Commonwealth, Department of Transportation, Bureau of Driver Licensing v. Lipko

654 A.2d 227, 1995 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 53
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJanuary 27, 1995
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 654 A.2d 227 (Commonwealth, Department of Transportation, Bureau of Driver Licensing v. Lipko) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth, Department of Transportation, Bureau of Driver Licensing v. Lipko, 654 A.2d 227, 1995 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 53 (Pa. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinions

DOYLE, Judge.

The Department of Transportation, Bureau of Driver Licensing (DOT), appeals an order of the Court of Common Pleas of Westmoreland County which sustained Mark Joseph Lipko’s appeal of a one-year suspension of his driver’s license, imposed pursuant [228]*228to Section 1547(b) of the Vehicle Code, 75 Pa.C.S. § 1547(b).

On April 14, 1993, Lipko was stopped by Officer Brian Dove of the Mount Pleasant Borough Police Department after Lipko was observed stopping in the middle of an intersection and then backing up until he was behind the traffic signal, which was red. Officer Dove pulled his patrol car alongside the Lipko vehicle and observed that Lipko’s face was flushed and that he was sweating. When Officer Dove approached Lipko’s vehicle on foot, he detected the odor of marijuana and saw a pipe inside the car, which he suspected was drug paraphernalia. Officer Dove then asked Lipko for the pipe, and while they were talking, he noticed that Lip-ko’s speech was slurred and that there was a strong odor of alcohol on his breath. He asked Lipko to get out of his vehicle, and Lipko stumbled and walked with a staggered gait. Officer Dove searched the vehicle and found a bag containing what he believed was marijuana. Lipko was then asked to perform two field sobriety tests, and he failed both.

Officer Dove placed Lipko under arrest for driving under the influence of alcohol and/or a controlled substance and for possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, in violation of Section 13 of The Controlled Substance, Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act.1 He then advised Lipko of the Implied Consent Law by reading to him, in its entirety, a two-page “Chemical Testing Warnings” form, which provided as follows:

1. Please be advised that you are now under arrest for driving under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance pursuant to Section 3731 of the Vehicle Code.
2. I am requesting that you submit to a chemical test of your _ (Breath, Blood, Urine. Whichever type officer chooses).
3. It is my duty, as a police officer, to inform you that your operating privilege will be suspended for one year if you refuse to submit to this chemical test.
4.I must also inform you that your constitutional rights as a defendant in a criminal case do not apply to the taking of a chemical test and that therefore, you do not have a right to consult with an attorney, or anyone else, prior to taking the chemical test or to have an attorney, or anyone else, present while you take the chemical test, nor do you have a right to remain silent when asked to take a chemical test.
1. The constitutional rights you have as a criminal defendant, commonly known as the Miranda rights, including the right to speak with a lawyer and the right to remain silent, apply only to criminal prosecutions and do not apply to the chemical testing procedure under Pennsylvania’s Implied Consent Law, which is a civil, not a criminal proceeding.
2. You have no right to speak to a lawyer, or anyone else, before taking the chemical test requested by the police officer nor do you have a right to remain silent when asked by the police officer to submit to the chemical test. Unless you agree to submit to the test requested by the police officer your driving privilege will be suspended for one year.

(Commonwealth Exhibit # 1; Reproduced Record (R.R.) at 48a-49a.)

After being read the warnings, Lipko indicated to Officer Dove that he understood what he had heard, but requested to speak to an attorney. Officer Dove then requested Lipko to submit to a blood test, and Lipko responded that he did not want to do so because he was afraid of losing his commercial driver’s license. After being transported to the police station, Lipko was again requested to submit to the blood test and refused to do so. Officer Dove read the “Chemical Testing Warnings” to Lipko, at least once more, and Lipko continued to respond with a request for counsel.

During the time that the “Chemical Testing Warnings” were being read to Lipko and he was being asked to submit to the test, he was asked on more than one occasion where [229]*229he had obtained the mariguana found in his vehicle. In response to these questions, Lip-ko requested to speak to an attorney. Although Lipko was never given Miranda2 warnings, he continued to assert his right to counsel when asked about the marijuana, despite the “Chemical Testing Warnings” provided by Officer Dove.

Lipko’s refusal to submit to the chemical testing was reported to DOT and, pursuant to an official notice dated June 18, 1993, his operating privilege was suspended for one year. Lipko filed a timely appeal with the Court of Common Pleas of Westmoreland County, and after a de novo hearing on September 30, 1993, the trial court sustained Lipko’s appeal.

In sustaining the appeal, the trial court concluded that the suspension was inappropriate because Lipko was confused over his Miranda rights and not adequately warned that his rights were inapplicable to the chemical test. The trial court wrote as follows:

The preponderance of the evidence in this case established that the licensee, Mark Lipko, was confused as to whether the request for the chemical test was related to the Driving Under the Influence arrest or to the drug charge. By failing to clarify this at the time the test was requested, the officer did not adequately inform petitioner that his Miranda rights were not applicable in a civil proceeding to suspend his license. Our reading of the O’Connell decision convinces us that the officer must assure himself that the licensee understands the context of the test and that Miranda rights do not apply when the chemical test is part of a civil investigation as opposed to part of a criminal investigation. Without such an adequate warning, a finding of ‘knowing and conscious refusal’ is impossible.

(Trial court opinion at 3-r R.R. at 58a-59a.) The trial court also made the following relevant statements from the bench:

I think Mr. Lipko’s testimony was very believable ... in that he indicated that he was clearly preoccupied with having been caught with mariguana, that he wanted to speak with a lawyer. And I think that this case is more complex than the cases on point, because it is correct, simultaneously while requesting a chemical analysis of Mr. Lipko’s blood, custodial interrogation was taking place by one or both officers.
[[Image here]]
We do have Mr. Lipko’s uncontradicted testimony that the ... officer repeatedly interrogated him relative to the source of the marijuana. So I think that the situation itself, the simultaneous custodial interrogation and request for chemical analysis, does in and of itself lead to confusion [as to] what exactly were Mr. Lipko’s rights under the circumstances.

(Notes of Testimony at 40-41; R.R. at 45a-46a.)

On appeal to this Court, DOT argues that the trial court’s decision was in error because Lipko was adequately warned of the inapplicability of his Miranda rights to the chemical testing.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

C.C. Bartolucci v. PennDOT, Bureau of Driver Licensing
Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 2017
D. Boerner v. PennDOT, Bureau of Driver Licensing
Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 2016
Attorney Grievance Commission v. Tinsky
835 A.2d 542 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 2003)
Frengel v. Commonwealth
666 A.2d 785 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1995)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
654 A.2d 227, 1995 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 53, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-department-of-transportation-bureau-of-driver-licensing-v-pacommwct-1995.