Briggs v. State

741 So. 2d 986, 1999 WL 410499
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedJune 22, 1999
Docket97-KA-01484-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 741 So. 2d 986 (Briggs v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Briggs v. State, 741 So. 2d 986, 1999 WL 410499 (Mich. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

741 So.2d 986 (1999)

Howard BRIGGS a/k/a Howard Lee Briggs, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 97-KA-01484-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

June 22, 1999.

*988 W. Terrell Stubbs, Mendenhall, Attorney for Appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by Deirdre McCrory, Attorney for Appellee.

BEFORE McMILLIN, C.J., IRVING, AND PAYNE, JJ.

McMILLIN, C.J., for the Court:

¶ 1. Howard Briggs has appealed his conviction for third offense driving under the influence of alcohol. He purports to raise eight issues, though we determine there is a measure of duplication in some of them. In all events, we find no merit in any issue properly presented to us for decision and, therefore, affirm the conviction.

A.

Facts

¶ 2. Simpson County law enforcement officers were conducting a routine roadblock to check such items as proper drivers licenses, vehicle registration and such matters on July 23, 1995. One of the officers participating in the roadblock testified that, when he approached Briggs's vehicle at the roadblock, he smelled the odor of alcohol emanating from Briggs's person. Upon further investigation, the officer determined that there was reasonable ground to believe that Briggs may have been intoxicated to a sufficient to degree to constitute a criminal violation. As a result, he placed Briggs in his vehicle, transported him to the local jail, and administered a chemical breath analysis test commonly called the intoxilizer test to determine Briggs's blood alcohol content. The test results showed .211 one-hundredths percent blood alcohol concentration, well above the legal limit.

¶ 3. Briggs had two prior convictions for driving under the influence in the five years previous to the date of his arrest. As a result, he was indicted under the felony provisions of Section 63-11-30(2)(c) of the Mississippi Code. He was subsequently tried before a jury and convicted. Having failed to obtain relief in his post-trial motion to the trial court, Briggs perfected this appeal.

B.

Discussion of Issues

¶ 4. Briggs presents eight issues numbered I through VIII. For reasons that we will discuss, we find some of them to be without merit, one of them to be duplicative and we find that we are procedurally barred from considering one of the issues. We will consider the issues in the same order as raised in the appellant's brief.

I.

The Jury Was Not Fair and Impartial

¶ 5. Without citing any authority for the proposition, Briggs argues that he was denied a fair trial because a number of prospective jurors, during voir dire by his counsel, expressed the view that a person should not operate a motor vehicle if that person has ingested any alcohol. Only one potential juror said that evidence that Briggs had consumed any amount of alcohol before driving his vehicle would be enough for that venire member to convict of criminal conduct. That person was excused for cause by the trial court. The remaining potential jurors each affirmatively stated on the record their ability to put their personal feelings aside and decide the case according to the law as given them by the trial court. The trial court, during jury selection in chambers, indicated that the court thought those statements *989 were enough to qualify those persons as impartial jurors and refused to excuse them for cause.

¶ 6. The trial court has substantial discretion in the matter of challenges for cause to jurors. Bell v. State, 725 So.2d 836, 845 (Miss.1998). There is no reason to conclude that the court erred in this case by refusing to excuse for cause those jurors who honestly expressed their personal views on a subject but then affirmatively indicated their ability to decide Briggs's guilt on the law. We also observe that the jurors were, in all events, not asked whether someone who drinks any amount of alcohol and then drives a vehicle should be criminally punished in every instance. They were merely asked whether they thought it was an activity that should be done. There are many activities that a potential juror might refuse to condone without necessarily believing that someone engaging in those activities was involved in punishable criminal behavior.

II.

The Constitutionality of the Roadblock as a Means of Obtaining Evidence of Criminal Conduct

¶ 7. Citing Michigan State Police v. Sitz, Briggs claims that the manner in which he was stopped by police officers violated his Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable seizure, so that any evidence gleaned from that stop should be suppressed. Michigan Department of State Police v. Sitz, 496 U.S. 444, 110 S.Ct. 2481, 110 L.Ed.2d 412 (1990). Sitz involved a case where certain drivers had challenged the State of Michigan's authority to conduct roadblocks aimed at detecting possibly intoxicated drivers. Id. at 447, 110 S.Ct. 2481. The United States Supreme Court found such roadblocks, though unquestionably constituting a seizure, to be a reasonable seizure when the minor inconvenience to a typical motorist of such a brief stop was balanced against the State's interest in combating the serious social problem of drunken drivers. Id. at 455, 110 S.Ct. 2481.

¶ 8. Briggs claims that the roadblock at which he was detained was not being conducted in the manner approved by the Supreme Court in Sitz in that there were no formally approved procedures in place. The State attempts to distinguish Sitz by saying that Briggs was stopped at a roadblock serving principally as a check for drivers licenses and vehicle registration and not one attempting to target intoxicated drivers. We conclude that such a distinction has no relevance in our decision process. The State arguably has an interest in ensuring that drivers of vehicles are properly licensed and that vehicles are properly registered and periodically inspected. The interest is not the same as that of keeping intoxicated operators off the roads, but it is nevertheless a legitimate state interest.

The issue becomes, therefore, whether a roadblock intended principally to detect unlicensed drivers or improperly registered and uninspected vehicles is a constitutionally permissible undertaking. We find nothing in Michigan State Police v. Sitz to suggest that it is not. In fact, every indication is to the contrary. It is the issue of (a) roadblock-type checkpoints where every vehicle is stopped versus (b) random stops of individual vehicles not under any suspicion that seems to serve as the dividing line between constitutionally-permissible police activity and unreasonable intrusions into the personal security of motorists.

¶ 9. Of course, as the Supreme Court suggested in U.S. v. Martinez-Fuerte, there is always the possibility that the facts of a particular roadblock may demonstrate some constitutional violation, but Briggs has pointed to no such facts in this case. U.S. v. Martinez-Fuerte, 428 U.S. 543, 567, 96 S.Ct. 3074, 49 L.Ed.2d 1116 (1976).

¶ 10. We decline to hold that law enforcement roadblocks of this nature are, as *990 a general proposition, unconstitutional invasions of the personal security from unreasonable seizure afforded motorists under the Fourth Amendment.

III.

The Sufficiency of the Evidence

¶ 11. Briggs alleges that the State failed to prove the offense.

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Bluebook (online)
741 So. 2d 986, 1999 WL 410499, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/briggs-v-state-missctapp-1999.