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Nease v. State1/28/2005
No. 1967
A Juneau police officer stopped Peter Nease after he observed that the passenger-side brake light on Nease's pickup truck did not light up when he stopped at a traffic light. When the officer contacted Nease, he observed signs that Nease was driving while intoxicated, and ultimately arrested Nease for that offense. Nease argues that the evidence of his intoxication should have been suppressed because the police officer used his malfunctioning brake light as a pretext to stop him for driving while intoxicated. For the reasons below, we reject this claim and affirm Nease's conviction.
Facts and Proceedings
While on patrol early on the morning of February 3, 2002, Juneau Police Officer Matt Torok saw Nease having a drink at Marlintini's bar. Officer Torok recognized Nease and his red pickup truck from an incident several days earlier. During that earlier incident, Officer Torok had observed Nease speeding 75 miles per hour in snowy conditions. But by the time Officer Torok caught up with Nease, Nease was no longer in his truck and denied that he had been driving. Nease "could barely walk" and "reeked of alcohol." Officer Torok suspected that he had been driving while intoxicated. But Officer Torok did not arrest Nease because he could not identify him as the driver. Officer Torok told Nease that "the next time he drove drunk ... was going to get him."
After seeing Nease at Marlintini's bar on February 3, Officer Torok continued his patrol. About an hour later, Officer Torok spotted Nease's truck parked at the nearby Valley Restaurant. By the time Officer Torok turned his patrol car around, Nease was pulling his truck out of the restaurant parking lot and onto the Glacier Highway. Officer Torok followed Nease, observing no problems with his driving. But when Nease stopped at a traffic light, Officer Torok saw that one of his brake lights was not working.
Officer Torok activated his emergency lights and pulled Nease over. After determining that Nease was intoxicated, Officer Torok arrested him for driving while intoxicated.
Nease filed a motion to suppress the evidence seized as a result of this stop. He argued that the stop was illegal because his alleged broken brake light was a pretext to investigate him for drunk driving . After an evidentiary hearing, District Court Judge Peter B. Froehlich granted Nease's motion and suppressed the evidence. Judge Froehlich found that, but for the incident several days earlier, Officer Torok would not have stopped Nease for the broken brake light.
The State filed a petition for review in superior court, arguing that the district court had applied the wrong standard in assessing the legality of Nease's stop. The State argued that an officer's subjective intent for a traffic stop is irrelevant to the assessment of whether that traffic stop was justified. Superior Court Judge Larry R. Weeks agreed and remanded the case. Judge Weeks, quoting Beauvois v. State, directed the district court to determine "whether, under the facts known to the police officer, the stop of the car was objectively justified."
The parties presented no additional evidence on remand. After hearing argument, Judge Froehlich found that Officer Torok did not have reasonable suspicion to stop Nease, and he reaffirmed his order granting Nease's motion to suppress. Judge Froehlich recalled that Officer Torok had testified that Nease's brake light might have been "alternating" or "flickering." He concluded that this testimony had not established a "clear [traffic] infraction," and that the State had thus not "met its burden of showing by a preponderance of the evidence that there was any reason f
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