State v. LeMasters

878 S.W.2d 485, 1994 Mo. App. LEXIS 1045, 1994 WL 278518
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 20, 1994
DocketNo. 19041
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 878 S.W.2d 485 (State v. LeMasters) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. LeMasters, 878 S.W.2d 485, 1994 Mo. App. LEXIS 1045, 1994 WL 278518 (Mo. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

CROW, Judge.

Appellant was tried by the court without a jury and found guilty of the class B misdemeanor of driving while intoxicated. § 577.-010, RSMo 1986. Following the imposition of sentence, the terms of which need not be recounted, Appellant brought this appeal.

Appellant’s brief presents two points relied on, the first of which asserts the trial court erred in receiving evidence of “all events” that occurred after a trooper of the Missouri State Highway Patrol asked Appellant to be seated in a patrol car. Appellant’s second point avers the trial court erred in receiving evidence of the results of a Breathalyzer test.

Appellant filed a pretrial motion to suppress the evidence challenged in his first point. The trial court conducted an eviden-tiary hearing, made written findings of fact and conclusions of law, and denied the motion. Appellant preserved the point by timely and correct objection at trial.

When reviewing a trial court’s ruling on a motion to suppress, an appellate court will affirm the ruling if the evidence is sufficient to sustain the trial court’s finding. State v. Blankenship, 830 S.W.2d 1, 14[18] (Mo. banc 1992). The facts and reasonable inferences arising therefrom are to be stated favorably to the order challenged on appeal. Id.

So viewed, the evidence establishes that about 11:00 p.m., May 30, 1992, Trooper Kyle Holt of the Missouri State Highway Patrol observed a “dune buggy type vehicle” northbound on U.S. Highway 63 in Rolla. It displayed a license plate. Holt narrated: “It didn’t resemble any make or model that I would recognize. I followed the vehicle to check on the registration of the vehicle.”

Holt was informed by radio that the license plate had been issued to Appellant for a 1960 Chevrolet. Holt noted the vehicle was “street legal,” i.e., it had all equipment required by law.

After Holt had followed the vehicle approximately five minutes, it entered a driveway at a residence in Rolla and stopped. Up to that point, Holt had observed no weaving, swerving, or other “driving anomalies or errors.”

Holt, who was in uniform, armed with a holstered pistol, and driving a marked patrol ear, stopped in the street in front of the residence.

Appellant, who was driving the unconventional vehicle, got out and walked toward the residence. Holt exited his patrol car and, remaining in the street, called to Appellant, “May I speak to you about your vehicle, please, in reference to registration.”1

Appellant walked to Holt’s patrol car. Asked what occurred next, Holt testified, “I just asked if he would have a seat in my patrol car.”

Appellant got into the patrol car. So did Holt. There, they began a conversation about Appellant’s vehicle. During the conversation, Holt “noticed the smell of intoxicants on [Appellant’s] person.”

Holt thereupon had Appellant perform some “field sobriety tests.” Appellant’s performance, coupled with the odor of alcohol and the “confused” nature of his speech, led Holt to conclude Appellant was intoxicated.

[487]*487Holt arrested Appellant for driving while intoxicated and took him to jail. There, by means of a “Breathalyzer 900,” Holt administered a test to determine Appellant’s level of intoxication. The device showed Appellant had “.18 percent blood alcohol by weight.”

Appellant maintained in the trial court that Holt had no reason to believe or suspect that Appellant was committing a crime at the time Holt beckoned Appellant to discuss his vehicle’s registration. Therefore, argued Appellant, Holt’s “detention” of Appellant violated Appellant’s right to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures guaranteed by Amendment IV of the Constitution of the United States. It necessarily followed, insisted Appellant, that all evidence developed by Holt after he asked Appellant to have a seat in the patrol car must be suppressed.

The trial court, citing testimony by Holt that he had no reason to believe Appellant was committing criminal activity and no reason to believe Appellant’s vehicle was not a 1960 Chevrolet, and relying on Delaware v. Prouse, 440 U.S. 648, 99 S.Ct. 1391, 59 L.Ed.2d 660 (1979), held Holt had no reasonable suspicion that the registration of Appellant’s vehicle was illegal. Consequently, concluded the trial court, Holt had no probable cause to stop Appellant.

That conclusion led the trial court to consider whether Holt’s actions constituted a “stop” or “seizure.” On that issue, the trial court found guidance in Michigan v. Chesternut, 486 U.S. 567, 108 S.Ct. 1975, 100 L.Ed.2d 565 (1988).

In Chestemut, four officers in a marked police cruiser were on routine patrol in Detroit. At an intersection, they saw a ear pause at the curb. A man exited the car and approached a pedestrian. When the pedestrian saw the police cruiser, he began running. The officers remained in their vehicle and followed the pedestrian around the corner “to see where he was going.” The police overtook the pedestrian and drove alongside him a short distance. The officers observed the pedestrian discard a number of packets from a pocket. An officer exited the police cruiser to examine the packets; he discovered they contained pills. Meanwhile, the pedestrian, who had run only a few paces farther, stopped. Surmising the pills contained codeine, the officer arrested the pedestrian for possession of narcotics. During an ensuing search, heroin and other contraband drugs were found in the pedestrian’s possession.

The issue, as framed by the Supreme Court of the United States, was whether the “investigatory pursuit” was a seizure within the meaning of Amendment IV of the Constitution of the United States. 486 U.S. at 569, 108 S.Ct. at 1977. The Supreme Court cited with approval the following passage from Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 19 n. 16, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 1879 n. 16, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968):

“Obviously, not all personal intercourse between policemen and citizens involves ‘seizures’ of persons. Only when the officer, by means of physical force or show of authority, has in some way restrained the liberty of a citizen may we conclude that a ‘seizure’ has occurred.”

Chesternut, 486 U.S. at 573, 108 S.Ct. at 1979.

The Supreme Court in Chesternut next noted it had adopted a test in I.N.S. v. Delgado, 466 U.S. 210, 215, 104 S.Ct. 1758, 1762[2], 80 L.Ed.2d 247 (1984), to determine whether a person has been “seized” within the meaning of Amendment IV. Chestemut, 486 U.S. at 573, 108 S.Ct. at 1979. The test provides that the police can be said to have seized an individual only if, in view of all the circumstances surrounding the incident, a reasonable person would have believed that he was not free to leave. Id., 486 U.S. at 573, 108 S.Ct. at 1979[1].

The Supreme Court held in Chestemut that the police conduct did not amount to a seizure, as it would not have communicated to a reasonable person that he was not at liberty to ignore the police presence and go about his business. 486 U.S.

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Bluebook (online)
878 S.W.2d 485, 1994 Mo. App. LEXIS 1045, 1994 WL 278518, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-lemasters-moctapp-1994.