Source: https://www.phila-criminal-lawyer.com/DUI-DWI/DUI-Traffic-Stops.shtml
Timestamp: 2018-02-25 09:28:39
Document Index: 1581885

Matched Legal Cases: ['§3802', '§3803', '§3802', '§106', '§3802', '§3802', '§ 3802', '§ 3802', '§1547', '§1547', '§3802', '§3802', '§1547', '§3802', '§1547', '§1547', '§ 1547']

DUI & Traffic Stops | Hark and Hark | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania's Superior Court has issued two very significant DUI decisions. The first ruling was handed down the case of Commonwealth v. Musau. The second decision was presented in Commonwealth v. Barker.
In Musau, the trial court found Musau guilty of driving under the influence of alcohol in violation of 75 Pa. C.S.A. §3802(a) (general impairment), his second offense, and graded the conviction as a first-degree misdemeanor pursuant to 75 Pa C.S.A. §3803(b) (4). The trial court sentenced Musau to ninety days to five years in jail.
After reviewing the sentencing provisions of the specific DUI statute, 75 Pa. C.S.A. §3802, et seq., and the general sentencing parameters of the criminal code under 18 Pa. C.S.A. §106(b) (6), (e), the court concluded that if an individual is only found guilty of the "general impairment" provision of §3802(a) and not §3802(c) or (d), the maximum potential supervisory sentence is six-months and not five years. The important part of this case is just that: if a court finds a person who may have refused the blood or breath test guilty under § 3802(a) only, as a second offense, and not § 3802(c) or (d), the sentencing maximum is six months, not five years.
Refused a Breathalyzer Test?
The second case is Commonwealth v. William Barker. The case began as a garden-variety motor vehicle infraction, typical traffic stop, and suspicion of DUI. However, competent counsel convert the case into a discussion of motorists' right to an alternative blood tests under 75 Pa. C.S.A. §1547(i) and a police officer's violation of the refusal statute, not the motorist's.
The appeals court addressed §1547 in the context of a §3802(d) refusal case. §3802 (d) is the DUI refusal statute law enforcement may charge individuals who have "refused" to submit to any chemical test requested pursuant to §1547. 75 Pa.C.S.A. §3802(d) (2) defines driving under the influence as follows: An individual may not drive, operator, or be in actual physical control of the movement of the vehicle under the influence of drugs or a combination of drugs to a degree to which impairs the ability to drive safely, operate or be an actual physical control of the movement of the vehicle.
At trial, the arresting officer did not testify that it was not reasonably practical to take Barker to a different location for the blood draw. Superior Court found this important. "Although section §1547 delineates the tests that may be used and the manners within which the tests must be conducted, §1547(i) does not indicate what constitutes 'reasonably practical' for an alternative test and an officer's ability to reject a motorist's request for an alternative means of testing at the time of arrest." Stated another way, the court concluded that an investigating officer "shall honor a motorist's request when it is 'reasonably practical' to do so".
The court emphasized that the statute "presumes the validity of the motorist's request and vests the officer with the discretion to decline the request for alternative testing only if the circumstances render the testing incapable of being put into practice with the available means". The court went on to state that the statutory language does not continence an officer's "arbitrary refusal" to decline an alternative test request.
The officer may decline the alternative test only if the test requested is not within the means available at the time the testing is sought. While the statute protects the arbitrary whims of motorists who might demand alternate forms of testing, the statute does not allow arbitrary conduct of the police officer in denying motorist's requests when practical.
The court found that when the arresting officer arbitrarily refused Barker's request for an alternate test which would have produced evidence that may have proven his innocent, the officer substantially impeded Barker's due process rights. Having found the police, not Barker, violated § 1547, the appeals court concluded that the arresting officer's "refusal to honor the statute's provisions yields a resolution that deprived Barker of admission of evidence that, had it been available, would have been relevant to the charges at issue." Such violation undermined Barker's ability to counter the Commonwealth's allegations and, therefore, warranted granting Barker's appeal and dismissal of all charges.