State v. Downey
| Citation | 945 S.W.2d 102 |
| Parties | STATE of Tennessee, Appellant/Cross-Appellee, v. Sarah Hutton DOWNEY, Appellee/Cross-Appellant. |
| Decision Date | 12 May 1997 |
| Court | Supreme Court of Tennessee |
John Knox Walkup, Attorney General and Reporter, Michael E. Moore, Solicitor General, John P. Cauley, Assistant Attorney General, Nashville; Gary D. Gerbitz, District Attorney General, Charles A. Cerney, Jr., Assistant District Attorney General, Chattanooga (at Trial), for Appellant/Cross-Appellee.
Jerry H. Summers, Summers, McCrea & Wyatt, Chattanooga, for Appellee/Cross-Appellant.
Jonathan D. Cooper, Daniel & Oberman, Knoxville, for Amicus Curiae, Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
We granted this appeal to answer a question of first impression: whether a sobriety roadblock at which police officers stop and question motorists whose prior conduct is unremarkable and free from suspicion, is an unreasonable seizure in violation of article I, section 7 of the Tennessee Constitution?
The defendant was arrested for driving under the influence after being stopped at a roadblock in Hamilton County, Tennessee. Prior to being stopped, the defendant's conduct was unremarkable and not suspicious. At trial, the defendant moved to suppress the evidence on the ground that the roadblock was unconstitutional because it was an unreasonable seizure in violation of the Tennessee Constitution. 1 The trial court overruled the motion. On appeal, the Court of Criminal Appeals concluded that the use of a roadblock is not a per se violation of the Tennessee Constitution. But it held that the roadblock in this case was an unreasonable seizure because there was no supervisory or administrative authority for the roadblock, its location, or procedures. As a result, these policy decisions were left to the unrestrained discretion of officers in the field.
We recognize the State's compelling interest in detecting and deterring motorists who drive while under the influence of alcohol. The drunk driver cuts a wide swath of death, pain, grief, and untold injury across the roads of Tennessee. The carnage and tragedy is recorded daily in our newspapers and on our television screens. Indeed, the Legislature at nearly every session has strengthened the driving under the influence laws in recognition of the strong public interest in solving the problem. No one can dispute the tragedy and magnitude of the drunk driving problem or the State's interest in eradicating it.
We, therefore, conclude that the use of a sobriety roadblock, although a seizure, can be a reasonable seizure under the Tennessee Constitution, provided it is established and operated in accordance with predetermined operational guidelines and supervisory authority that minimize the risk of arbitrary intrusion on individuals and limit the discretion of law enforcement officers at the scene. As a result, we affirm the Court of Criminal Appeals for the reasons articulated below.
In so holding, we observe that article I, section 7 of the Tennessee Constitution, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures, imposes limits on search and seizure powers in order to prevent arbitrary interference by the police with the privacy and personal liberty of individuals. Seizures short of arrest may be made on lesser grounds than probable cause, but usually require a founded suspicion based on articulable facts that the person is or has engaged in criminal activity. A roadblock seizure, therefore, is a departure from these fundamental constitutional principles. It permits officers to stop and question persons whose conduct is ordinary, innocent, and free from suspicion.
In order for us to determine whether a seizure which is less intrusive than a traditional arrest is reasonable, we must balance the public interest served by the seizure with the severity of the interference with individual liberty. A central concern of the United States Supreme Court, and other state courts, in this balancing analysis "has been to assure that an individual's reasonable expectation of privacy is not subject to arbitrary invasions solely at the unfettered discretion of officers in the field ... [and] that the seizure must be carried out pursuant to a plan embodying explicit, neutral limitations on the conduct of individual officers." Brown v. Texas, 443 U.S. 47, 50-51, 99 S.Ct. 2637, 2640, 61 L.Ed.2d 357 (1979). We agree that this is the appropriate constitutional standard to be applied.
The decision we announce today, which upholds the constitutionality of sobriety roadblocks, also controls our decision on an application for appeal filed in the case of State v. Daniel G. Hampton. In that case, the issue is the same--i.e., whether the sobriety roadblock violated the Tennessee Constitution? We agree with the Court of Criminal Appeals that the roadblock in Hampton did not violate the Tennessee Constitution and that the conviction should be upheld. Accordingly, we deny the Hampton application for appeal by separate order.
On August 8, 1992, at approximately 12:00 a.m., Lt. Ronnie Hill of the Tennessee Highway Patrol and numerous other officers set up a highway roadblock on Hixson Pike in Hamilton County, Tennessee. Hill was assisted by members of the Chattanooga Police Department DUI task force, the Hamilton County DUI task force, and auxiliary officers of the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department. Hill did not obtain the approval of a superior officer regarding the establishment, time or location of the roadblock.
According to Lt. Hill, the roadblock was conducted pursuant to written guidelines established by the Department of Safety for drivers' license checks, which he believed applied to roadblocks for any purpose. Hill said that the purpose of his roadblock was to check drivers' licenses, but he admitted that the officers assisting him were members of DUI task forces. Hill also said that he chose the location and that there was no advance public announcement of the existence, time or location of the roadblock.
Hill supervised the operation of the roadblock and gave instructions to the other officers at the scene. Four to six patrol cars with flashing blue lights were positioned on each side of the road and in the center turn lane. The lanes were marked by existing lines on the highway. Hill testified that there was adequate visibility to avoid accidents and congested traffic. All motorists traveling north or south on Hixson Pike were stopped unless traffic became impeded, in which case all traffic was permitted to pass through the roadblock until the congestion was relieved. According to Hill, officers did not exercise discretion as to which motorists were stopped. Over one hundred cars were stopped in the two hours the roadblock was operated.
The defendant was stopped at the roadblock by Hamilton County Deputy Sheriff Robert Starnes, a member of the DUI task force. Starnes testified that the roadblock was set up to check drivers' licenses and other traffic violations, but not to check for drunken drivers. He said that the defendant did nothing to arouse his suspicion as she approached the roadblock and that she was stopped for the same purpose and in the same manner as other motorists. He asked to see the defendant's drivers' license and, after smelling the odor of alcohol and learning that she had been drinking, instructed her to pull to the side of the road. After sobriety testing, the defendant was arrested.
At trial, the defendant moved to suppress the evidence on the grounds that the roadblock was unconstitutional because there was no suspicion that a crime had been committed before the stop and the detention was an unreasonable seizure. The trial court overruled the motion and found that the roadblock had been established and supervised by Lt. Hill in accordance with Tennessee Department of Safety General Order 410 for the purpose of detecting unlicensed drivers.
On appeal, the Court of Criminal Appeals found that neither General Order 410 nor any other General Order governing roadblocks was in effect at the time of this stop. 2 Moreover, the court observed that the roadblock in this case was operated from midnight to 2:00 a.m., that a mobile breathalyser unit was on the scene for use during the roadblock, and that virtually every officer at the scene was a member of the City or County DUI task force. Accordingly, the court held that the evidence preponderated against the trial court's finding that the roadblock was established under General Order 410 to detect unlicensed drivers.
We agree with the Court of Criminal Appeals' determination that the evidence in this record preponderates against the trial court's finding that the roadblock was established to detect unlicensed motorists. We therefore address the constitutionality of the stop in this case as a sobriety roadblock. 3
We begin our review by examining the constitutional protections implicated when a citizen is stopped at a highway roadblock. The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides "[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated ...." (emphasis added). Similarly, article I, section 7 of the Tennessee Constitution provides:
Unreasonable searches and seizures--General warrants.--That the people shall be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and possessions, from unreasonable searches and seizures; and that general warrants, whereby an officer may be commanded to search suspected places, without evidence of the fact committed, or to seize any person or persons not named, whose offenses are not particularly described and supported by evidence, are dangerous to liberty and ought not to be granted.
(Emphasis added).
The essence of the prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures under the Fourth Amendment is to "safeguard the privacy...
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