Commonwealth v. Hilliar

943 A.2d 984, 2008 Pa. Super. 22, 2008 Pa. Super. LEXIS 107
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedFebruary 21, 2008
StatusPublished
Cited by63 cases

This text of 943 A.2d 984 (Commonwealth v. Hilliar) 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. Hilliar, 943 A.2d 984, 2008 Pa. Super. 22, 2008 Pa. Super. LEXIS 107 (Pa. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

OPINION BY

BENDER, J.

¶ 1 Blaine Allen Hilliar (Appellant) appeals from the judgment of sentence entered following his conviction for Driving Under the Influence. Appellant raises several allegations of error, all of which we conclude lack merit. Accordingly, we affirm.

¶ 2 The trial court summarized the factual and procedural history of this case as follows:

The arresting police officer’s attention was called to the defendant’s vehicle as he proceeded east on Market Street in West York Borough. The police officer ran the defendant’s license plate, and determined that the owner of the vehicle’s license was under suspension. The officer also discovered the owner’s age *988 and that he was a male. From his observation of the driver the officer believed that the defendant was male, and was about the same age as the owner. Based on the officer’s conclusion that it was likely that the person operating the vehicle was the owner because he was a male of the same age as the owner and had possession of the owner’s vehicle, the police officer decided to stop the vehicle for suspicion of driving on a suspended license. The police officer made the decision to stop the defendant while the defendant was still within the West York Borough limits. However, by this time the defendant was approaching the Borough line. It was the officer’s conclusion that it would be safer to permit the defendant to cross the Borough line, proceed through an upcoming traffic light, and then be able to make the stop with less interference to traffic and with more safety for both the officer and the defendant. Therefore the stop actually occurred after defendant’s vehicle had crossed the line into the next jurisdiction. Through sheer happenstance another officer from the same jurisdiction was traveling an opposite direction, and had a view of the defendant’s vehicle from the front. Therefore the arresting officer contacted the officer while waiting for the light to change, and received confirmation from that officer that he also believed the driver matched the age provided by PennDOT of the owner pri- or to the stop.
After the defendant proceeded through the light, the officer turned on lights and sirens to pull the defendant over. The defendant failed to pull over immediately, and proceeded slowly for several more blocks before he pulled into a parking lot. When the officer talked to the defendant after the stop, the defendant exhibited the classic signs of intoxication, such as odor of alcohol, slurred speech, etc.

Trial Court Opinion, (T.C.O.), 3/8/07, at 1-2. Based on the foregoing, the officer took Appellant into custody and transported him to York Hospital for a blood test. Appellant submitted to the blood test which revealed a blood alcohol content of .256%. Consequently, Appellant was arrested and charged with DUI and Driving While Operating Privilege is Suspended. See 75 Pa.C.S. §§ 1543, 3802(c). Appellant filed a motion to suppress, which the trial court denied. After a bench trial,, Appellant was convicted of both offenses. This was Appellant’s seventh DUI, and his third offense for the purpose of sentencing. The court sentenced Appellant to fifteen months’ imprisonment on the DUI offense to be served concurrently with a ninety day sentence for the driving under suspension conviction. Appellant then filed this appeal raising four questions for our review:

I. Whether because the stop was not conducted within the primary jurisdiction of the Officer and the Officer lacked probable cause to be in fresh pursuit of the vehicle the Officer had neither authority nor jurisdiction to stop Mr. Hill-iar and the stop was in Violation of the Statewide Municipal Jurisdiction Act, the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the Constitution of the United States and the illegal stop warrants suppression of all evidence gained as a result.
II. Whether chemical testing as conducted in this case was not competent, credible, reliable and accurate to the extent required under the laws and regulations of Pennsylvania and therefore the Commonwealth has failed to meet the requirements under § 1547 of the Motor Vehicle Code and failed to provide or preserve relevant evidence and *989 thus violated the laws and statutes of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the Constitution of the United States.
III. Whether the Officer lacked Probable Cause to arrest Mr. Hilliar for DUI due to minimal observations of intoxication.
IV. Whether the 2004 DAI Per Se Laws, 75 Pa.C.S. § 3801 et seq. and § 1547 and attendant Statutes violate the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the United States Constitution as to (A) separation of powers, (B) procedural due process of law, right to counsel and Constitutional or Statutory warnings and confrontation of witnesses, rights as to self incrimination, and search and seizure, (C) the police power of government, (D) equal protection of law, (E) prohibitions against cruel and unusual punishment, and (F) freedom of expression, freedom of travel, freedom to assemble, freedom of association and rights to participate as a citizen.

Brief for Appellant at 4.

¶ 3 In the first three questions presented for our review, Appellant challenges the trial court’s denial of his motion to suppress. Our standard for reviewing an order denying a motion to suppress is as follows:

We are limited to determining whether the lower court’s factual findings are supported by the record and whether the legal conclusions drawn therefrom are correct. We may consider the evidence of the witnesses offered by the Commonwealth, as verdict winner, and only so much of the evidence presented by defense that is not contradicted when examined in the context of the record as a whole. We are bound by facts supported by the record and may reverse only if the legal conclusions reached by the court were erroneous.

Commonwealth v. Hughes, 908 A.2d 924, 927 (Pa.Super.2006).

¶ 4 In the first question presented for our review, Appellant claims that the trial court erred in denying Appellant’s motion to suppress because the officer violated the Municipal Police Jurisdiction Act (MPJA). See 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 9541-9546. As a general rule, the MPJA provides:

Any duly employed municipal police officer who is within this Commonwealth, but beyond the territorial limits of his primary jurisdiction, shall have the power and authority to enforce the laws of this Commonwealth or otherwise perform the functions of that office as if enforcing those laws or performing those functions within the territorial limits of his primary jurisdiction in the following cases:
(2) Where the officer is in hot pursuit of any person for any offense which was committed, or which he has probable cause to believe was committed, within his primary jurisdiction and for which offense the officer continues in fresh pursuit of the person after the commission of the offense.

42 Pa.C.S. § 8953(a)(2).

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Bluebook (online)
943 A.2d 984, 2008 Pa. Super. 22, 2008 Pa. Super. LEXIS 107, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-hilliar-pasuperct-2008.