State v. Jones

• Decision Date: 20 February 1986
• Docket Number: No. 66373,66373
• Citation: 483 So.2d 433,11 Fla. L. Weekly 67
• Parties: 11 Fla. L. Weekly 67 STATE of Florida, Petitioner, v. Ronald Dean JONES, Respondent.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

Page 433

483 So.2d 433

11 Fla. L. Weekly 67

STATE of Florida, Petitioner, v. Ronald Dean JONES, Respondent.

No. 66373.

Supreme Court of Florida.

Feb. 20, 1986.

Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., and William I. Munsey, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Tampa, for petitioner.

Walter O. Hobbs, II of Harry M. Hobbs, P.A., Tampa, for respondent.

McDONALD, Justice.

The Second District Court of Appeal has certified the following question as being one of great public importance:

Can a warrantless temporary roadblock which is established to apprehend persons driving while under the influence of alcohol and which stops automobiles without any articulable suspicion of illegal activity produce constitutionally permissible arrests?

Jones v. State, 459 So.2d 1068, 1081 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984). This Court has jurisdiction pursuant to article V, section 3(b)(4), Florida Constitution. We answer in the affirmative, but, based on the record in this case, approve the result reached by the district court.

The City of Tampa Police Department arrested Jones for driving while under the influence of alcoholic beverages (DUI), a violation of section 316.193, Florida Statutes (1981). The Tampa police established a roadblock on July 4, 1982, at about 2:30 a.m. for the admitted purpose of apprehending DUI drivers. The police blocked the three northbound lanes of Dale Mabry Highway to form a funnel, requiring all traffic to travel in one lane and to pass an officer stationed on the roadway. That officer had instructions to stop every fifth automobile during heavy traffic and every third automobile during light traffic. The officer directed the stopped cars off the roadway into a parking lot. Five police officers stationed in the parking lot determined if the drivers were DUI. Jones drove a car which the police diverted into the lot. After requesting Jones' driver's license, the arresting officer determined Jones was DUI. After Jones failed several field sobriety tests, the police took him into custody.

Jones initially entered a plea of not guilty and filed a pretrial motion to suppress all evidence obtained as a result of what he contended to be an illegal seizure. The court denied the motion. He then entered a plea of nolo contendere, specifically reserving the right to appeal the denial of the suppression motion. Jones appealed to the circuit court, which affirmed both the judgment and the sentence. On certiorari the Second District Court of Appeal quashed the circuit court's affirmance and reversed the conviction. The district court ruled that the roadblock violated Jones' fourth amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure.

The state subsequently filed both a motion to stay mandate and a motion for rehearing, en banc. The district court denied both motions. This Court has likewise declined to review the order denying the stay.

Unquestionably, stopping an automobile and detaining its occupant constitutes a seizure within the meaning of the fourth amendment to the United States Constitution. ¹ Delaware v. Prouse, 440 U.S. 648, 99 S.Ct. 1391, 59 L.Ed.2d 660 (1979); United States v. Martinez-Fuerte, 428 U.S. 543, 96 S.Ct. 3074, 49 L.Ed.2d 1116 (1976). As with all warrantless searches and seizures, courts determine the constitutionality of DUI roadblocks by balancing the legitimate government interests involved against the degree of intrustion on the individual's fourth amendment rights. Brown v. Texas, 443 U.S. 47, 99 S.Ct. 2637, 61 L.Ed.2d 357 (1979); Prouse, 440 U.S. at 656-57, 99 S.Ct. at 1397-98; Martinez-Fuerte, 428 U.S. at 555, 96 S.Ct. at 3081; Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968); State ex rel. Ekstrom v. Justice Court, 136 Ariz. 1, 663 P.2d 992 (1983); Webb v. State, 695 S.W.2d 676 (Tex.Crim.App.1985). This balancing test involves three considerations: (1) the gravity of the public concern that the seizure serves; (2) the degree to which the seizure advances the public interest; and (3) the severity of the interference with individual liberty. Brown, 443 U.S. at 50-51, 99 S.Ct. at 2640-2641; State v. Superior Court In & For County of Pima, 143 Ariz. 45, 691 P.2d 1073 (1984); State v. Deskins, 234 Kan. 529, 673 P.2d 1174 (1983); Webb, 695 S.W.2d at 678; People v. Bartley, 125 Ill.App.3d 575, 80 Ill.Dec. 894, 466 N.E.2d 346 (1984). While the United States Supreme Court has never directly addressed the issue before this Court, several decisions of our nation's highest court provide some guidance in our attempt to apply fourth amendment principles to the case at bar.

In Delaware v. Prouse the United States Supreme Court addressed the constitutionality of license spot checks. In Prouse a Delaware police officer stopped Prouse's automobile for the sole purpose of conducting a license and registration check. The officer had not observed any suspicious activity or any traffic violations on the part of the vehicle's occupants prior to stopping the automobile. Upon stopping the car, however, the police officer discovered marijuana in the vehicle and arrested Prouse for possession of a controlled substance. 440 U.S. at 650-51, 99 S.Ct. at 1394-95. In reversing Prouse's conviction the Supreme Court ruled that such "roving patrols" violated the fourth amendment. Id. at 655, 663, 99 S.Ct. at 1397, 1401. The Court reasoned that to rule otherwise would invite unbridled intrusions upon constitutionally guaranteed rights based solely on unsubstantiated hunches. In dicta, however, the Court limited its holding by stating:

This holding does not preclude the State of Delaware or other states from developing methods for spot checks that involve less intrusion or that do not involve the unconstrained exercise of discretion. Questioning of all oncoming traffic at roadblock stops is one possible alternative.

Id. at 663, 99 S.Ct. at 1401. The concurring opinion of Justice Blackmun then added, "I necessarily assume that the Court's reservation also includes other not purely random stops (such as every 10th car to pass a given point) that equate with, but are less intrusive than, a 100% roadblock stop." Id. at 664, 99 S.Ct. at 1401 (Blackmun, J., concurring). Law enforcement agencies in many states have relied upon this dicta as authority supporting DUI roadblocks. See Deskins, 234 Kan. at 533, 673 P.2d at 1179; Commonwealth v. McGeoghegan, 389 Mass. 137, 449 N.E.2d 349 (1983); People v. Conway, 135 Ill.App.3d 887, 90 Ill.Dec. 618, 482 N.E.2d 437 (1985); Webb, 695 S.W.2d at 680; Superior Court In & For County of Pima, 143 Ariz. at 48, 691 P.2d at 1076; State v. McLaughlin, 471 N.E.2d 1125 (Ind.App.1984).

In contrast to the roving patrol type of warrantless stop struck down in Prouse, the Supreme Court approved a permanent roadblock at a border patrol checkpoint along the Mexican border in United States v. Martinez-Fuerte, 428 U.S. 543, 96 S.Ct. 3074, 49 L.Ed.2d 116 (1976). The checkpoint aided in apprehending illegal aliens, and law enforcement officers stopped every vehicle at the checkpoint for brief questioning. In sustaining the border outpost against a fourth amendment attack, the Court emphasized a number of the checkpoint's characteristics. These characteristics included its permanency, the presence of lighted warning signs well in advance of the stop, the presence of uniformed officers, and the fact that supervisory officials decided to establish the checkpoint. The Court reasoned that, because motorists received warnings about the roadblock well in advance, they would be less frightened when stopped. The Court surmised that this appreciably reduced the subjective intrusion upon the motorists' liberty rights. Id. at 559, 96 S.Ct. at 3083.

Clearly, the roadblock at issue in the case at bar falls somewhere between the roving patrol struck down in Prouse and the permanent checkpoint approved in Martinez-Fuerte. While the dicta in Prouse concerning roadblocks lends some guidance to the analysis, states have had a difficult struggle determining both where the cutoff point for constitutionality lies and exactly where a given roadblock falls on the Prouse/Martinez-Fuerte continuum.

We note at the beginning of our analysis that, while the instant case deals with an issue of first impression in Florida, an increasing number of our sister states has dealt with the constitutionality of DUI roadblocks. According to the district court, when that court rendered its opinion only five states had directly addressed the constitutionality of DUI roadblocks of varying descriptions. ² Today a survey of other jurisdictions indicates that we can add at least nine more states to this list. As with the previous five states, these courts have reached a variety of results. ³

These cases have considered numerous conditions and factors in determining whether a given roadblock passes constitutional muster. The second district discussed in significant detail several of the landmark DUI roadblock cases decided in other jurisdictions. A repetition here of that case-by-case analysis would add little. Indeed, the recent proliferation of DUI roadblock cases decided across the country indicates little uniformity in the approaches taken in analyzing these stops. Different courts have assigned different weights to the various factors involved in the fourth amendment balancing test. Certain considerations, however, have been consistently stressed, albeit with varying results.

In the case at bar the district court assimilated a number of these cases and formulated a set of criteria for use in determining whether a given roadblock satisfies the constitution. The district court embraced the criteria adopted in State v. Deskins, 234 Kan. 529, 673 P.2d 1174 (1983), a Kansas case which the opinion below discussed extensively. In this respect the district court appears to have fallen into line with a growing number of courts from other states which are utilizing the Deskins criteria as a helpful framework for analyzing the constitutional viability of specific...