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Conboy v. State3/2/2004
While under the influence of alcohol, appellant, David Conboy, crashed a Ford van into a ditch by the side of a state road. The van contained construction equipment and was littered with alcoholic beverages. Leaving the badly damaged vehicle where it lay, appellant fled the scene of the accident only to return later, in a taxicab, to retrieve his belongings and the equipment. His return, however, was met by more than a wrecked vehicle. A state trooper had arrived and was investigating the accident.
**219 As the trooper approached the cab, he asked appellant whether he was "Mr. Conboy," the man who the trooper had reason to believe was driving the van at the time of the accident. Inebriated and reeking of alcohol, [FN1] appellant responded, "I'm not David Conboy," thereby revealing what sober reflection might have helped him conceal--his true identity. Unaware of how inculpatory this denial was, appellant then insisted that his name was "George Mitchell Unson"--a less inventive choice than one might think as it apparently belonged to appellant's step brother, whose reaction to this choice has gone unrecorded.
FN1. It was undisputed at the motion to suppress that at the time of the search at issue, appellant, in the words of the trooper, "appeared intoxicated" and that the trooper "detected a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from his breath and person."
*358 Observing a rifle in the backseat of the cab, which would later turn out to be loaded, the trooper asked appellant to step out of the cab. When he did, the trooper patted him down for weapons. Upon feeling a key in appellant's back pocket, the trooper reached into that pocket and retrieved what would ultimately prove to be the key to the van. That, in turn, led appellant to volunteer that he was drunk and had in fact been the driver of the van.
Appellant was subsequently charged with driving while under the influence of alcohol and numerous other traffic violations. [FN2] Seeking to exclude evidence of the key and his statement, he filed a motion to suppress in the Circuit Court for Worcester County, claiming that when the trooper reached into his pocket to retrieve the key the trooper exceeded the bounds of a permissible Terry [FN3] stop and that his ensuing inculpatory statement was obtained in violation of the Fifth Amendment. When that motion was denied, appellant was tried upon an agreed statement of facts and convicted of driving while under the influence of alcohol.
FN2. Appellant was charged with violating the following 13 sections of the Transportation Article:
Section 21-902(a)(1): Driving under the influence of alcohol.
Section 21-902(a)(2): Driving under the influence of alcohol per se.
Section 21-902(b): Driving while impaired by alcohol.
Section 20-103(b): Failure to return to and remain at the scene of an accident involving attended vehicle.
Section 20-104 (d): Failure of driver in property damage accident to report to nearest police.
Section 16-303(c): Driving on suspended license.
Section 16-303(d): Driving on a revoked license.
Section: 16-112(c): Failure to display license on demand.
Section 16-112(e): Vehicle driver giving a false and fictitious name to uniformed police.
Section 13-411(g): Displaying registration plate issued to another.
Section 13-409(b): Failure to display registration card on demand.
Section 14-107(f): Knowingly possessing vehicle with remove identification, as the van's VIN had been removed.
Section 13-401(b): Operating an unregistered motor vehicle.
But the State entered a nolle prosequi as to all of the offenses but one, 21-902(a) D.U.I., the charge upon which appellant was tried and convicted.
FN3. See Terry v. Ohio, 392 U
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