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Wells v. State7/14/1999
4075 NOTICE
Memorandum decisions of this court do not create legal precedent. See Alaska Appellate Rule 214(d) and Paragraph 7 of the Guidelines for Publication of Court of Appeals Decisions (Court of Appeals Order No. 3). Accordingly, this memorandum decision may not be cited for any proposition of law, nor as an example of the proper resolution of any issue.
[No. 4075 - July 14, 1999]
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND JUDGMENT
Appeal from the Superior Court, Fourth Judicial District, Fairbanks, Mark I. Wood, Judge.
Randy L. Wells appeals his conviction for felony driving while intoxicated. Wells contends that the officer who stopped his car assured him that he would not be arrested if he was cooperative, thus tricking Wells into voluntarily furnishing evidence against himself. As explained below, Wells's contention is not supported by the record. Wells also contends that the superior court should have suppressed all evidence of the preliminary breath test that was administered to Wells by the officer who stopped him. Wells did not preserve this issue.
Wells's claim that he was tricked into incriminating himself by a false promise that he would not be arrested
State Trooper Mark Ridling stopped Wells's car because one of Wells's headlights was out. When Ridling walked up to Wells's car, he noticed that Wells had an open bottle of beer. Ridling asked Wells to hand him the beer, and he then asked Wells to accompany him back to the patrol car.
As they walked to the patrol car, Wells asked Ridling, "Why don't you just let me go?" Ridling ignored this request. Instead, he asked Wells, "Why have you been drinking beer when you're driving down the road?" Wells replied, "I'm not." As they were getting into Ridling's patrol car, Wells pleaded with Ridling, "Don't do this." Ridling responded that he just wanted to ask Wells a few questions.
Ridling asked whether Wells had a driver's license. Wells indicated that he did not have a license. Wells then asked if Ridling would be willing to let him go. Ridling answered, "You know I can't do that. But I don't know that I've got to arrest you. ... I want to find out what's going on. Is your license suspended, or revoked, or what?" Wells's response to Ridling's question is indiscernible on the tape. But in the meantime, Ridling was talking to his dispatcher about the status of Wells's license. The dispatcher informed Ridling that Wells's license was revoked.
Wells then tried to persuade Ridling to let him drive home. He told Ridling that he only lived a few blocks away, and he offered to have Ridling follow him home. Ridling replied, "You know I can't do that. Doggone it, I can't let you drive." When Wells continued to plead that he lived only three blocks away, the following conversation ensued:
Ridling: "Well, look, I'll tell you what: If you're cooperative and stop giving me a bunch of BS, then I'm not going to arrest you."
Wells: "Okay."
Ridling: "Okay."
Wells: "Okay."
Ridling: "But I can't let you drive. You know that. I can't let you drive."
Wells: "Can I call [someone]?"
Ridley: "Yes, sir, we can call somebody."
Wells: "I['ve] got a cell phone in car."
Ridling: "Go get it and bring it back here. ... Bring your phone back here, and ... then you can call somebody[.]"
At this point, the conversation was interrupted while Wells retrieved the cellular phone from his vehicle.
Wells returned to the patrol car and got in on the passenger side. The conversation then resumed:
Well
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