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Commonwealth v. Johonoson1/26/2004
*Petition for Reargument Filed February 5, 2004 *
Appellant, Franklin Johonoson, appeals pro se from the judgment of sentence imposed on December 18, 2002, following his conviction for Driving Under the Influence (DUI), 75 Pa.C.S.A. § 3731(a)(4). We affirm.
The factual and procedural history of the case is as follows. At approximately 3:00 in the morning on October 17, 2001, Pennsylvania State Trooper Mark Perloff noticed Appellant driving his vehicle on a rural road. Appellant was driving substantially lower than the speed limit, with his fourway hazard lights flashing. Appellant then pulled off the side of the road, without any signal from the Trooper. The Trooper followed Appellant off the side of the road, parked his patrol car, and then activated the lights on his car for safety purposes. The Trooper then walked up to Appellant's car. As he approached, he noticed severe damage to both sides of Appellant's car.
The Trooper began speaking to Appellant to determine whether he had recently been in an accident. The Trooper immediately noticed indicia of intoxication: a strong odor of alcohol on Appellant's breath and within the vehicle; glassy, bloodshot eyes; and labored speech. The Trooper asked Appellant if he had been in an accident, and also asked if Appellant had been drinking. Appellant responded that he had recently been in an accident, and that he had drank three Old Milwaukee beers several hours previously. Appellant failed one field sobriety test, and told Trooper Perloff that knee problems prevented him from attempting a different test. Appellant was subsequently arrested and charged with Driving Under the Influence . A breathalyzer test conducted at 4:00 a.m. revealed a blood alcohol content (BAC) level of 0.114.
Appellant filed a pro se suppression motion. The court held a suppression hearing on May 7, 2002. At this hearing, Appellant represented himself and testified as a witness. Appellant attempted to litigate a great number of pretrial claims unrelated to suppression, but the suppression motion itself centered primarily on Appellant's statement to police that he had been drinking. Specifically, Appellant argued that his statement should be suppressed because Appellant did not feel free to refuse to answer the Trooper's question. On May 30, 2002, the trial court denied this motion.
Next, on August 5, 2002, the court held a hearing on three outstanding pretrial motions. Appellant had standby counsel for this proceeding (Christian Hoey, Esq.). Appellant argued that: (1) his waiver of arraignment was invalid because it was signed by his public defender, rather than by himself personally; (2) the complaint was not timely filed; and (3) there were unreasonable delays between his arrest, preliminary arraignment, and preliminary hearing. The trial court denied these motions on September 11, 2002.
On September 12, 2002, Appellant filed a pro se "objection and motion" in which he raised additional suppression issues. For the first time, Appellant argued that the entire stop was illegal. Specifically, Appellant argued that after both vehicles were parked on the side of the road, the Trooper illegally "seized" Appellant by turning on his flashing lights without any prior reasonable suspicion of illegal activity. This motion was denied as untimely on November 21, 2002.
On October 24, 2002, Appellant filed a pro se motion to dismiss the case under Pa.R.Crim.P. 600 (formerly Rule 1100). This motion was denied on November 21, 2002.
The case finally proceeded to a two-day jury trial on December 17-18, 2002. Appellant represented himself, with Attorney Hoey as standby counsel. Appellant was acquitted
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