State v. Smith, 11A01-9308-CR-262

Decision Date06 September 1994
Docket NumberNo. 11A01-9308-CR-262,11A01-9308-CR-262
Citation638 N.E.2d 1353
PartiesSTATE of Indiana, Appellant-Plaintiff, v. Dennis K. SMITH, Appellee-Defendant. 1
CourtIndiana Appellate Court

Pamela Carter, Atty. Gen., Preston Black, Deputy Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, for appellant.

John A. Kesler, Sr., Kesler & Kesler, Terre Haute, for appellee.

ROBERTSON, Judge.

The State of Indiana brings this appeal, under Ind.Code 35-38-4-2(5), asserting the trial court erred in granting Dennis K. Smith's motion to suppress evidence that he had operated his vehicle while intoxicated. We reverse.

FACTS

The facts in the light most favorable to the trial court's determination reveal that on December 11, 1992, at approximately 11:00 p.m., Indiana State Police Officer Daniel Jones heard a dispatch broadcast by the Putnamville State Police Post concerning a possible drunk driver. The dispatch, based on a 911 call and citizens band [CB] radio reports from truck drivers, advised that a potential drunk driver was traveling westbound on I-70 near the Clay-Putnam County line in a grey Dodge Dakota pickup. The citizens making the report to the police stated that the pickup had gone into the median of the interstate and had weaved from lane to lane. The license plate number of the pickup had been reported.

An off-duty Indiana State Police Officer heard the dispatch, observed the grey pickup, and began to follow it. This officer radioed Officer Jones to tell him that he had spotted the pickup and was following it.

Officer Jones had a hard time turning around on the interstate because of the traffic and he did not catch up to the pickup for about two miles. As he overtook the pickup, a truck driver identified it over a CB radio as the one that had crossed into the median. Officer Jones observed that the pickup's license plate number was the one identified in the police dispatch. Although Officer Jones had not personally observed the pickup involved in any traffic violations, he pulled it over.

Smith was the driver of the pickup. Jones immediately smelled alcohol on Smith's Smith filed a motion to suppress. The trial court granted Smith's motion, finding the stop was illegal because no police officer had personally observed any violation of traffic laws or impaired driving. This appeal ensued.

breath and noted his slurred speech and watery eyes. Smith failed three sobriety tests. The Intoxilyzer breath test revealed that Smith had a blood alcohol content of 0.20% (twice the legal limit).

DECISION

Even a brief stop of an automobile and detention of its occupants constitutes a seizure under the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Art. I, § 11 of the Indiana Constitution. State v. Nesius (1990), Ind.App., 548 N.E.2d 1201. The State has the burden of proving that the investigatory stop of an automobile was not violative of the constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizures. State v. McLaughlin (1984), Ind.App., 471 N.E.2d 1125, trans. denied. Therefore, the State is appealing from a negative judgment and must show the trial court's ruling on the suppression motion was contrary to law. State v. Albright (1993), Ind.App., 622 N.E.2d 995, vacated on other grounds, (1994), Ind., 632 N.E.2d 725. We will reverse a negative judgment only when the evidence is without conflict and all reasonable inferences lead to a conclusion opposite that of the trial court. Id. We consider only the evidence most favorable to the judgment and do not weigh the evidence or assess the credibility of the witnesses. Id.

Under appropriate circumstances, the police may stop a vehicle to briefly investigate the possibility of criminal activity, without having probable cause to make an arrest. Nesius, 548 N.E.2d 1201. In order to justify an investigatory stop, the police officer must be able to point to specific and articulable facts which, when considered together with the rational inferences drawn from those facts, create a reasonable suspicion of criminal conduct on the part of the vehicle's occupants. Id. Based on the totality of the circumstances, the detaining officer must have a particularized and objective basis for suspecting the driver stopped of criminal activity. Id. The reasonable suspicion justifying a limited investigative stop of an automobile does not give the police officer all the...

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  • McChesney v. State
    • United States
    • Wyoming Supreme Court
    • 20 Octubre 1999
    ...171 Ariz. 441, 831 P.2d 440, 441-43 (App.1992); State v. Melanson, 140 N.H. 199, 665 A.2d 338, 340-41 (1995); State v. Smith, 638 N.E.2d 1353, 1355-56 (Ind.App.1994); State v. Markus, 478 N.W.2d 405, 408-9 (Iowa App. 1991). We decline to follow these cases because we find them inconsistent ......
  • People v. Wells
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    ...presented by drunken or erratic highway drivers, and the minimal intrusion involved in a simple vehicle stop. (See State v. Smith (Ind.Ct.App. 1994) 638 N.E.2d 1353; State v. Walshire (Iowa 2001) 634 N.W.2d 625, 627-630); State v. Slater (1999) 267 Kan. 694, 986 P.2d 1038, 1041-1046; State ......
  • State v. Boyea
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    • 1 Diciembre 2000
    ...lack of personal observation by officers).3 Other decisions, not cited in Lamb, though closely on point, include: State v. Smith, 638 N.E.2d 1353, 1356 (Ind.Ct.App. 1994) (radio dispatch conveying information based upon report of erratic behavior by grey Dodge Dakota pickup traveling westbo......
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    ...267 Kan. 694, 696-706, 986 P.2d 1038, 1041-46 (1999); see also State v. Markus, 478 N.W.2d 405 (Iowa Ct.App. 1991); State v. Smith, 638 N.E.2d 1353 (Ind.Ct.App.1994); People v. Rance, 644 N.Y.S.2d 447, 227 A.D.2d 936 (N.Y.App. Div.1996); Kaysville City v. Mulcahy, 943 P.2d 231 (Utah Ct.App.......
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