Brewer v. Director of Revenue

386 S.W.3d 831, 2012 WL 4841449, 2012 Mo. App. LEXIS 1286
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 12, 2012
DocketNo. SD 31433
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 386 S.W.3d 831 (Brewer v. Director of Revenue) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brewer v. Director of Revenue, 386 S.W.3d 831, 2012 WL 4841449, 2012 Mo. App. LEXIS 1286 (Mo. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

WILLIAM W. FRANCIS, JR., J.

The Director of Revenue (“Director”) revoked the driving privileges of Austin C. Brewer (“Brewer”) pursuant to section 577.041.1 The trial court reversed the revocation after finding there were no reasonable grounds for the arresting officer to [833]*833believe Brewer was driving in an intoxicated or drugged condition. Director appeals that finding. We reverse and remand.

Factual and Procedural Background

The record reveals that on October 23, 2010, Lindel Gregory, a ranger with the National Park Service (“Ranger Gregory”), was “responding to a wildfire” when his vehicle came up behind that of Brewer and he observed Brewer “driving to the left of the centerline....” After watching Brewer’s vehicle “straddling the center-line” for a short distance, Ranger Gregory continued to follow the vehicle “to make sure it wasn’t just someone that was inattentive].” He then witnessed Brewer’s vehicle travel “completely into the oncoming lane as [they] were kind of going up over a hill and around a curve.” Believing Brewer to be “a danger to the public[,]” Ranger Gregory then “contacted” the Shannon County Sheriffs Department “and requested a deputy or trooper.” Apparently, while Ranger Gregory was contacting the sheriffs department, Brewer “pulled off to the side of the road” at which time Ranger Gregory “activated [his] emergency lights and pulled to the side of the road.... ” He “had contact with [Brewer]”; “talked to him for just a brief moment”; “asked him to get out of [his] vehicle”; and at some point requested to see his driver’s license. He related to Brewer that he had “observed [Brewer’s] driving behavior and [he] felt like it was kind of a danger, and that [Brewer] would be detained [until] a state officer arrived.”

Approximately forty-five minutes later, Paul Wells, a trooper with the Missouri State Highway Patrol (“Trooper Wells”), accompanied by a Corporal Cravens, arrived on the scene and Ranger Gregory informed them of “what [he] had observed and asked them if [he] needed [to do] anything further. [He] told them that [he] was en route to a wild land fire, and Corporal Cravens told [him to] go ahead and continue on.” Ranger Gregory performed no field sobriety tests on Brewer, did not administer a breathalyzer or other test, and had no other involvement in the matter before he departed.

Trooper Wells, who prior to his arrival had been advised that “a National Park Service Ranger had detained an individual on [Highway] 106 he believed was possibly intoxicated[,]” took over the situation after speaking with Ranger Gregory for less than five minutes. Trooper Wells spoke with Brewer; requested that he accompany him to his patrol car, and “performed a registration check of his vehicle and his driving status.” Trooper Wells “noticed a strong odor of intoxicating beverage on [Brewer’s] breath while he was seated in [his] vehicle.” Brewer then agreed to perform a series of field sobriety tests. Trooper Wells reported there was a lack of “smooth pursuit in both [Brewer’s] eyes” on the horizontal gaze nystagmus test; Brewer had “[q]uite some difficulty” in performing the walk-and-turn test such that he had to “be directed out of the highway several times”; and Brewer had “difficulty” with the one-leg-stand test and had to be re-instructed. Trooper Wells then informed Brewer he believed him to be “intoxicated and placed [Brewer] under arrest for driving while intoxicated.” Brewer was then handcuffed and placed in Trooper Wells’ patrol vehicle.. He was thereafter transported to the Ellington Police Department. While Brewer was being transported, Trooper Wells did not actively question him although Brewer “voluntarily stated several times that he knew that he had done wrong and that he shouldn’t have been drinking that evening.” Once at the police department, Brewer was advised of his Miranda2 rights and, after being read the Implied [834]*834Consent form, refused to consent to a test of his breath for alcohol.

Brewer filed his “PETITION TO SET ASIDE REVOCATION” on November 1, 2010, in which he requested the trial court set aside the revocation of his driving privileges by Director on the basis that “there was no probable cause for the arresting officer to stop the vehicle being driven by [Brewer]”; there was no “probable cause to believe [Brewer] had been driving while intoxicated”; “the arresting officer did not apprise [Brewer] of the consequences under the law should he fail and refuse to take the breathalyzer test”; Brewer “did not in fact refuse to take the test”; and Brewer “requested to phone/contact a lawyer regarding the breathalyzer test and his request was denied by the arresting officer prior to making a decision as to whether he should or should not take the test.”

On May 25, 2011, a hearing was held.3 While both Ranger Gregory and Trooper Wells testified at the hearing, Brewer did not present any evidence, and his counsel concentrated his argument to the trial court on the assertion that the initial detention by Ranger Gregory was unlawful in that Ranger Gregory did not have authority to detain Brewer as part of the initial stop. The trial court entered its “JUDGMENT” on May 26, 2011, in which it found, “having heretofore suppressed any and all evidence resulting from the stop of [Brewer],” that although Brewer was “stopped and arrested” Trooper Wells “did not have reasonable grounds to believe that [he] was driving a motor vehicle while in an intoxicated or drugged condition.” As a result, the trial court found the “revocation proceedings of the Missouri Department of Revenue of [Brewer’s] privilege to operate a motor vehicle in the State of Missouri [are] set aside and held for naught.” This appeal by Director followed.

At issue in Director’s sole point relied on is whether the trial court erred in excluding evidence relating to Brewer’s intoxication by applying the exclusionary rule in a civil license revocation proceeding.

Standard of Review

Our review is governed by Murphy v. Carrón, 536 S.W.2d 30 (Mo. banc 1976), in driver’s license suspension and revocation cases. Connelly v. Dir. of Revenue, 291 S.W.3d 318, 319 (Mo.App. E.D.2009). As a result, the judgment of the trial court will be affirmed unless there is no substantial evidence to support it, it is against the weight of the evidence, or it erroneously declares or applies the law. White v. Dir. of Revenue, 321 S.W.3d 298, 307-08 (Mo. banc 2010).4 We view the evidence in the [835]*835light most favorable to the judgment and where the facts relevant to an issue are contested, deference is given to the circuit court’s assessment of that evidence. Id.

Analysis

It has long been the case that “[t]he operation of a motor vehicle while intoxicated may give rise to two proceedings, one criminal ... and the other civil (revocation of license) each proceeding independent of the other.” Tolen v. Missouri Dept, of Revenue, 564 S.W.2d 601, 602 (Mo.App. K.C.D.1978).

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Bluebook (online)
386 S.W.3d 831, 2012 WL 4841449, 2012 Mo. App. LEXIS 1286, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brewer-v-director-of-revenue-moctapp-2012.