State v. Seaman12/6/2005
s test, Officer Armstrong arrested Seaman for DUI. Seaman's preliminary breath test at the scene indicated a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .209 and a subsequent test showed a BAC of .219.
Seaman was charged with second-offense DUI, a misdemeanor in violation of § 61-8-401, MCA. She filed a motion to suppress all evidence acquired during her encounter with Officer Armstrong. On March 24, 2004, the Justice Court, which has been established as a court of record pursuant to § 3-10-101(5), MCA, conducted an evidentiary hearing on the motion. The videotape of Officer Armstrong's encounter with Seaman was admitted as an exhibit and played at the hearing. At the conclusion of the hearing, the Justice Court determined that Officer Armstrong contacted Seaman under the Community Caretaker Doctrine and that his actions and questions did not exceed the scope of his reason for contact--i.e., to determine whether Seaman was in need of aid. Hence, the Justice Court denied the motion to suppress. Following a bench trial, Seaman was convicted of the charge and she appealed to the District Court.
On October 12, 2004, following briefing by both sides, the District Court issued an Order reversing the Justice Court's Order denying the motion to suppress and reversing the judgment of conviction. The State appeals the District Court's Order to this Court. Seaman failed to file a brief on appeal before this Court.
STANDARD OF REVIEW
We review a district court's grant of a motion to suppress to determine whether the court's findings of fact are clearly erroneous and whether the court's interpretation and application of the law are correct. State v. Palmer, 2003 MT 129, 6, 316 Mont. 46, 6, 68
P.3d 809, 6 (citing City of Cut Bank v. Bird, 2001 MT 296, 9, 307 Mont. 460, 9, 38 P.3d 804, 9). In an appeal from a justice court established as a court of record, the district court functions as an appellate court and the appeal is confined to a review of the record and questions of law. Section 3-10-115(1), MCA. This Court's constitutional power and obligation of final appellate review confer jurisdiction to hear an appeal from a district court's ruling. State v. Caldwell, 1998 MT 261, 13, 291 Mont. 272, 13, 968 P.2d 711,
13 (citing Art. VII, § 2(1), Mont. Const.; State v. Finley (1996), 276 Mont. 126, 135, 915 P.2d 208, 214, overruled in part by State v. Gallagher, 2001 MT 39, 304 Mont. 215, 19 P.3d 817). Thus, both the District Court and this Court review the Justice Court's factual findings for clear error and its legal conclusions for correctness.
DISCUSSION
Whether the District Court misinterpreted or misapplied the Community Caretaker Doctrine and thereby erroneously reversed the Justice Court's Order denying Seaman's motion to suppress.
The State argues on appeal that viewing the encounter between Seaman and Officer Armstrong in light of the analysis of the Community Caretaker Doctrine first set forth in State v. Lovegren, 2002 MT 153, 310 Mont. 358, 51 P.3d 471, this Court should conclude that the Justice Court correctly applied the Community Caretaker Doctrine to the facts of this case, that the District Court misapplied Lovegren by according insufficient investigative latitude to Officer Armstrong as he was lawfully acting under the Community Caretaker Doctrine, and that the District Court's Order should be reversed.
As we stated in Lovegren, not all contact between law enforcement officers and citizens involves the "seizure" of a person under the Fourth Amendment. Lovegren, 13. The officer in Lovegren was on routine patrol when he came upon a vehicle parked on the side
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