Opinion ID: 2224667
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: There was Probable Cause to Offer a Breath Test

Text: Baran argues that the trial court should have suppressed all evidence obtained after he was stopped because the State failed to establish that the trooper had either legal cause to stop his vehicle or probable cause to offer a breath test. Resolution of the first part of Baran's argument is guided by Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968), in which the Supreme Court recognized that investigative stops of limited duration and reasonably related in scope to the justification for their initiation are legal. Terry held that a police officer need not have probable cause to make an arrest when making an investigative stop, but must be able to point to specific and articulable facts which, taken together with rational inferences from those facts, reasonably warrant `the intrusion upon the constitutionally protected interests' of private citizens. Id., 392 U.S. at 21-22, 88 S.Ct. at 1880 (quoting Camara v. San Francisco Mun. Ct., 387 U.S. 523, 534, 87 S.Ct. 1727, 1733-34, 18 L.Ed.2d 930 (1967)). Indiana courts follow the Terry guidelines. Platt v. State (1992), Ind., 589 N.E.2d 222, 225-26; Luckett v. State (1972), 259 Ind. 174, 179, 284 N.E.2d 738, 741. Whether a particular fact situation justifies an investigatory stop is determined on a case by case basis. Platt, 589 N.E.2d at 226. The requirements of the Fourth Amendment are satisfied if the facts known to the officer at the moment of the stop are such that a person of reasonable caution would believe that the action taken was appropriate. Terry, 392 U.S. at 22, 88 S.Ct. at 1880. Indiana has adopted this test. Gipson v. State (1984), Ind., 459 N.E.2d 366, 368. Here, the trooper watched Baran's truck weave more than once back and forth between lanes as it traveled along the interstate. Given this conduct and the potential danger it posed to other motorists, it was reasonable for the trooper to believe that further investigation was warranted. Clark v. State (1990), Ind., 561 N.E.2d 759, 762. See also Sell v. State (1986), Ind. App., 496 N.E.2d 799, 800 (stop appropriate where car was traveling 35 miles per hour below the posted speed limit); Jaremczuk v. State (1978), 177 Ind. App. 628, 630-31, 380 N.E.2d 615, 617 (stop appropriate where vehicle was weaving within the lane of traffic and momentarily left the roadway). A person of reasonable caution would believe this stop was appropriate. Baran argues that even if the initial stop was legal, the trooper did not have probable cause to take him into custody and offer him a breath test. However, the cases Baran cites in support of this argument are distinguishable. In Irwin v. State (1978), 178 Ind. App. 676, 682, 383 N.E.2d 1086, 1090, for example, the court held that the officer's perception of odor of alcohol and defendant's admission that he had recently consumed some beer were insufficient to give the officer probable cause to make an arrest for public intoxication. By contrast, here, the trooper not only smelled alcohol, but also observed Baran driving in an unsafe manner. This is sufficient probable cause to offer a breath test. State v. Johnson (1987), Ind. App., 503 N.E.2d 431, 432, trans. denied. In addition to these legal arguments about the Terry stop and probable cause to offer the breath test, Baran asserts that the trooper should not have been permitted to testify about observing Baran's driving because the trooper had no independent recollection of those observations. The record does not support this argument. Although the trooper could not remember every detail surrounding the stop, there were specific details that he did recall: that Baran was not the owner of the truck; that there was a passenger in the truck; and that Baran was from out-of-state and was returning from the Daytona 500. The trooper testified that he specifically recalled observing the truck weave from lane to lane on the interstate. The fact that he could not recall every detail goes to the weight of the evidence, not its admissibility. Stanley v. State (1987), Ind., 515 N.E.2d 1117, 1119. It was for the factfinder, the trial court in this case, to determine what weight to give the trooper's testimony. No error occurred. Finally, Baran claims that the trial court erred in failing to allow testimony from other witnesses who would have contradicted the trooper's testimony about Baran's driving. The record reveals otherwise. Baran moved to suppress evidence of everything that took place after he was signalled to pull over by the trooper. Baran contended that the trooper's stop was pretextual because he had not, in fact, observed the truck weaving between lanes of traffic. To support his motion, Baran's counsel offered testimony from both Baran and his passenger to that effect. Baran correctly notes that the offered testimony would have done nothing more than create a conflict in the evidence, that such conflicts presented on a motion to suppress are to be resolved by the trial court, and are reviewed on appeal as a sufficiency question. Brandon v. State (1978), 268 Ind. 150, 154, 374 N.E.2d 504, 506. Baran's assertions notwithstanding, the trial court did not preclude Baran from presenting this testimony; rather, the trial court weighed the evidence presented, and chose to believe the trooper's testimony. No error occurred.