State v. Van Dyke

2009 UT App 369, 223 P.3d 465, 645 Utah Adv. Rep. 19, 2009 Utah App. LEXIS 382, 2009 WL 4681322
CourtCourt of Appeals of Utah
DecidedDecember 10, 2009
Docket20080613-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 2009 UT App 369 (State v. Van Dyke) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Utah primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Van Dyke, 2009 UT App 369, 223 P.3d 465, 645 Utah Adv. Rep. 19, 2009 Utah App. LEXIS 382, 2009 WL 4681322 (Utah Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

OPINION

MeHUGH, Judge:

11 Robert Van Dyke appeals his conviction for driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI), see Utah Code Ann. § 41-62-502 (2005). 1 Van Dyke asserts that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence, his motion to dismiss, and his motion to arrest judgment postconviction. Van Dyke also appeals the trial court's decision to permit the State to comment on his assertion of his Fifth Amendment rights. We affirm.

BACKGROUND 2

T2 On September 25, 2007, Van Dyke was arrested for DUI as he was leaving a sports park in Spanish Fork, Utah. As he walked toward his car in the parking lot, Van Dyke passed a couple (Husband and Wife) who was walking along the same pathway with their four children. Van Dyke ap *468 proached them and began a conversation with the couple's six-year-old. Husband and Wife found the conversation odd because neither they nor their son knew Van Dyke and he was talking loudly and laughing. Wife also smelled alcohol on Van Dyke as he walked past her. After watching Van Dyke stare into space for a while before driving out of the lot, Husband called 911.

I. The 911 Call

T3 Husband informed the 911 dispatch operator that he was reporting a drunk driver. When asked why he believed that Van Dyke was drunk, Husband responded,

Oh, he walked right past me and my son and he was trying to talk to my son. You could smell it on his breath and my wife smelled him too. The guy was just clearly intoxicated. He was just, the way he was acting. He tried to strike up a conversation with my little boy.

T4 Husband described Van Dyke as having black hair and a goatee. He also provided a description of the car, including its color, make, model, and license plate number, as well as its direction of travel. Before concluding the call, Husband identified himself and gave the dispatch operator his phone number. Dispatch then relayed the information to officers via a computer communication. The dispatch communication stated, "[Green jeep cherokee/poss[ible] dui/just leaving the new part of ball pa[rk/plate number] dealer plate/male with goat-eeft[imell[apse] one minute/went towards main st unk[nown] from there[/Iwalked past [reporting party] and could smell the aleohol on his breath and definitely intoxicated."

II. The Traffic Stop

15 Officer Matt Johnson was traveling southbound on Main Street in Spanish Fork when he saw Van Dyke's vehicle turn north onto Main Street from the sports park. Officer Johnson followed Van Dyke for nine and one-half blocks, during which time he saw Van Dyke's vehicle weave "one or two times" within the lane and three times onto the center divider line. However, Officer Johnson observed no traffic violations.

T6 At approximately 50 North Main Street, Van Dyke voluntarily pulled off the road and stopped the vehicle. Officer Johnson "pulled in behind the vehicle and activated [his] emergency lights." Because Van Dyke had exited his vehicle, Officer Johnson ordered him back into the car.

III. Van Dyke's Refusal to Be Tested

T7 Officer Johnson approached Van Dyke's vehicle. In response to Officer Johnson's inquiry, Van Dyke confirmed that he was traveling from the sports park. Officer Johnson then requested Van Dyke's driver license and vehicle registration. Van Dyke "fumbled through his wallet for a few see-onds to locate his driver{ ] license and then ... look{ed] in the billfold portion ... for the registration." 3 Eventually, Van Dyke produced a sales receipt for a different vehicle, which Van Dyke explained belonged to another car owned by his father's dealership. During their conversation, Officer Johnson noticed "a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from [Van Dyke's] person," Van Dyke's slurred speech, and his slow responses to questioning. Officer Johnson asked Van Dyke to exit the vehicle to perform field sobriety tests. Van Dyke refused, and when asked why, he responded, "Fifth." Officer Johnson then placed Van Dyke under arrest for DUI.

18 Officer Johnson transported Van Dyke to the Utah County Jail where he was booked for DUI. The officer then advised Van Dyke of the penalties under Utah Code section 41-6a-520 for refusing a police request for chemical testing to determine an accused's level of intoxication. He asked Van Dyke to submit to blood, breath, and urine tests (collectively, chemical tests), and Van Dyke refused, again asserting his rights under the Fifth Amendment.

*469 IV. The Trial

T9 Van Dyke was charged by information for DUI. Van Dyke moved to suppress the evidence obtained from the stop, claiming that it was the product of an unreasonable seizure. The trial court denied this motion, and the case proceeded to trial by jury. The trial court also denied Van Dyke's motion in limine, which sought to exelude evidence of or references to Van Dyke's invocation of his Fifth Amendment rights.

1 10 At trial, the State presented the testimonies of a seorekeeper at the ballpark (Seo-rekeeper), Husband, Wife, the three officers responding to the dispatch report, and the booking officer. Their testimonies produced the following evidence against Van Dyke.

{11 Scorekeeper testified that Van Dyke approached her to discuss the postponement of his baseball game. She stated that Van Dyke was initially nice to her but that "all of a sudden he started getting belligerent, swearing at [her], just yelling." He also smelled "really bad," "like alcohol." Van Dyke's encounter with Scorekeeper lasted approximately twenty minutes.

1112 Van Dyke then left Seorekeeper's office and headed to his car. Along the way, he met Husband, Wife, and their son. Husband and Wife both testified that they did not know Van Dyke and that he engaged their six-year-old son in a conversation that was "out of the ordinary" because Van Dyke was loud and laughing. Husband also said that he immediately noticed Van Dyke's slurred speech and glazed eyes. Wife testified that she smelled alcohol on Van Dyke and that he was limping. Both Husband and Wife observed that when Van Dyke reached his vehicle, he stared across the parking lot for several seconds, as if he were "in a stupor," before loading his baseball gear into his car and driving out of the lot toward Main Street. It was then that Husband decided to call 911.

1183 Officer Johnson testified that upon locating the vehicle described in the dispatch report, he followed it until it stopped on the side of the road. Detective Phil Nielsen and Officer Trent Shepherd arrived at the scene shortly thereafter to provide back-up assistance. Detective Nielsen testified that he stood by the front passenger window of Van Dyke's vehicle while Officer Johnson returned to his car to check for any outstanding warrants.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2009 UT App 369, 223 P.3d 465, 645 Utah Adv. Rep. 19, 2009 Utah App. LEXIS 382, 2009 WL 4681322, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-van-dyke-utahctapp-2009.