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North Carolina v. Beasley11/19/1991
Defendant was charged in a citation with driving while impaired in violation of N.C. Gen. Stat. § 20-138.1 and driving sixty-eight miles per hour in a fifty-five miles per hour speed zone in violation of N.C. Gen. Stat. § 20-141. The evidence presented at trial tends to show the following:
At about 2:50 a.m. on 22 January 1989, Trooper N.C. Johnson of the North Carolina Highway Patrol was on duty patrolling Rural Paved Road 1005 in Johnston County. Trooper Johnson observed two Cadillacs travelling very closely together. He noticed that the car in front did not dim its headlights as he approached and was across the center line. He formed an opinion that the cars were travelling about seventy miles per hour. A radar reading showed that in fact the lead car was travelling sixty-eight miles per hour. Trooper Johnson turned his car around and began following the Cadillacs. The cars turned onto Rural Paved Road 1106 and then turned into a driveway, and Trooper Johnson followed.
Trooper Johnson got out of his car and walked to the car which had been in front. Defendant was in the driver's seat and a woman was sitting in the passenger's seat. Trooper Johnson asked defendant for his driver's license. Defendant stepped out of the vehicle and had some difficulty in getting his wallet out
of his pocket and in getting his license out of his wallet. Trooper Johnson noticed a "very strong odor" of alcohol on defendant's breath. Defendant swayed as he stood and his eyes appeared red and glassy. Trooper Johnson saw three or four empty beer cans in the car's floorboard and an open, almost full, beer can sitting between the car's seats.
Trooper Johnson told defendant to have a seat in the patrol car and informed defendant why he had been stopped. He asked defendant how much he had been drinking. Defendant replied that he had one drink. Trooper Johnson then told defendant that he was under arrest, and he left defendant in the car while he gave the other driver a speeding ticket. While talking to the other driver, the passenger in defendant's car approached defendant and asked for the keys to his house. Defendant complied and the passenger went inside the house by way of a side entrance. The passenger returned and gave the keys back to defendant. While Trooper Johnson completed some paperwork, defendant said that he needed to go check his back door. Trooper Johnson told him to remain in the seat, but defendant jumped out of the car and went toward the house. Trooper Johnson followed defendant and saw him enter the house and close the door behind him. Both he and the passenger attempted to persuade defendant to come back out. Trooper Johnson tried to open the door and finally pushed it open with his shoulder. Trooper Johnson could not find defendant in the house, but he found another exterior door ajar. Trooper Johnson assumed that defendant had exited through the door.
Several witnesses testified on defendant's behalf that defendant did not drink and had not been drinking on 22 January 1989. Defendant testified that he had been sitting in Trooper Johnson's car when he decided to check his back door. After locking the back door behind him, he was going out his front door when Trooper Johnson "knocked the back door off." Defendant was scared and went across the road to his son's house. Defendant further testified that he did not drink beer and had not been drinking on that night.
The jury found defendant guilty as charged. He was sentenced to 120 days in jail, suspended, with one year of probation on condition that he serve an active jail term of two days, pay a fine and costs, and surrender his driver's license.
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