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State v. Jones11/19/2004
Appellant, Stephanie S. Jones, appeals from the June 25, 2003 judgment entry of the Trumbull County Court, Central District, in which she was sentenced for driving under the influence ("DUI").
{ } On October 5, 2002, appellant was charged with DUI, a misdemeanor of the first degree, in violation of R.C. 4511.19(A)(6). On January 23, 2003, appellant filed a motion to suppress evidence of her Breathalyzer test.
{ } A suppression hearing was held on June 25, 2003. Appellant and appellee, the state of Ohio, stipulated that the test results would not come in and proceeded solely on the issue of probable cause regarding the initial traffic stop. At the close of the hearing, the trial court determined that there was sufficient cause for the stop. Appellant then entered a plea of no contest to R.C. 4511.19(A)(1).*fn1
{ } At the suppression hearing, Officer Aaron Kaciewicz ("Officer Kaciewicz"), an officer with the Brookfield Police Department, testified for appellee that on October 5, 2002, he received a call regarding a suspicious vehicle in a trailer park.*fn2 After speaking with the caller, Officer Kaciewicz stated that at approximately 3:20 a.m., he identified the suspicious vehicle, which he observed parked, with the engine off and the lights out and two individuals sitting inside. Officer Kaciewicz expressed concern for the two individuals' safety because he believed that they may have been fightingdue to theirgestures and movement. Officer Kaciewicz indicated that he pulled his cruiser behind the vehicle, exited, and began to approach the car. At that time, Officer Kaciewicz said that the passenger got out of the vehicle, and the driver, appellant, began to drive off.
{ } According to Officer Kaciewicz, he followed appellant's vehicle, which he explained was driven in an erratic manner and which appeared to be speeding. Officer Kaciewicz stated that "[w]hile the vehicle was driving away, it appeared that [appellant was] going back and forth between the gas pedal and brake pedal. The vehicle would start to go, stop, start to go, stop -- kind of like a bouncing motion, as if [appellant was] driving with [her] foot on both the gas and brake. Gassing and braking." Officer Kaciewicz said that appellant's vehicle began to speed up, and he believed thatappellant was speeding. Officer Kaciewicz indicated that if he were on routing patrol, he would have stopped a driver of a vehicle acting in the same manner.
{ } Also, Officer Kaciewicz testified that appellant's driving was not normal and caused him to be concerned for her safety as well as the public's. Because appellant's vehicle drove away in such an erratic manner, Officer Kaciewicz decided to pull it over to see if appellant was okay. At that time, Officer Kaciewicz stopped appellant's vehicle and she was charged with DUI.
{ } Pursuant to its June 25, 2003 judgment entry, the trial court found appellant guilty of DUI in violation of R.C. 4511.19(A)(1) and sentenced her to a fine of $1,000 plus costs and one hundred eighty days in jail. The trial court suspended $750 of the fine as well as one hundred seventy seven days of the jail sentence. The trial court suspended appellant's driver's license for one hundred eighty days with credit for one hundred eighty days. Also, the trial court placed appellant on reporting probation for a period of one year. It is from that judgment that appellant filed a timely notice of appeal and makes the following assignment of error:
{ } "The trial court committed reversible error by overruling the motion to suppress any and all evidence obtained from the unlawful and invalid detention and arrest [of appellant]."
{ } In her sole assignment of error, appellant a
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