 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Wallace v. State4/14/2004
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 as binding precedent for any proposition of law.
No. 4859
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND JUDGMENT
Richard Wallace was convicted of felony driving under the influence . He appeals, claiming that the state trooper who contacted him lacked reasonable suspicion to conduct an investigatory stop. For the reasons set forth below, we conclude that the stop was lawful. Accordingly, we affirm the superior court's decision.
Facts and Proceedings
At approximately 11:15 p.m. on June 21, 2001, Alaska State Troopers were dispatched in response to a citizen's report that a man and a woman were fighting in a vehicle. The citizen provided his name, a description of the vehicle, and the vehicle's license plate number. The citizen called again soon after to inform the troopers that the vehicle was leaving the area. This information was also dispatched.
Based on these dispatches, Alaska State Trooper Lawrence C. Erickson drove northbound on the Steese Highway in Fairbanks. Once on the Steese Highway, he saw a vehicle heading southbound that matched the description given in the first dispatch: a blue Jeep Cherokee containing a man and a woman. Trooper Erickson turned his vehicle around and went after the Jeep. When he got near the Jeep, he saw that its license plate number matched the information given in the dispatch. Approximately seven minutes had elapsed since the first dispatch.
Trooper Erickson was directly behind the Jeep when it stopped for a traffic light. There, he could see into the Jeep. Although at first he thought that the two occupants were fighting, he soon realized that the two were having a sexual encounter. The woman was in the passenger seat, but was facing the driver, Wallace, with her legs open. Her left leg was on top of Wallace's seat, wrapped around the driver's headrest. While Trooper Erickson watched, Wallace "got up and leaned over on top of the female passenger."
When the traffic light changed from red to green, Wallace did not respond "for a few seconds." When he did respond, he sat back up and started to drive away. Trooper Erickson activated his vehicle's emergency lights to stop Wallace. Wallace drove for a "block or so" before he stopped.
Trooper Erickson contacted Wallace and told him that he been stopped because there had been a report that he and his passenger had been involved in a possible domestic violence assault. Wallace responded that the passenger was his wife and that they had been having sex, not fighting.
During this contact, Trooper Erickson noticed that Wallace was very intoxicated. Wallace smelled strongly of alcohol, had red, watery eyes, unsteady balance, and thick speech. Wallace also admitted that he had been drinking. Later, a DataMaster test showed that Wallace's blood alcohol content was .173 percent. Ultimately, the State charged Wallace with felony driving under the influence . Wallace then filed a motion to suppress arguing that the investigatory stop had been illegal.
An evidentiary hearing was held. At this hearing, Trooper Erickson testified that he had been dispatched to a possible fight between a man and a woman in a vehicle. He had been given a description of the vehicle and its license plate number. He testified that even though Wallace and his passenger were not fighting when he saw them, he stopped Wallace because he still needed to follow up on the report "of
Page 1 2 Alaska DUI Attorneys
DUI Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|