Ezzell v. Driver & Motor Vehicle Services Branch (DMV)

17 P.3d 516, 171 Or. App. 591, 2000 Ore. App. LEXIS 2053
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedDecember 27, 2000
Docket992263; CA A108381
StatusPublished

This text of 17 P.3d 516 (Ezzell v. Driver & Motor Vehicle Services Branch (DMV)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ezzell v. Driver & Motor Vehicle Services Branch (DMV), 17 P.3d 516, 171 Or. App. 591, 2000 Ore. App. LEXIS 2053 (Or. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

HASELTON, J.

The Oregon Driver and Motor Vehicle Services Branch (DMV) appeals from the circuit court’s reversal of a DMV order that suspended petitioner’s driver’s license under ORS 813.410 for failure of an alcohol breath test in violation of ORS 813.100(1).1 DMV assigns error to the circuit court’s determination that the investigating officer “did not have probable cause to arrest petitioner prior to requesting him to perform a breath test.” Although our disposition is phrased with respect to the circuit court’s judgment, our substantive review is of DMV’s underlying order. See Shakerin v. MVD, 101 Or App 357, 360, 790 P2d 1180 (1990). That is, we, like the circuit court, review DMV’s order for substantial evidence and errors of law. Winroth v. DMV, 140 Or App 622, 624, 915 P2d 991 (1996). We affirm.

The material facts are undisputed. At 2:17 on the morning of April 10,1999, St. Helens Police Officer Moss saw petitioner’s car pull out of the parking lot of a restaurant/ lounge and turn southbound onto Highway 30. Moss observed petitioner’s car commit several traffic infractions in a very short time and, ultimately, make an unsignaled right turn onto a side road.

Moss stopped the car and, when he approached the car, detected a slight odor of alcohol coming from petitioner. He also noticed that petitioner had watery eyes. Moss then administered a Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN) test and several field sobriety tests (FSTs). After considering the results of those tests, Moss arrested petitioner for driving under the influence of intoxicants (DUII). ORS 813.010. Moss did not develop subjective probable cause that petitioner was driving under the influence of intoxicants until after he had completed administering the HGN test and the FSTs.2

[594]*594After taking petitioner to the Columbia County Jail and advising him of his statutory rights and consequences, ORS 813.130, Moss asked petitioner to take a breath test, and petitioner ultimately agreed. The test registered petitioner’s blood-alcohol level as 0.09, in excess of the 0.08 standard imposed by ORS 813.300.

DMV subsequently gave petitioner written notice of intent to suspend his driver’s license. ORS 813.100(3)(b). Petitioner challenged the proposed suspension administratively, requesting a hearing pursuant to ORS 813.410.

At the administrative hearing, petitioner argued, particularly, that, at the time of the arrest, Moss did not have “reasonable grounds to believe” that petitioner had been driving under the influence of intoxicants. ORS 813.100(1).3 The hearing officer made two determinations pertinent to this appeal. First, the hearing officer concluded that the results of the HGN test could not be considered against petitioner, because Moss had administered that test improperly, and that the results of the FSTs must be excluded because those tests were administered without petitioner’s consent and before Moss had developed subjective probable cause. See State v. Nagel, 320 Or 24, 880 P2d 451 (1994) (because administration of FSTs is a warrantless search under Article I, section 9, of the Oregon Constitution, officers can require motorists to perform FSTs only under exigent circumstances [595]*595when officer has both objective and subjective probable cause to believe that motorist is driving under the influence of intoxicants).

Second, the hearing officer determined that even without the HGN and FST results, Moss had “reasonable grounds” to arrest petitioner for DUII. Specifically, the hearing officer reasoned that, under State v. Gilmour, 136 Or App 294, 901 P2d 894 (1995), petitioner’s erratic driving and unsignaled right turn before the stop, in conjunction with the “slight odor of alcoholic beverage coming from Petitioner and * * * [the fact that] Petitioner’s eyes were watery,” were sufficient to establish probable cause to arrest petitioner for DUII.

Petitioner sought judicial review pursuant to ORS 813.450. In his memorandum to the circuit court, petitioner argued, in part, that the hearing officer’s conclusion that Moss had probable cause was erroneous. In particular, petitioner argued that the hearing officer’s reliance on Gilmour was misplaced:

“[T]he court [in Gilmour] was determining objective probable cause and there was no issue as to the subjective prong of the probable cause determination. In that case, the issue of subjective probable cause was silent and the court allowed the factfinder to infer from the facts that the officer had a subjective belief in petitioner’s intoxication. In the instant case, the record is not silent as to the officer’s subjective probable cause. On the facts that were admissible to determine probable cause the officer had clearly stated that he did not have a subjective belief.”

The circuit court reversed petitioner’s suspension, concluding that Moss “did not have probable cause to arrest petitioner prior to requesting him to perform a breath test.” The circuit court did not distinguish between objective and subjective probable cause.4

[596]*596On appeal, DMV assigns error to the circuit court’s conclusion, arguing that (1) there was objective probable cause under Gilmour-, and (2) at the time of the arrest, Moss did, in fact, subjectively believe that petitioner was guilty of DUII. DMV argues particularly that it is immaterial that Moss’s subjective belief was explicitly premised on the results of the unlawfully administered field sobriety tests:5

“Neither this court nor the Oregon Supreme Court has ever held that the facts underpinning subjective probable cause must themselves be admissible; to do so is to confuse the objective and subjective elements of probable cause. Whether the evidence is admissible may well be relevant to whether the officer’s subjective belief that he had probable cause is objectively reasonable. What the officer actually believed is a separate issue.”

Thus, in DMV’s view, just as “a rose is a rose is a rose,”6 for subjective probable cause purposes the officer’s “belief is a belief is a belief’ — that is, so long as the arresting officer believes that he or she has probable cause, the bases of that belief are legally immaterial. Even more bluntly, in DMV’s view, it is immaterial whether the information giving rise to an officer’s subjective belief is the direct product of unlawful police conduct.

DMV is wrong. State v. Stowers,

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Related

State v. Owens
729 P.2d 524 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1986)
State v. Gilmour
901 P.2d 894 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1995)
Winroth v. Driver & Motor Vehicle Services
915 P.2d 991 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1996)
Shakerin v. Motor Vehicles Division
790 P.2d 1180 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1990)
State v. Nagel
880 P.2d 451 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1994)
State v. Stowers
902 P.2d 117 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1995)

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Bluebook (online)
17 P.3d 516, 171 Or. App. 591, 2000 Ore. App. LEXIS 2053, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ezzell-v-driver-motor-vehicle-services-branch-dmv-orctapp-2000.