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State v. Cuny6/25/1999
State v. Cuny, S-98-607
State v. Cuny, 257 Neb. 168
Appeal from the District Court for Sheridan County, Paul D. Empson, Judge, on appeal thereto from the County Court for Sheridan County, Charles Plantz, Judge. Judgment of District Court reversed and dismissed.
NATURE OF CASE
Debbie Ann Cuny appeals her conviction for driving under the influence (DUI), a violation of Neb. Rev. Stat. § 60-6,196 (Reissue 1993). On our own motion, we removed the matter to this court under our authority to regulate the caseloads of this court and the Nebraska Court of Appeals. We reverse, and dismiss.
BACKGROUND
On July 28, 1996, Officers Wilmer Youngman and Tino Lopez, both police officers with the Pine Ridge Police Department of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, were on routine patrol near the Nebraska-South Dakota border. When the officers were about one-quarter mile north of the South Dakota border on Highway 407, they observed a vehicle enter Highway 407 from a side road and head south toward the officers, partially in the northbound lane. The officers observed the vehicle continue to travel south partially in the northbound lane toward them. The officers pulled their patrol car over toward the shoulder of the road as the approaching vehicle came closer. The vehicle then started pulling back into its own lane and went past the officers' patrol car. The officers turned their patrol car around, activated the car's red emergency lights, and followed the vehicle. The vehicle did not stop until after it had left the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and traveled approximately one-quarter mile across the Nebraska border into Sheridan County.
Lopez approached the vehicle and discovered that the driver was Cuny. Lopez asked Cuny for her license, which she did not have on her person. Lopez detected an odor of alcohol coming from Cuny and noticed her speech was slurred. Youngman then approached Cuny and detected an odor of alcohol on her breath. Youngman asked Cuny to perform field sobriety tests, from which Youngman determined that Cuny was under the influence of alcohol. Youngman radioed the Sheridan County authorities, and Cuny was detained until Sheridan County Sheriff Terry E. Robbins arrived 10 to 15 minutes later. Robbins discussed the situation with Youngman, and Youngman informed him of the events leading up to the detention of Cuny. Robbins then went to talk to Cuny and noticed that her eyes were red and watery and that she had a faint odor of alcohol on her breath. Cuny admitted to Robbins that she had been driving the vehicle. Robbins administered field sobriety tests, from which he determined that Cuny was under the influence of alcohol, and placed her under arrest. Cuny was taken back to the Sheridan County sheriff's office, where she performed additional sobriety tests.
Cuny was charged with one count of DUI, a violation of § 60-6,196, and one count of not having an operator's license, a violation of Neb. Rev. Stat. § 60-484 (Cum. Supp. 1996).
Cuny subsequently pled guilty to not carrying her license while operating her vehicle. Thereafter, a single count of DUI was tried before a jury in the Sheridan County Court.
Before the trial, however, Cuny moved to suppress all evidence against her, alleging that she was subjected to an unlawful investigatory stop, detention, and arrest in Sheridan County by police officers of the Pine Ridge Police Department. Further, at the outset of the trial, Cuny renewed her motion to suppress and further moved to dismiss the case based on the same actions of the Pine Ridge police officers. Upon Conclusion of the State's case in chief, Cuny again re
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