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State v. Cilley2/18/1998
Reporter of Decisions
Decision: 1998 ME 34
Submitted on Briefs: January 8, 1998
The State appeals pursuant to 15 M.R.S.A. Section 2115-A (1980 & Supp. 1997) from an order entered in the District Court (Calais, Romei, J.) suppressing evidence that Valdric Cilley operated a motor vehicle under the influence of intoxicants in violation of 29-A M.R.S.A. Section 2411 (1996 & Supp. 1997). On appeal the State argues that the court erred in determining that game wardens stopped Cilley's all-terrain vehicle within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment; and that the court erred in determining that the game wardens lacked probable cause to arrest Cilley for operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicants. We agree with both contentions and vacate the suppression order.
I.
On August 3, 1996, Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Wardens Lowell Osgood and Robert Brown were on routine patrol in Township 27 on Stud Mill Road, an unpaved logging road open to the general public and wide enough for two vehicles to pass each other at a regular speed. As they traveled on this dirt road, the wardens saw an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) with two people in it approaching their marked game warden truck from the opposite direction.
Osgood, who was driving, pulled the warden truck to the right side of the road and stopped. He did not activate the truck's emergency lighting or its dashboard flashing light. Osgood's sole purpose in pulling the warden truck to the side of the road was to check the approaching ATV's registration; neither warden had any reason to suspect criminal activity. As the ATV got closer, Brown recognized its operator as Valdric Cilley, whom he had known for about four years, and whom he had witnessed in an intoxicated state on prior occasions. As the ATV began to slow its speed, the wardens observed its passenger emptying a beer bottle into the road and then placing the bottle behind his back. Osgood and Brown, who were wearing their game warden uniforms, exited the warden truck and stood in front of it.
Although the wardens did not signal to Cilley, the ATV stopped in front of the warden truck in the middle of the road. Cilley got out of the ATV and began speaking with Brown, who observed that Cilley's eyes were bloodshot and that his breath smelled of alcohol. Cilley admitted that he had consumed a couple of beers. Brown asked Cilley to perform two field sobriety tests, which he agreed to do after initially protesting. First, Cilley was instructed to perform a "finger dexterity" test, in which he was told to "take your thumb to your index finger, touch the tips of your fingers and count one, two, three, four, four, three, two, one." Cilley did not recite the numbers in proper sequence, and touched the middle of his fingers rather than his fingertips. Second, Cilley was asked to perform the "one-legged stand," in which he was instructed to stand on one leg and count to thirty. Cilley counted only to ten. When these field sobriety tests were completed, Cilley was arrested for operating under the influence of alcohol, and he was taken to a nearby police station for a blood-alcohol test.
Cilley filed a timely motion to suppress all evidence derived from the stop, arguing, inter alia, that the wardens lacked a reasonable articulable suspicion to justify the stop and that the wardens lacked probable cause to arrest him. After a hearing, the court granted Cilley's motion based on its conclusion that the wardens lacked probable cause to arrest him. In response to the State's motion for findings of fact and Conclusions of law pursuant to M.R. Crim. P. 41A(d) with respect to the legality of the stop,
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