State v. McLaughlin

• Decision Date: 19 November 1984
• Docket Number: No. 4-883,4-883
• Parties: STATE of Indiana, Appellant (Plaintiff Below), v. Timothy P. McLAUGHLIN, Appellee (Defendant Below). A 255.
• Court: Indiana Appellate Court

Page 1125

471 N.E.2d 1125

STATE of Indiana, Appellant (Plaintiff Below), v. Timothy P. McLAUGHLIN, Appellee (Defendant Below).

No. 4-883 A 255.

Court of Appeals of Indiana Fourth District.

Nov. 19, 1984.

Rehearing Denied Feb. 5, 1985.

John H. Meyers, Pros. Atty., Edward A. Diersen, Deputy Pros. Atty., Lafayette, Linley E. Pearson, Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, for appellant.

Jeffrey Helmerick, Smith Helmerick & Smith, William E. Emerick, Stuart & Branigin, Lafayette, for appellee.

MILLER, Presiding Judge.

At about 11:00 P.M. on the Saturday of Labor Day Weekend, 1982, defendant-appellee, Timothy McLaughlin, was driving his car south on Indiana State Road 43 in Tippecanoe County, a few miles north of Lafayette. He was driving within the 55 miles-per-hour speed limit on this curving, two-lane road, and his car was in good, safe operating condition. On a flat, straight stretch of this road, near the entrance to the Soldiers Home, a number of bright-burning flares had been set in the middle of the road by state police officers. Three or four police cars were parked on either side of the road with their rear deck warning lights flashing red. There was no warning sign, and nothing in sight told McLaughlin exactly why he was being stopped. Approaching a line of seven uniformed Under these circumstances, McLaughlin was detained at a police roadblock established primarily for the purpose of detecting and apprehending drunk drivers. When State Trooper Richard Jozwiak asked to see McLaughlin's driver's license and vehicle registration, he noticed the scent of alcohol on McLaughlin's breath and the bloodshot appearance of his eyes. Officer Jozwiak asked McLaughlin to park his car on the right shoulder of the road, which was widened to four lanes at the entrance of the Soldiers Home. At the side of the road, Officer Jozwiak asked McLaughlin if he would take an "alco-sensor" test, which is a field test, similar to a breathalyzer, that gives the officer in the field an estimate of the subject's blood alcohol content. McLaughlin consented to take the test, which indicated a blood alcohol content of .13%. Officer Jozwiak then asked if he would take a breathalyzer test, and McLaughlin again consented. He was placed in the back seat of Officer Jozwiak's police car and driven to the Tippecanoe County Jail, where the breathalyzer test was administered, which also revealed a blood alcohol content of .13%. Officer Jozwiak then wrote out an information and summons on McLaughlin, charging him with driving while intoxicated, in violation of IND.CODE section 9-4-1-54(b) (1982). ¹

police officers standing in the middle of the road, McLaughlin was signalled to stop by a state trooper, who asked him to produce his driver's license and vehicle registration.

McLaughlin subsequently filed a motion to suppress evidence of the breathalyzer test result and all other evidence obtained after the initial stop of his automobile on the ground that his detention, search and arrest were in violation of the fourth and fourteenth amendments to the United States Constitution and Article I, section 11 of the Indiana Constitution. The trial court granted the motion to suppress and denied the State's motion to correct errors.

The State now argues this appeal pursuant to IC 35-1-47-2(5), ² which authorizes the State to appeal "[f]rom an order granting a motion to suppress evidence, if the ultimate effect of the order is to preclude further prosecution." The suppression order in this case applied to the breathalyzer test result and other fruits of the allegedly illegal detention of McLaughlin. Inasmuch as the State concedes that nothing in the manner in which McLaughlin was driving prior to his detention indicated he was driving while intoxicated, the suppression order would have the effect of making the State's case impossible to prove. Thus, "the order is tantamount to dismissal and therefore appealable." State v. Williams, (1983) Ind.App., 445 N.E.2d 582, 584.

We wish to make clear the precise issue we decide today: Whether the seizure of this defendant under the circumstances of this roadblock was unreasonable under the fourth and fourteenth amendments ³ to the United States Constitution? ⁴ The trial

court held the seizure of defendant unreasonable and ordered the fruits thereof suppressed on the ground that this roadblock was not conducted according to administrative guidelines that qualified as "previously specified Neutral Criteria." (R. 32) See Delaware v. Prouse, (1979) 440 U.S. 648, 662, 99 S.Ct. 1391, 1400, 59 L.Ed.2d 660 (citing Marshall v. Barlow's Inc., (1978) 436 U.S. 307, 323, 98 S.Ct. 1816, 1826, 56 L.Ed.2d 305). We will affirm the action of the trial court if any valid ground exists to support it. Hyde v. State, (1983) Ind., 451 N.E.2d 648, 650; Bruce v. State, (1978) 268 Ind. 180, 200, 375 N.E.2d 1042, 1054. Because we believe the state failed to sustain its burden of proving the roadblock seizure was reasonable under the fourth amendment, we affirm.

BACKGROUND

Although the fourth amendment protects only reasonable expectations of privacy, Katz v. United States, (1967) 389 U.S. 347, 351-53, 88 S.Ct. 507, 511-12, 19 L.Ed.2d 576; id. at 361, 88 S.Ct. at 516 (Harlan, J., concurring), a motorist surrenders neither his reasonable expectations of privacy nor the protections of the fourth amendment when he steps into his automobile. Delaware v. Prouse, (1979) 440 U.S. 648, 662-63, 99 S.Ct. 1391, 1400-01, 59 L.Ed.2d 660. It is well settled that a "seizure," within the meaning of the fourth amendment, occurs when a law enforcement agent detains an automobile and its occupants for even a brief time. E.g., Delaware v. Prouse, 440 U.S. at 653, 99 S.Ct. at 1396; United States v. Martinez-Fuerte, (1976) 428 U.S. 543, 556-58, 96 S.Ct. 3074, 3082-83, 49 L.Ed.2d 1116; cf. Terry v. Ohio, (1968) 392 U.S. 1, 16, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 1877, 20 L.Ed.2d 889.

"The essential purpose of the proscription in the Fourth Amendment is to impose a standard of 'reasonableness' upon the exercise of discretion by government officials, including law enforcements agents, in order ' "to safeguard the privacy and security of individuals against arbitrary invasions ...." ' Marshall v. Barlow's, Inc., 436 U.S. 307, 312, 98 S.Ct. 1816, 1820 (1978), quoting Camara v. Municipal Court, 387 U.S. 523, 528, 87 S.Ct. 1727, 1730, 18 L.Ed.2d 930 (1967). Thus, the permissibility of a particular law enforcement practice is judged by balancing its intrusion on the individual's Fourth Amendment interests against its promotion of legitimate government interests. Implemented in this manner, the reasonableness standard usually requires, at a minimum, that the facts upon which an intrusion is based be capable of measurement against 'an objective standard,' whether this be probable cause or a less stringent test. In those situations in which the balance of interests precludes insistence upon 'some quantum of individualized suspicion,' other safeguards are generally relied upon to assure that the individual's reasonable expectation of privacy is not 'subject to the discretion of the official in the field,' Camara v. Municipal Court, 387 U.S., at 532, 87 S.Ct., at 1733.

Delaware v. Prouse, 440 U.S. at 653-55, 99 S.Ct. at 1396-97 (footnotes omitted).

Although the United States Supreme Court has never ruled directly on the constitutionality of roadblock seizures for the purpose of detecting drunk drivers, the Court has provided some guidance for the "In this case as well, because of the importance of the governmental interest at stake, the minimal intrusion of a brief stop, and the absence of practical alternatives for policing the border, we hold that when an officer's observations lead him reasonably to suspect that a particular vehicle may contain aliens who are illegally in the country, he may stop the car briefly and investigate the circumstances that provoke suspicion. As in Terry, the stop and inquiry must be 'reasonably related in scope to the justification for their initiation.' 392 U.S., at 29, 88 S.Ct. at 1884. The officer may question the driver and passengers about their citizenship and immigration status, and he may ask them to explain suspicious circumstances, but any further detention or search must be based on consent or probable cause."

                analysis of such seizures in two immigration control cases.  In United States v. Brignoni-Ponce, (1975) 422 U.S. 873, 95 S.Ct. 2574, 45 L.Ed.2d 607, the Court held that random stops of vehicles by Border Patrol agents near the Mexican border, for the purpose of determining whether the vehicles contained illegal aliens or were involved in smuggling operations, were violative of the fourth amendment.   Id. at 883, 95 S.Ct. at 2581.  However, the Court did not invalidate all warrantless stops of automobiles based on less than probable cause.  Analogizing to Terry v. Ohio, supra the Court stated
                

Brignoni-Ponce, 422 U.S. at 881-82, 95 S.Ct. at 2580.

In United States v. Martinez-Fuerte, (1976) 428 U.S. 543, 96 S.Ct. 3074, 49 L.Ed.2d 1116, the Supreme Court examined the constitutionality of the seizure of vehicles at permanent checkpoint stops operated by Border Patrol agents for the purpose of stemming the flow of illegal alien traffic from Mexico. At these permanent checkpoints, every vehicle arriving at the checkpoint location was slowed to a virtual halt, and certain vehicles were, at the agents' discretion, referred to a separate area for secondary questioning. Balancing the government's interest in the use of this practice against the intrusion on individual fourth amendment interests, the Court upheld the practice as constitutional. The intrusion factor in the balance was divided into two parts--objective intrusion ("the stop itself, the questioning, and the visual inspection [of the vehicle and its occupants]") and subjective intrusion ("the generating of concern or even fright on the part of lawful travellers"). Id. at 558, 96 S.Ct. at...