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People v. Ingram6/28/1999
Interlocutory Appeal from the Clear Creek County District Court Honorable Richard H. Hart, Judge
EN BANC
AND CASE REMANDED
JUSTICE SCOTT does not participate.
The prosecution brought this interlocutory appeal pursuant to C.A.R. 4.1 to challenge an order entered by the Clear Creek County District Court suppressing all evidence and statements obtained as a result of the defendant's arrest. The trial court granted the defendant's motion to suppress, holding that the defendant's arrest violated his Fourth Amendment rights. The trial court further held that the defendant's statement that he owned a gun was inadmissible, as it was not only a fruit of the illegal arrest, but also was taken in violation of the defendant's Fifth Amendment rights. We reverse the order of suppression with respect to the defendant's Fourth Amendment claims and remand the case to the trial court for additional findings of fact and Conclusions of law, as the record before us is insufficient to permit appellate review. However, we affirm the portion of the trial court's order in which it suppressed the defendant's admission of gun ownership.
I.
The defendant, Jason Ingram (Ingram), was charged in Clear Creek District Court with two counts of felony menacing, tampering with physical evidence, reckless endangerment, and driving while ability impaired. Prior to trial, he filed a motion to suppress all of the evidence and statements gathered by police in the case.
The trial court conducted a suppression hearing at which the following facts were established. Mike Lilley, a deputy sheriff for the Clear Creek County Sheriff's Office, received a call at 12:45 a.m. on October 25, 1998, regarding a disturbance at a house on Colorado Highway 103. The dispatch also indicated that gunshots had been fired. Deputy Lilley drove toward the location and requested backup.
At approximately 1:00 a.m., as Deputy Lilley was driving along Highway 103 toward the site of the alleged shooting, he noticed Ingram's vehicle coming toward him at a high rate of speed with the "body rolling as it went through the curves." Highway 103 is a winding, mountain road which was icy in places on the date in question. As Ingram passed him, Deputy Lilley noticed that he hit the brakes hard, causing the car body to roll forward. Deputy Lilley turned his patrol car around, turned on his overhead lights, and stopped Ingram's vehicle. Ingram was the driver of the vehicle. His wife, Ulla Ingram, was seated in the passenger seat. Deputy Lilley advised Ingram that he was driving at an unsafe speed for the conditions, and asked Ingram to produce his driver's license, registration, and proof of insurance. During the course of the conversation, Deputy Lilley noted that Ingram smelled of alcohol; however, Ingram claimed that he had not been drinking. When Deputy Lilley asked Ingram if he was coming from a party on Highway 103, Ingram answered "yes." Deputy Lilley then told Ingram that he was investigating a disturbance at a party on Highway 103, but that if Ingram's information was valid, Ingram and his wife "would be on their way."
The check on Ingram's driver's license revealed that it was under denial. Upon learning this information, Deputy Lilley asked Ingram to step out of the car, at which time he observed that Ingram was unsteady on his feet. Deputy Lilley performed a "cursory examination" of Ingram's ability to drive. The results of these tests led Deputy Lilley to believe that Ingram was too intoxicated to drive. Deputy Lilley then asked Ingram again where he had been earlier in the evening, at which point Ingram stated that he had "nothing more to say."
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