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State v. Hall4/27/2004
Submitted on Briefs: October 24, 2003
The Appellant, Gary Lee Hall, was charged with a fourth offense of driving under the influence of alcohol pursuant to § 61-8-401, MCA, and for driving with a suspended license, pursuant to § 61-5-212, MCA, in the District Court for the Twenty First Judicial District in Ravalli County. Hall filed motions to suppress evidence and to dismiss the felony charge of driving under the influence of alcohol. The District Court denied both motions. After a bench trial, Hall was convicted of the charges. He now appeals. We affirm.
ISSUES PRESENTED
On appeal, Hall raises two issues:
1. Whether the police officer had a particularized suspicion to justify the stop; and
2. Whether Hall's three previous convictions in the state of Washington for driving while under the influence were appropriately used to form the basis of his Montana felony charge of driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, fourth offense.
FACTS
Bob and Debra Walker made a stop at the Lone Pine Station on the south side of Hamilton, which resulted in Mrs. Walker calling in a report of a drunk driver. While Mr. Walker waited in their truck, Mrs. Walker went inside for a cappuccino. While she was waiting in line, she noticed a man come staggering through the door who she immediately thought was drunk. The man tripped through the door and almost fell down, but caught himself. The man was disheveled, his hat was askew, his shirt was untucked and his eyes were bloodshot. When Mrs. Walker returned to the truck, the couple conferred, agreeing that the man was drunk. Mr. Walker indicated that after the man parked his truck across the painted parking lines and perpendicular to Mr. Walker's truck, the man staggered about, reached into his pockets and pulled them out and dropped some money. The man paused for a long time, staring at his hands before staggering into the store, leaving the money he dropped on the ground. The couple agreed that the man was obviously too drunk to drive.
The Walkers watched the man leave the store and get into the driver's side of his truck. So as not to appear suspicious, the Walkers slowly drove away while Mrs. Walker used her cell phone to call 9-1-1. She identified herself and gave a description of a drunk man driving a black and maroon Ford pickup truck, with a blonde female passenger and a dog in the back-end wearing an orange vest, and gave the truck's license plate number. Because they were driving away, Mrs. Walker could not say which direction the man was traveling, so the dispatcher called the Lone Pine Station. The clerk confirmed that a drunk man had just been in there, but because it was so busy, he could not give the direction of travel.
Meanwhile, Hamilton Police Officer Hochalter was parked in the parking lot of Al's Car Care on the 93 strip in Hamilton when he received the dispatcher's report at 9:16 p.m., relaying the information supplied by Mrs. Walker. Within two minutes, a black and maroon Ford truck driven by a man with a blonde female passenger and a dog in the back-end wearing an orange vest drove by in the lane closest to Officer Hochalter. He followed the truck for four to five blocks, watching for signs of erratic driving. But the truck drove at the 25 mile per hour speed limit and appropriately signaled to change lanes. When the truck pulled in to the Gas N' Grub and Hall got out of the driver's side, Officer Hochalter pulled in right behind the truck, just turning on his emergency flashers to let Hall know they needed to talk.
Hochalter's investigation quickly revealed that Hall smelled of alcohol. Hall admitted to havin
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