Court Opinion

ID: 9747970
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-27 15:46:27.484566+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:25:29.742655
License: Public Domain

DISSENTING OPINION BY
BENDER, J.:
¶ 1 Because I believe that the evidence presented by the Commonwealth was insufficient to uphold a conviction for driving under the influence (DUI) under 75 Pa. C.S. § 3802(c), I respectfully dissent. To support my position, I rely on this Court’s decision in Commonwealth v. Segida, 912 A.2d 841 (Pa.Super.2006), rev’d on other grounds, — Pa. —, 985 A.2d 871 (2009).1 I believe that the facts of Segida, set forth below, closely mirror the case at hand:
On September 19, 2004, at approximately 12:20 a.m., West Mifflin Police Officer Patrick Hillyard received a dispatch to investigate a one-vehicle acci*1221dent on Bettis Road, West Mifflin, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Upon arriving at the scene, Officer Hillyard observed a vehicle “almost over the hillside” at the top of the hill on Bettis Road. According to Officer Hillyard, the vehicle had rotated 180 degrees and come to rest “into some brush.” Standing outside the vehicle were two men. Officer Hillyard approached the two men and began questioning them as to what had happened. The two men were subsequently identified as Appellant and his brother, Thomas. While questioning Appellant, Officer Hillyard detected a strong odor of alcohol. Appellant indicated to Officer Hillyard that he had been driving the vehicle westbound on Bettis Road when he lost control of the vehicle while arguing with his brother. Upon being asked, Appellant admitted that he had been drinking alcohol that night. Appellant indicated that he and his brother had been at a local club drinking and that he was driving his brother home.
Appellant was then asked to perform one or more field sobriety tests and complied with this request. In the estimation of Officer Hillyard, Appellant did not satisfactorily perform the field tests and Appellant was placed under arrest and taken to McKeesport Hospital where he was read his chemical test warnings. Appellant signed the DL-26 form and submitted to a drawing of a blood sample. The blood sample was later transported to the County Crime Lab for testing with that testing revealing a BAC of .326.
Appellant was subsequently charged with two counts DUI, 75 Pa.C.S. § 3802(a)(1) and 75 Pa.C.S. § 3802(c), and one count of careless driving 75 Pa.C.S. § 3714. At that trial, the Commonwealth presented a single witness, the arresting officer, Officer Hillyard.
Id. at 842 (citations omitted).
¶ 2 We went on in Segida to discuss that the appellant had “conducted] a critical review of the trial transcript,” and we agreed with the appellant’s following arguments:
The state offered absolutely no evidence as to when Appellant drank alcohol, including whether he drank after the accident in question. Additionally, the Commonwealth presented no evidence from which it could be inferred what time the accident occurred. There were no witnesses to the accident or to the manner in which the car was operated. Rather, here, the state offered only (a) the time the officer received the call from dispatch about the accident and (b) the time that the officer arrived on the scene. It did not indicate when dispatch received the call about the accident, the name of the person who called dispatch, whether the person who called dispatch actually saw the accident or only came upon it some time later, or what time the caller first saw the accident. The officer testified that he did not know, when he arrived at the scene, how long Appellant’s car had actually been located at the scene of the accident. And he acknowledged that he never asked Appellant if he had been at the scene the entire time since the accident occurred.
The state offered no evidence as to how often the road on which the accident occurred was patrolled or even driven by others. The state offered no evidence of physical evidence at the scene of the accident which would help determine the timing of the incident. The state did not indicate whether any alcoholic beverage containers were found at the scene of the accident, which could suggest Appellant’s imbibing after *1222the accident. The state did not show what, if any, commercial establishments were around the scene of the accident, again, possibly being a place where Appellant could have ingested alcohol after the accident. In other words, the state wholly failed to present direct or circumstantial evidence as to when Appellant last drank alcohol on September 19, 2004, when Appellant was driving, and when Appellant was involved in the accident.
Id. at 846 (quoting the appellant’s brief, at 15-16). In light of these arguments, we concluded in Segida that the Commonwealth had failed to “establish, within some degree of reasonable certainty, the time [the appellant] last drove, as well as when the blood or breath sample was taken,” which we determined was essential for a conviction under 75 Pa.C.S. § 3802. Id. at 845-46. Additionally, we explained that:
Although the Commonwealth’s failure to fix the time of Appellant’s accident, with any degree of certainty, is a major pitfall in its case, it is but one difficulty with proof in- the current case. Tied somewhat to the failure to establish when the accident occurred, the Commonwealth similarly fails to preclude the possibility that Appellant ingested alcohol after the accident occurred. Officer Hillyard did not testify as to whether there were signs of imbibing alcohol in the car or nearby, or whether there were drinking establishments nearby which would have provided Appellant an opportunity to drink after he stopped driving. This fact provides greater uncertainty to the premise that Appellant’s incapacity during the encounter with Officer Hillyard was representative of his incapacity when he was driving, thereby further undermining the Commonwealth’s case.
Id. at 848-49 (emphasis in original).2
¶ 3 Similarly, in Appellant’s case, the Commonwealth presented very minimal evidence to establish exactly what time Appellant last drove his car. First, there was no testimony or evidence proffered establishing what time the police dispatcher received the call reporting the two disabled vehicles. We also note that, even if the Commonwealth had put forth evidence of the time of the call to police, the dispatcher informed Officer Dembowski that two cars were disabled. Thus, the time of the call would not have revealed exactly what time the first car, ie. Appellant’s car, had pulled alongside the highway. Furthermore, the Commonwealth presented no witnesses who saw Appellant actually hit the debris, nor anyone who could testify as to the manner in which Appellant was driving before hitting it.. When Mr. *1223Peck collided with the debris at approximately 6:30 a.m., Appellant’s car was already disabled alongside the highway.
¶ 4 Instead, the only evidence that the Commonwealth presented to establish what time Appellant’s car became disabled was Officer Dembowski’s testimony. The officer testified that at Appellant’s preliminary hearing, Appellant indicated that he hit the debris around 6:10 or 6:15 a.m. However, on cross-examination at trial, the officer contradicted that testimony when asked if “the incident initially occurred prior to 6:00 or right around 6:00 [a.m.]” and the officer stated, “Okay.” N.T. Trial, 7/8/08, at 29. Thus, the evidence presented by the Commonwealth on the actual time that Appellant last drove his vehicle was minimal at best.
¶ 5 Moreover, here, as in Segida, the Commonwealth failed to preclude the possibility that Appellant consumed alcohol after driving. First, Appellant testified that after his car became disabled, he drank alcohol that was in a club soda bottle in his car. While Officer Dembowski testified that he did not find any alcoholic beverage containers in Appellant’s vehicle, he admitted on cross-examination that he may have seen a can of iced tea in the car, but could not recall if there were any other non-alcoholic drink containers in the vehicle. N.T. Trial, 7/8/08, at 24. Id. at 28. Thus, the Commonwealth did not present evidence refuting Appellant’s claim that there was a club soda bottle in his vehicle.
¶ 6 In fact, the only evidence that the Commonwealth did present to discredit Appellant’s claim that he drank alcohol after driving was the testimony of Mr. Peck who stated that he did not see Appellant drink anything while they waited for police. However, Mr. Peck testified that his car hit the debris at approximately 6:30 a.m. Assuming, arguendo, that Appellant’s car hit the debris at 6:10 or 6:15 a.m., there were fifteen to twenty minutes where Appellant was alone at the scene in his disabled car. Thus, Appellant had fifteen to twenty minutes in which he could have consumed alcohol.
¶ 7 Accordingly, I believe that, even in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth, there are too many uncertainties in this case to say that the evidence was sufficient to find every element of DUI under 75 Pa.C.S. § 3802(c) beyond a reasonable doubt. The uncertainty about the exact time that Appellant last drove his vehicle, combined with the possibility that Appellant consumed alcohol after his car became disabled, creates a reasonable doubt as to Appellant’s guilt on the DUI charge. Thus, I believe that in accordance with this Court’s decision in Segida, we are constrained to conclude that Appellant’s DUI conviction and ensuing sentence should be reversed.
¶ 8 For the above reasons, I respectfully dissent.

. In Segida, this Court reversed Segida’s convictions under both 75 Pa.C.S. § 3802(a)(1) and 75 Pa.C.S. § 3802(c). The Commonwealth did not appeal our reversal of Segida’s conviction under section 3802(c). As such, the only issue addressed by our Supreme Court in Segida was whether this Court erred in determining that the evidence was insufficient to sustain Segida’s conviction under section 3802(a)(1). Accordingly, this Court's analysis in Segida of the sufficiency of the evidence under section 3802(c), which I rely on in my dissenting opinion, was not addressed by our Supreme Court and remains good law.

. We recognize that our Supreme Court's decision in Segida states the following:
[W]e reject the Superior Court's implication that, in order to obtain a conviction under subsection 3802(a)(1), the Commonwealth must also prove that an accused did not drink alcohol after the accident. See Segida, 912 A.2d at 849 (stating that "the Commonwealth similarly fails to preclude the possibility that [Appellee] ingested alcohol after the accident occurred”) (emphasis in original). There is no basis in the statute for insertion of this element. As discussed in the test, supra, the Commonwealth must prove that Appellee drove at a time when he was incapable of doing so safely due to consumption of alcohol. The statutory text of subsection 3802(a)(1) will not support an additional element that would place the burden on the Commonwealth to prove that Appellee drank no alcohol after the accident.
Segida, 985 A.2d at 879 n. 6. While our Supreme Court makes it clear that the Commonwealth does not have to prove that the accused did not consume alcohol after driving to support a conviction under section 3802(a)(1), that element of section 3802(c) appears to remain in tact.