Commonwealth v. Morris

829 A.2d 690, 2003 Pa. Super. 264, 2003 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2076
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJuly 16, 2003
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 829 A.2d 690 (Commonwealth v. Morris) 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. Morris, 829 A.2d 690, 2003 Pa. Super. 264, 2003 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2076 (Pa. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

OPINION BY

BENDER, J.:

¶ 1 Michael Joseph Morris (Appellant) appeals from the judgment of sentence entered following a conviction for driving under the influence. Appellant claims that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress because the police lacked authority to stop him under the Statewide Municipal Police Jurisdiction Act (MPJA), 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 8951-8954. For the following reasons, we affirm.

¶ 2 The trial court made the following findings of fact:

1. On the evening of May 6, 2001, at approximately 8:00 PM, Mr. Kenneth McGinnis was driving from Pottsgrove to North Wales, through Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, when he observed a dark-colored Ford automobile in front of his vehicle being driven in an erratic manner, at significant variations in speed as the two cars proceeded along Ridge Pike, Limerick Township. As Mr. McGinnis continued to move eastbound, he kept the Ford in view as it both crossed the centerline of Ridge Pike and drove onto the shoulder of the roadway.
2. Mr. McGinnis called 911 on his cellular telephone and described the situation, as it was developing in front of him, to the operator/dispatcher, and remained on the telephone line as he continued to follow the erratically driven Ford, giving constant updates as to its position.
3. At or about 8:14 PM on May 6, 2001, Corporal Robert Ward of the Upper Providence Police Department was on duty, in uniform, and in a marked police vehicle.
4. Corporal Ward received a report over his police radio that a suspected intoxicated driver was driving a dark-colored Ford vehicle eastbound on Ridge Pike in Limerick Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, and was headed toward Upper Providence Township.
5. Corporal Ward was located close to Royersford in Upper Providence Township, and began to proceed toward [692]*692Ridge Pike, taking his usual route to that section of Upper Providence Township, which involved traveling through Trappe Borough.
6. As Corporal Ward approached the Trappe/Upper Providence Township line, he observed a vehicle matching the description given over the radio, traveling eastbound on Ridge Pike in Trappe Borough.
7. The dark-colored Ford was the only vehicle matching the police radio broadcast description seen by Corporal Ward at or near the location where the subject vehicle was likely to be found.
8. After spotting the dark-colored Ford, Corporal Ward began to follow the car in Trappe Borough, and observed that it was repeatedly drifting to the right and then jerking to the left to straighten out its course.
9. Corporal Ward eventually observed the dark-colored Ford come to a full stop at a distance of several car lengths behind a vehicle that had already come to a stop at the traffic light at the intersection of Ridge Pike/Main Street and Route 113.
10. The Corporal maneuvered his police car past two vehicles, including one being driven by Mr. McGinnis, and pulled in behind the stopped dark-colored Ford.
11. After the vehicles stopped on Ridge Pike at the intersection with Route 113, the dark-colored Ford made a turn into a Getty gas station located on the corner of that intersection in Trappe Borough, and came to a stop in front of the bay doors of the garage. Corporal Ward followed the vehicle into the parking lot of the gas station, at which point he made radio contact necessary to inform the Pennsylvania State Police of the situation which was occurring within the Borough of Trappe, an area without its own municipal police force.
12. The Corporal then exited his vehicle and approached the dark-colored Ford LTD and asked its driver, the Defendant, Michael J. Morris, for his license and his vehicle’s registration card. During this exchange, the Corporal detected a strong odor of alcohol coming from Mr. Morris, and observed that he appeared disoriented, had glassy, blood shot eyes and slurred speech, and had difficulty finding the documents that he was asked to produce.
13. When the Corporal told Mr. Morris that he detected the odor of alcohol on or about his person, the Defendant admitted to having consumed two beers and two double vodkas.
14. At this point, Pennsylvania State Trooper James Curto arrived on the scene, and Corporal Ward handed him the Defendant’s driver’s license and allowed the Trooper to continue the investigation.
15. The Commonwealth intends to introduce evidence derived from this encounter at trial.
16. The Defendant seeks to suppress all evidence derived from this encounter, on the theory that Corporal Ward’s actions violated Pennsylvania’s Statewide Municipal Police Jurisdiction Act, 42 Pa. C.S.A. § 8953 (hereinafter “MPJA”), and that, as a result of that violation, the information secured from the encounter between the Corporal and the Defendant must be suppressed.

Trial Court Opinion (T.C.O.), 3/13/02, at 1-4. The trial court denied Appellant’s motion to suppress, and following a bench trial, the Honorable Kent H. Albright found Appellant guilty. Appellant then filed the instant appeal raising one question for our review:

[693]*693Did the trial court err when it ruled that Corporal Ward of the Upper Providence Township Police Department was authorized by Section (a)(5) of the Statewide Municipal Police Jurisdiction Act, 42 Pa.C.S.A [§ ] 8953, to seize and detain Appellant in the Borough of Trappe which is outside Corporal Ward’s jurisdiction?

Brief for Appellant at 5.

¶ 3 In Commonwealth v. Ayala, 791 A.2d 1202 (Pa.Super.2002), we set forth our standard for reviewing the ruling of a suppression court:

In an appeal from the denial of a motion to suppress, our role is to determine whether the record supports the suppression court’s factual findings and the legitimacy of the inferences and legal conclusions drawn from those findings. In making this determination, we may consider only the evidence of the prosecution’s witnesses and so much of the defense as, fairly read in the context of the record as a whole, remains uncontra-dicted. When the evidence supports the factual findings of the suppression court, we may reverse only if there is an error in the legal conclusions drawn from those factual findings. As a reviewing court, we are therefore not bound by the legal conclusions of the suppression court and must reverse that court’s determination if the conclusions are in error or the law is misapplied.

Id. at 1207.

¶4 In the instant case, the trial court concluded that Corporal Ward possessed the authority to stop Appellant under Section 8953 of the MPJA, which in pertinent part states:

(a) General rule.

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

Related

Com. v. Hobel, S.
2022 Pa. Super. 86 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2022)
Com. v. Kerstetter, R.
Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2014

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
829 A.2d 690, 2003 Pa. Super. 264, 2003 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2076, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-morris-pasuperct-2003.