State v. Villas

2002 NMCA 104, 55 P.3d 437, 132 N.M. 741
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 19, 2002
Docket22,483
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 2002 NMCA 104 (State v. Villas) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico 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. Villas, 2002 NMCA 104, 55 P.3d 437, 132 N.M. 741 (N.M. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

OPINION

PICKARD, Judge.

{1} Defendant was stopped at a police roadblock and was found to have a breath alcohol content (BAC) of .12. She appeals her conviction for driving while intoxicated (DWI), arguing that police misconduct in failing to charge another intoxicated driver rendered the roadblock unconstitutional. In the alternative, she argues that the police decision to prosecute her but not the other driver violates her right to equal protection under the law. We affirm her convictions.

FACTS

{2} The Albuquerque Police Department (APD) set up a sobriety checkpoint at the intersection of Paseo del Norte and Coors Boulevard on the night of August 5, 2000. Sergeant Murray Conrad proposed the roadblock to his supervisors, who approved the plan. The roadblock plan included procedures that the officers at the roadblock were to follow. The officers were to stop every vehicle and ask a set of scripted questions. If an officer suspected that a driver had been drinking, the driver was referred to the secondary inspection area for sobriety testing. A person who showed signs of intoxication was directed to the “BATmobile” for a breathalyzer test.

{3} When Defendant stopped at the roadblock, she was subjected to sobriety testing, then a breathalyzer test. Her BAC was recorded at .12, .04 above the legal limit of .08. See NMSA 1978, § 66-8-110(0) (1993). She was charged with DWI, booked, and prosecuted.

{4} One of the other drivers stopped at the same roadblock turned out to be the brother of an APD officer (hereinafter “Brother”). Brother was given a breathalyzer test and found to have a BAC of .09. Rather than charging Brother with DWI, however, Sergeant Conrad told another officer to give Brother a ride home. Sergeant Conrad acknowledged that in doing so he violated police procedures. He was later reprimanded by APD and temporarily suspended from working with the DWI squad.

{5} Defendant was tried in Metropolitan Court. She moved to suppress all evidence against her and dismiss the charges, arguing that the favorable treatment of Brother rendered the roadblock unconstitutional. The trial court denied her motion, and she was convicted of DWI. Defendant appealed to the district court, which affirmed her conviction. She now appeals to this Court.

DISCUSSION

The Failure to Charge One Intoxicated Individual Did Not Render the Roadblock Unconstitutional

{6} “[Sjtopping motorists for the purpose of detecting and apprehending drunk drivers constitutes a ‘seizure’ under the fourth amendment.” City of Las Cruces v. Betancourt, 105 N.M. 655, 657, 735 P.2d 1161, 1163 (Ct.App.1987). Nonetheless, the police may stop drivers at sobriety checkpoints as long as the checkpoints comply with certain guidelines, established to ensure that the roadblocks are reasonable and to prevent the arbitrary treatment of motorists. Id. In New Mexico, the Betancourt standards govern the analysis of roadblocks. See State v. Madalena, 121 N.M. 63, 69, 908 P.2d 756, 762 (Ct.App.1995).

{7} In Betancourt, this Court held that the police must implement uniform procedures at roadblocks as a means to restrict the discretion of field officers. Id. at 658-59, 735 P.2d at 1164-65. We later described this requirement as dispositive. State v. Bates, 120 N.M. 457, 463, 902 P.2d 1060, 1066 (Ct. App.1995). In other words, if the police fail to establish uniform procedures for dealing with motorists who come through a roadblock, the roadblock will not pass constitutional muster and the stops will be invalid. See id. at 462-63, 902 P.2d at 1065-66.

{8} Defendant argues that her arrest was unconstitutional because the police failed to follow uniform procedures at the roadblock in question when they released one intoxicated driver while charging others with DWI. We agree with the State, however, that the Betancourt analysis determines the constitutionality of a roadblock stop, and not later police actions. The argument in Betancourt focused on whether the drivers’ constitutional rights were infringed when they were stopped at the roadblock in question. Id. at 657, 735 P.2d at 1163. There, we balanced the government interest in reducing drunk driving against the interference with individual liberty, and we held that drivers could be stopped at roadblocks as long as the roadblocks are reasonable. Id. at 658, 735 P.2d at 1164. We were primarily concerned with uniform procedures for stopping motorists. We emphasized that automobiles “should not be stopped randomly” because “[ujnrestricted discretion in determining which vehicle to stop leads to the evil we seek to avoid.” Id. at 659, 735 P.2d at 1165 (emphasis added).

{9} Defendant does not assert that the officers at the roadblock in question failed to follow uniform procedures in stopping vehicles. Defendant argues that because roadblocks present an exception to the reasonable suspicion requirement, any aberration should be cause to invalidate roadblock stops. She argues that, unless we extend the requirement of uniformity to later stages of the roadblock, we will give police departments “a blank check ... for anything that occurs after a car pulls up to an orange cone.”

? That is not the case. Each action after the initial stop is subject to judicial scrutiny. See State v. Goss, 111 N.M. 530, 534, 807 P.2d 228, 232 (Ct.App.1991) (analyzing detention and arrest of motorist stopped at roadblock after rejecting argument that the roadblock was unconstitutional). Under the New Mexico Constitution, after the checkpoint stop, a police officer cannot further detain a motorist without reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. See State v. Cardenas-Alvarez, 2001-NMSC-017, ¶ 16, 130 N.M. 386, 25 P.3d 225 (analyzing state constitutional law as applied to stops at border checkpoints).

{11} Nor have any subsequent cases analyzing roadblocks extended the Betancourt analysis beyond the initial stop of the vehicle. Instead, we have the reasonableness requirement for roadblocks as providing “a constitutionally adequate substitute for the reasonable suspicion that would otherwise by required to justify the detention of vehicles and the questioning of their occupants.” Bates, 120 N.M. at 460, 902 P.2d at 1063 (quoting State v. Bolton, 111 N.M. 28, 32, 801 P.2d 98, 102 (Ct.App.1990) (emphasis added)).

{12} Defendant cites some out-of-state authority to support her argument that any deviation from the written roadblock plan will render all stops at that roadblock unconstitutional. For example, a Massachusetts court held that it was unconstitutional to extend the hours for a roadblock without supervisory approval. See Commonwealth v. Anderson, 406 Mass. 343, 547 N.E.2d 1134, 1138 (1989). A Hawaii court dismissed charges against a driver after an officer changed the location of a roadblock without supervisory approval. See State v. Fedak, 9 Haw.App.

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Bluebook (online)
2002 NMCA 104, 55 P.3d 437, 132 N.M. 741, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-villas-nmctapp-2002.