State v. Larson

917 P.2d 519, 141 Or. App. 186, 1996 Ore. App. LEXIS 704
Court of Appeals of Oregon·Decided May 22, 1996·No. C 92-11-36638; CA A86163·Published·Cited by 24 cases

Opinion

*188 LANDAU, J.

Defendant appeals his convictions for driving under the influence of intoxicants (DUII), ORS 813.010, and criminally negligent homicide, ORS 163.145. Defendant assigns error to the trial court’s denial of his motions to suppress. We affirm.

We recite the facts in the light most favorable to the state. State v. Hayes, 135 Or App 506, 508, 899 P2d 1198, rev den 322 Or 168 (1995). On the evening of October 1, 1992, defendant was driving a van in the rain. Defendant ran into two pedestrians, both of whom eventually died. Defendant remained at the scene of the accident. Officer Bell arrived by himself, in uniform and with his overhead lights flashing. He called for an ambulance and parked in a manner to protect the injured pedestrians, who were lying in the street. Traffic flow was heavy and, at some point, another officer arrived and helped conduct traffic.

After determining that defendant was the driver, Officer Bell approached defendant and asked to see his driver’s license. Defendant complied. Upon further questioning, defendant described the accident. Before other officers arrived, Bell attended to other responsibilities and left defendant alone several times. An ambulance and fire services arrived.

About ten minutes after the ambulance left, Officer Powell arrived and met with Bell. Bell described to Powell the accident and identified defendant, who had been standing a few feet behind Bell and listening to their conversation for about three minutes. During that conversation, Powell smelled alcohol emanating from defendant and noticed that defendant was “dazed to the point of almost being stuporous” and was “weaving back and forth.”

Powell asked defendant what had happened and defendant again described the accident. Although there is no traffic light where the accident occurred, defendant said that the light was green when he went through the intersection. Powell asked defendant if he had been drinking and defendant said “yes.” When asked, defendant said that he had felt *189 the effects of alcohol earlier, but not at the moment. Powell said that he wanted to inspect defendant’s van for damage. Powell and defendant walked to the van. As Powell walked around the van, he looked inside the driver’s side and saw between the seats a “pint bottle brand name HRD Vodka.” Powell asked defendant if he had been drinking from that bottle, and defendant said that he drank about a quarter of it. Powell asked if he could look in the van. Defendant said nothing, but he took his keys out of his pocket and unlocked the door. Defendant then pressed the door release and the door came open. Defendant stepped back, Powell pushed the door latch and the door opened entirely. Powell reached in, picked up the bottle and opened it. He smelled it and returned it to the van.

Powell then asked defendant if he felt the effects of the alcohol, asked defendant to rate his level of intoxication and asked defendant to perform field sobriety tests. After defendant performed some tests, Powell concluded that defendant was under the influence of intoxicants and arrested him. Although Bell was not present during Powell’s discussion with defendant or the search of the van, Bell transported defendant to the local police office. At the police office, Powell for the first time read defendant his Miranda rights. Defendant was charged with driving under the influence of intoxicants, ORS 813.010, and two counts of second degree manslaughter, ORS 163.125.

Defendant moved to suppress his statements at the scene of the accident on the ground that they were obtained while he was in custody and before he had been advised of his Miranda rights. Defendant further argued that the state’s evidence was obtained through a warrantless “seizure” that was not supported by probable cause. Defendant also moved to suppress evidence obtained from the warrantless search of his van.

At a hearing on the motions, Bell and Powell described their observations. Defendant testified that he knew that he was legally required to stay at the scene. Defendant also testified that he is a cooperative, polite, methodical person and that his perception on the night of the accident was not affected in any way. Defendant further testified that, *190 although the accident created some degree of stress or anxiety, he did not believe that his perception was impaired. Defendant also testified that the alcohol did not affect his perception. Finally, defendant testified that Powell did not threaten him and that he opened the door to his van because he wanted to cooperate. Defendant stated that had Powell asked him to do something unreasonable, he probably would not have cooperated.

The trial court concluded that Miranda warnings were not required until Powell “reached a point of believing [defendant] was under the influence,” which the trial court said occurred only after defendant performed the field sobriety tests. 1 As for the search of the van, the trial court found that

“when Officer Powell looked into the car, into the van, he did see a bottle there [and] he said he saw the letters even though it appeared to be in a bag, but as much of that showed of the bottle to indicate to the officer that in his plain view he saw something that he wanted to see, that he was investigating this situation and he said to [defendant] would you please open the door of the car, of the van, and [defendant], I can only draw from that, he did consent. He did not make an issue of it and the door was opened * *

The trial court denied both of defendant’s motions.

After a trial to the court, defendant was convicted of driving under the influence of intoxicants and two counts of criminally negligent homicide. Defendant appeals, assigning error to the denial of his suppression motions.

On review, we accept the trial court’s findings of fact that are supported by the evidence in the record and we review the trial court’s legal determinations for errors of law. State v. Lambert, 134 Or App 148, 151, 894 P2d 1189 (1995). If findings are not made on all the facts, and there is evidence from which the facts could be decided more than one way, we *191 will presume that the facts were decided in a manner consistent with the trial court’s ultimate conclusion. State v. Bost, 317 Or 538, 541, 857 P2d 132 (1993).

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State v. Larson, 917 P.2d 519, 141 Or. App. 186, 1996 Ore. App. LEXIS 704 (Or. Ct. App. 1996).

917 P.2d 519 (State v. Larson) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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