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State v. Gilder9/9/1999
APPEAL FROM: District Court of the Fourth Judicial District, In and for the County of Missoula, The Honorable John W. Larson, Judge presiding.
Submitted on Briefs: June 10, 1999
Justice Terry N. Trieweiler
By information filed in the District Court for the Fourth Judicial District in Missoula County, the defendant, Jay Samuel Gilder, was charged with operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, in violation of §§ 61-8-401 and -714, MCA; driving while his license was suspended or revoked, in violation of § 61-5-212, MCA; and obstructing a peace officer, in violation of § 45-7-302, MCA. Gilder filed a motion to suppress all evidence stemming from the stop of his vehicle. The motion was denied, and Gilder entered an Alford plea, reserving his right to appeal from the denial of the motion. We reverse.
The issue on appeal is whether the district court erred when it denied Gilder's motion to suppress.
FACTUAL BACKGROUND
The District Court did not conduct an evidentiary hearing in this case. However, the following facts, taken from the Missoula County Sheriff's incident report, were considered by the District Court without objection. At approximately 1:30 a.m. on June 26, 1998, Missoula County Sheriff's Deputy Pat Estill observed a vehicle waiting at a traffic light at the intersection of South Avenue and Reserve Street in Missoula. When the light turned green, the vehicle proceeded through the intersection at a slow rate of speed. While Deputy Estill followed the vehicle driven by Gilder, it turned at four intersections within a residential neighborhood. Gilder did not exceed 15 mph, although it was permissible to drive 25 mph on the roads on which he was observed. Deputy Estill decided to talk to Gilder "because he appeared to be casing the neighborhood."
Deputy Estill initiated a traffic stop, following which he noticed the odor of alcohol emanating from the vehicle. Gilder initially provided Deputy Estill with a false name. After determining Gilder's true name, Deputy Estill discovered that Gilder's driver's license was revoked and that he was on parole. Deputy Estill arrested Gilder for driving under the influence of alcohol, obstructing a law enforcement officer, and driving with a revoked license.
Gilder moved to suppress all evidence collected as a result of the stop, based on his contention that Deputy Estill lacked a particularized suspicion to initiate the stop. The District Court issued an opinion and order in which it denied the motion to suppress. Gilder entered an Alford plea of guilty to the DUI charge and reserved his right to appeal.
Did the district court err when it denied Gilder's motion to suppress?
We review a district court's denial of a motion to suppress for clearly erroneous findings of fact and to determine whether those findings were correctly applied as a matter of law. A finding is clearly erroneous if it is not supported by substantial evidence, the court has clearly misapprehended the effect of the evidence, or this Court is left with a definite and firm conviction that the district court made a mistake. See State v. Jarman, 1998 MT 277, 8, 967 P.2d 1099, 8.
The United States Supreme Court has recognized an exception to the general warrant requirement of the Fourth Amendment, pursuant to which a law enforcement officer can make an investigatory stop of a motor vehicle without probable cause when the State can establish: (1) objective data from which an experienced officer can make certain inferences; and (2) a resulting "particularized suspicion" that the occupant of the vehicle is or has bee
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