffrey Menet (Trooper Menet). Based on Trooper Menet's testimony common pleas found as follows.
On March 9, 2015, Trooper Menet, while on patrol, observed Licensee's “vehicle cross over the double yellow center line of the roadway twice and the fog line three times.” (Op. at 837.) Trooper Menet initiated a traffic stop. Trooper Menet approached the vehicle and identified Licensee as the driver. Trooper Menet detected a strong odor of alcohol coming from Licensee and noticed Licensee's eyes were glassy and bloodshot. Additionally, Licensee's speech was slurred and he admitted to consuming three beers. Upon exiting the vehicle, Licensee had a staggered gait. Based on these observations, Trooper Menet placed Licensee under arrest for suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) and “transported him to the hospital for a blood test.” (Id.)
At the hospital, Trooper Menet read verbatim the DL-26 form containing the implied consent warnings to Licensee. Licensee signed the DL-26 form, but “vacillated about whether he would actually submit to the blood test.” (Op. at 837.) Licensee “asked to call his father.” (Id.) A phlebotomist was available to draw Licensee's blood. When the phlebotomist asked Licensee to roll up his sleeve, Licensee “said that he would not do the test.” (Id.) Trooper Menet then deemed Licensee to have refused to submit to chemical testing and released him.
Licensee did not testify at the hearing. Licensee did elicit testimony from Trooper Menet on cross-examination in which Trooper Menet agreed that he had previously testified at a pretrial hearing on Licensee's DUI criminal matter and that a dashboard camera video had been submitted at that hearing. Licensee's counsel indicated that the judge in the underlying DUI criminal case granted Licensee's Motion for Suppression of Evidence (Motion to Suppress) and dismissed the DUI criminal case. Licensee requested the court to take judicial notice of and admit as evidence the granted Motion to Suppress and the dismissal of his DUI criminal case. The Department objected on the grounds that the evidence from Licensee's DUI criminal proceedings is not relevant to his civil license suspension matter. Common pleas sustained the objection and did not admit evidence from the DUI criminal case concluding that it was not relevant to the civil license suspension proceeding. Common pleas denied Licensee's appeal and reinstated the license suspension. (Id.)
Licensee filed a timely Notice of Appeal. Common pleas directed Licensee to file a Concise Statement of Errors Complained of on Appeal (Statement) pursuant to Rule 1925(b) of the Pennsylvania Rules of Appellate Procedure
.2 Licensee filed a Statement on February 9, 2016, in which he argued that common pleas erred “when it refused to consider that the evidence supporting a finding that Appellant's traffic stop was illegal had been suppressed.” (Statement, R.R. at 12.) On March 14, 2016, common pleas issued an opinion explaining its denial of Licensee's appeal. Common pleas did not find evidence related to Licensee's DUI criminal case relevant to his civil license suspension matter under the Implied Consent Law, citing Kachurak v. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Driver Licensing, 913 A.2d 982, 986 (Pa.Cmwlth.2006)
, which explained that:
[ Dep't of Transp. v.] Wysocki, ... 535 A.2d [77,] ... 79 [ (Pa.1987) ]
.
(Op. at 838 (quoting Kachurak, 913 A.2d at 986
) (footnote omitted) (emphasis added).) Licensee now appeals to this Court.
On appeal,3 Licensee contends that common pleas abused its discretion when it “refused to consider that the evidence supporting a finding that Licensee's traffic stop was illegal had been suppressed.” (Licensee's Br. at 4.) Additionally, Licensee argues that the Implied Consent Law violates both the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution4 and Article I, Section 8 of the Pennsylvania Constitution5
because, as interpreted by Pennsylvania Courts, it does not require a lawful traffic stop as a prerequisite to a valid license suspension and, therefore, it allows for unreasonable seizures of drivers. Licensee states that the Fourth Amendment and Article I, Section 8 of the Pennsylvania Constitution are coterminous, because they “both allow for an investigative detention in the form of a vehicle stop based on reasonable suspicion.” (Licensee's Br. at 11-12.) Licensee argues that, in not requiring that the initiating traffic stop be legal, the Implied Consent Law “renders the Fourth Amendment ineffective in deterring police misconduct as it relates to license suspensions .” (Licensee's Br. at 12 (emphasis added).)
Specifically, Licensee focuses on the facts that certain evidence in the DUI criminal matter stemming from the traffic stop initiated by Trooper Menet had been suppressed and the criminal charges against him dismissed. Licensee acknowledges that courts of this Commonwealth have considered “a license suspension issued by the Department” as “civil in nature and does not require a lawful traffic stop pursuant to reasonable suspicion.” (Licensee's Br. at 10.) However, Licensee argues that the evidence from the DUI criminal proceedings supporting a finding that the traffic stop was illegal should be admitted because “the suspension of a license for a refusal to test is not civil in the traditional legal sense as it involves action against a citizen ... pursuant to a police officer's exercise of law enforcement authority.” (Id.) Licensee explains that, as a Pennsylvania citizen whose underlying arrest had been determined to be unlawful, he has a right to be free from arbitrary police action in the form of the suspension of his license. Essentially, Licensee argues that the current interpretations of the Implied Consent Law defeat the purpose of the Fourth Amendment and Article I, Section 8 of the Pennsylvania Constitution
.
In response, the Department argues that common pleas did not abuse its discretion when it denied Licensee's request to admit evidence of the outcome of his DUI criminal proceedings. The Department, citing Commonwealth v. Miller, 541 Pa. 531, 664 A.2d 1310, 1320 (1995)
, notes that common pleas has discretion over the decisions on the conduct of the hearing and the admissibility or relevance of evidence, and those decisions will be upheld unless there is an abuse of discretion. Citing, inter alia , Wysocki and Sitoski v. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Driver Licensing, 11 A.3d 12 (Pa.Cmwlth.2010), the Department argues that it is well-settled that the evidence concerning a licensee's DUI criminal proceedings is not relevant to a licensee's appeal of a license suspension under the Implied Consent Law. Evidence concerning a licensee's DUI criminal proceedings is not admissible in a civil license suspension matter because “[e]vidence that is not relevant is not admissible.” Rule 402 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Evidence, Pa. R.E. 402. Additionally, the Department argues that neither the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, nor Article I, Section 8 of the Pennsylvania Constitution required common pleas to consider evidence of the outcome of Licensee's underlying DUI criminal proceedings.6
The authority of police officers to conduct a traffic stop in Pennsylvania to investigate a potential DUI is statutory and is found at Section 6308(b) of the Vehicle Code, which provides:
(b) Authority of police officer. —Whenever a police officer is engaged in a systematic program of checking vehicles or drivers or has reasonable suspicion that a violation of this title is occurring or has occurred , he may stop a vehicle, upon request or signal, for the purpose of checking the vehicle's registration, proof of financial responsibility, vehicle identification number or engine number or...
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