Commonwealth v. Haines

166 A.3d 449, 2017 Pa. Super. 205, 2017 WL 2822508, 2017 Pa. Super. LEXIS 489
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJune 30, 2017
DocketCom. v. Haines, D. No. 1316 WDA 2016
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 166 A.3d 449 (Commonwealth v. Haines) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior 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 v. Haines, 166 A.3d 449, 2017 Pa. Super. 205, 2017 WL 2822508, 2017 Pa. Super. LEXIS 489 (Pa. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

OPINION BY

MOULTON, J.:

Douglas Nelson Haines appeals from the August 26, 2016 judgment of sentence entered in the Mercer County Court of Common Pleas following his bench trial conviction for driving under the influence (“DUI”) — highest rate of alcohol. 1 We affirm.

The trial court, in disposing of Haines’ motion to suppress, set forth the following factual history:

2. On October 3, 2015, [Pennsylvania State Police] Trooper [James] Mason was working the midnight shift. A second trooper, Yurna,[ 2 ] was in the vehicle with him.-
3. Sometime around 4:00 a.m., Trooper Mason received a dispatch of a possible accident on North Cottage Road in Jackson Township, Mercer County, Pennsylvania. The caller did not see the accident, nor could the caller identify anyone in the accident. The caller simply reported that he heard what sounded like an accident.
4. Within three to four minutes Trooper Mason arrived at the scene. At some point a second marked cruiser also arrived at the scene.
5. Upon arrival, the troopers discovered a 2012 black Jeep Grand Cherokee that had gone off the road and had skidded into a small wooded area causing moderate damage to the vehicle. Various windows in the vehicle were broken but still intact such that a person could not have been thrown through the window, and several airbags had deployed.
6. The troopers approached the vehicle to determine if someone was hurt or worse. They found no one in the Jeep or in the immediate area.
7. When the troopers investigated the Jeep itself, they saw no signs of blood and could make no determination as to whether or not someone was injured in that accident.
8. Trooper Mason ran the Jeep’s registration plate, and it came back to ... Douglas Nelson Haines, of ... Grove City, Pennsylvania. Trooper Mason also obtained Haines’ driver’s license information, which included his physical de *452 scription and a driver’s license photograph.
9. The area of the accident was a dark, rural area with no street lights. Rain was moderate to heavy. The blacktop road was wet. There was very little traffic on this secondary road at the time of Trooper Mason’s investigation, although it. is possible that the local paper deliveryman had passed.
10. At the scene, Trooper Mason called for a tow truck. The troopers in the second car drove around the surrounding area looking for pedestrians, but no one was located.
11. Trooper Mason waited in his car for a tow truck, sitting in the south bound lane facing north toward the accident, with headlights and emergency lightts] on.
12. Approximately ten minutes after Trooper Mason arrived at the scene while he was parked in the driveway awaiting the tow truck, he saw in his rearview mirror a vehicle approach. This vehicle was travelling north in the northbound lane. Trooper Mason observed the vehicle stop about a half a mile behind (to the south) of where the Trooper’s vehicle was located. The vehicle stopped on the roadway and remained stopped for approximately 10 to 15 seconds.
13. This vehicle then continued driving in a northerly direction and ultimately passed Trooper Mason, Because it was dark and raining, the Trooper could not determine who or how many people were in the vehicle. The car was travel-ling at an appropriate speed and as it travelled it was not violating the Pennsylvania Motor Vehicle Code.
14. As this vehicle passed Trooper Mason’s position, he observed the car’s registration plate and ran the same. The registration came back to a Samuel Haines, showing the owner’s address as ... Latonka Drive in Mercer, Pennsylvania. The last name “Haines” was spelled the same way as the last name on the owner of the crashed vehicle. It was Trooper Mason’s impression that the second vehicle had pulled up possibly to pick up the operator óf the first vehicle.
15. Once Trooper Mason discovered the name of the registered owner of the vehicle, he effectuated a stop of that vehicle, which took place approximately one half mile north of the accident scene. The vehicle stopped appropriately-
16. Trooper Mason observed a female driving the vehicle and an individual in the front passenger seat who he identified as Haines based upon the driver’s license picture obtained from running the crashed vehicle’s plates.
17. North Cottage Road provides access to the Lake Latonka area.
18. Trooper Mason believed he had reasonable suspicion to stop the second car given its proximity to the accident scene, the fact that the car had stopped on the roadway for 10 to 15 seconds, and because the registered owner’s last name was the same last name as that of [Haines].
19. The distance between Grove City and Mercer is approximately nine miles. The distance between Mercer and the Pennsylvania State Police barracks is an additional five miles. Grove City and Mercer are two distinct municipalities.
20. There was no testimony as to the identity of the female driver of the car in which [Haines] was a passenger, that the female driver was authorized to drive this car, or that [Haines] had a possessory interest in the car.
21. Trooper Mason detected an odor of alcohol emanating from the vehicle *453 and asked Haines to exit. Haines lost his balance on the roadway and smelled of alcohol, so Trooper Mason effectuated a field sobriety test which Haines failed.
22. Trooper Mason arrested Haines for D.U.I. and read him Implied Consent, O’Connell[ 3 ] Warnings, and Miran-dized him. Mr. Haines ultimately did admit to being the operator of the vehicle. He said he swerved to miss a deer, and that’s how he lost control.
23, At 5:15 a.m., Haines was transported to Grove City Hospital where lab technician Lana Lewis withdrew Haines’ blood sample. The sample was sent to the Erie Regional Laboratory, which determined that Haines had a blood alcohol content [ (“BAO”) ] of .244%.
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On October 23, 2016, Haines was charged with D.U.I: General impairment (75 Pa.C.S. § 3802(a)(1)) and D.U.I. Highest rate of alcohol (75 Pa.C.S. § 3802(c)). On March 23rd, 2016, Haines filed an omnibus pretrial motion which challenged the constitutionality of the stop and search conducted by Trooper Mason, and requested the suppression of all evidence obtained after the traffic stop.

Trial Ct. Suppression Adj., 6/9/16, at 1-5. On May 4, 2016, the trial court held a hearing on the motion to suppress. On June 9, 2016, the trial court denied the motion to suppress.

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Bluebook (online)
166 A.3d 449, 2017 Pa. Super. 205, 2017 WL 2822508, 2017 Pa. Super. LEXIS 489, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-haines-pasuperct-2017.