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State v. Tarlton10/2/2001
Appeal by defendant from judgment entered 22 March 2000 by Judge Orlando Hudson in Orange County Superior Court. Heard in the Court of Appeals 16 May 2001.
This appeal arises from the trial court's denial of defendant's motion to suppress evidence obtained as a result of a license checkpoint stop. Based on the reasoning stated herein, we affirm the decision of the trial court.
On 9 April 1999, Troopers Kubas and Slemenda of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol conducted a driver's license checkpoint on Orange Grove Road in Orange County. Drew Allen Tarlton (defendant) was stopped at the checkpoint and Trooper Kubas (Kubas) checked his license and registration. While doing so, Kubas noticed that defendant had a "mild odor of alcohol about him." Kubas asked defendant to step out of his vehicle in order to further investigate the odor. At that time, Kubas noticed that defendant's eyes were "red and glassy." When defendant failed to properly say his alphabets as requested, Kubas administered an Alcosensor test which indicated that defendant was impaired. Defendant was subsequently charged with driving while impaired in violation of N.C.G.S. § 20-138.1 (1999).
On 6 January 2000, in Orange County District Court, defendant was found guilty of driving while impaired. He appealed to the Orange County Superior Court, and on 20 March 2000, filed a motion to suppress evidence obtained pursuant to the license checkpoint stop alleging that the checkpoint was unconstitutional. The trial court denied his motion. Reserving his right to appeal, defendant pled guilty to the charge of driving while impaired.
In his first assignment of error, defendant contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence obtained as a result of his stop and detention by the troopers in that the troopers did not follow the proper procedures mandated in the wake of Delaware v. Prouse, 440 U.S. 648, 59 L. Ed. 2d 660 (1979). Defendant maintains that the State failed to prove the constitutionality of the checkpoint because there was no competent evidence that the officers had obtained authorization from a supervisor and the written policy by which the checkpoint was conducted was not admitted into evidence. We disagree.
In Delaware v. Prouse, the United States Supreme Court held that random stops of vehicles by law enforcement officers to check for licenses and registrations violate the Fourth Amendment. Prouse, 440 U.S. at 663, 59 L. Ed. 2d at 673; See also, United States v. Brignoni-Ponce, 422 U.S. 873, 45 L. Ed. 2d 607 (1975); State v. Grooms, 126 N.C. App. 88, 483 S.E.2d 445 (1997). To withstand constitutional scrutiny, such stops must be supported by at least "articulable and reasonable" suspicion that a motorist is unlicensed or that an automobile is not registered, or that either the vehicle or occupant is otherwise subject to seizure for violation of the law. Prouse, 440 U.S. at 663, 59 L. Ed. 2d at 673. The Court in Prouse reasoned:
When there is not probable cause to believe that a driver is violating any one of the multitude of applicable traffic and equipment regulations--or other articulable basis amounting to reasonable suspicion that the driver is unlicensed or his vehicle unregistered--we cannot conceive of any legitimate basis upon which a patrolman could decide that stopping a particular driver for a spot check would be more productive than stopping any other driver. This kind of standardless and unconstrained discretion is the evil the Court has discerned when in previous cases it has insisted that the discretion of the official in the field be circumscribed, at least to some extent. Prouse, 440 U.S. at 661, 59 L. Ed. 2d at 672 (cita
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