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Morse v. Commonwealth10/27/2005
Joyce A. Morse (Morse) appeals from an order of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County (trial court) that dismissed her appeal from a one-year suspension of her operating privilege pursuant to Section 1547(b)(1) of the Vehicle Code (Code), 75 Pa.C.S. § 1547(b)(1).
By official notice dated February 6, 2004, the Department of Transportation, Bureau of Driver Licensing (DOT) informed Morse that her operating privilege was to be suspended for one year, effective April 18, 2004, as a result of her refusal to submit to chemical testing on October 31, 2003. Morse appealed to the trial court
At a de novo hearing, Police Officer Robert DiGiacomo (Officer DiGiacomo) of the City of Pittsburgh Police Department testified that on October 31, 2003:
We were dispatched to an accident in the 4500 block of Winterburn Avenue in the Hazelwood/Greenfield section of the city. Upon arrival, another officer was already on the scene, talking to who was later identified as Ms. Morse. She was being combative and irate with the other officer, so I went over to assist him. At that time she [Morse] was out of the vehicle. I could detect a strong odor of alcoholic beverage on her breath and that she had bloodshot and glassy eyes.
Notes of Testimony (N.T.), February 24, 2005, at 5; Reproduced Record (R.R.) at 18a. Morse failed two-field sobriety tests and Officer DiGiacomo placed her under arrest and transported her "to our traffic division." N.T. at 5-6; R.R. at 18a-19a.
Police Officer Terry L. Traxler (Officer Traxler), also of the City of Pittsburgh Police Department, testified that he read Morse the warnings contained on DOT's DL-26 form. N.T. at 12; R.R. at 25a. Officer Traxler then requested Morse to submit to the breathalyzer test and she refused. Officer Traxler noted a refusal on the DL-26 form.
Morse testified:
So I got out of the vehicle and I walked to the back of my car and the front of the other car . . . to see if there was any damage, and he [Officer DiGiacomo] turned and he high beamed me from 3 feet away in the face with the flashlight and told me to return to my vehicle.
N.T. at 19; R.R. at 33a. Morse stated that Officer DiGiacomo requested her to perform the hand to nose sobriety test "which I felt I did 100 percent." N.T. at 20; R.R. at 33a. "Then he asked me to walk a straight line, and I have no idea what walking a straight line is." N.T. at 21; R.R. at 34a. Morse stated that she complained to Officer DiGiacomo that she had a bad knee and queried "Isn't there a flatter grade that I can walk?" N.T. at 21; R.R. at 34a. Morse performed the test on a driveway that was "a little bit flatter" and that she believed she successfully completed the test. N.T. at 21; R.R. at 34a. Morse stated that she was transported to the police station but was never requested to submit to a breathalyzer test.
The trial court dismissed Morse's appeal and concluded:
As noted by her [Morse] counsel at the hearing, the question to be resolved was the question of credibility. Based upon the record generated in this case, the testimony of these three individuals, it is obvious that this court resolved the issue of credibility against Morse. Since Court believed that she was, in fact, asked to submit to a blood alcohol test and refused, it is clear that her appeal had to be dismissed.
Opinion of the Trial Court, July 15, 2005, at 2.
On appeal, Morse, appearing pro se, contends: 1) that the trial court erred because its decision was based upon the police officers' "distorted evidence";
2) that the arresting police officer lacked "reasonable grounds" to suspect t
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