RI Supreme Court
07/01/1997
State v. Bjerke, 697 A.2d 1069 (R.I. 1997)
Constitutional Issues
The State appealed a finding by the Appeals Panel of the Administrative Adjudication Court of Rhode Island (“AAC”) that upheld a dismissal of Defendant’s cited violation of R.I. Gen. Laws 1956 § 31-27-2.1 (refusal to submit to a chemical test). An anonymous tipster reported that Defendant may have been driving under the influence, and an officer was dispatched to the area, armed with information from a police dispatcher that the vehicle’s registration had been suspended. The officer located the vehicle and, though he did not observe any erratic driving, pulled the vehicle over. After further investigation Defendant was placed under arrest for operating while under the influence of alcohol, operating a vehicle with a suspended registration, and operating a vehicle with a suspended license. At the police station, Defendant was asked to submit to a chemical test, which he refused. At a trial at the Administrative Adjudication Court the Trial Judge found that the police did not have reasonable suspicion to justify a stop in order to investigate for driver intoxication because the anonymous tip alone was not sufficient. The Supreme Court found that neither Defendant nor the public at large had any reasonable expectation of privacy in a motor vehicle registration license plate, given that such plates and the information behind them were “within the control and custody of the state through the Registry of Motor Vehicles” and given that the license plates hang from the front and rear of one’s vehicle for “all the world to see.” Accordingly, the Supreme Court found that the investigation into Defendant’s license plate was not a search in violation of the Fourth Amendment. Because the operation of a vehicle with a suspended registration was a misdemeanor offense (it has subsequently been decriminalized), the Court held that the officer had probable cause to stop the motor vehicle for that offense. Consequently, the State’s appeal was granted and the case was remanded to the AAC.
State v. Bjerke, 697 A.2d 1069 (R.I. 1997).pdf
RI Supreme Court
07/01/1997
State v. Bjerke, 697 A.2d 1069 (R.I. 1997)
Reasonable Grounds/Probable Cause
The State appealed a finding by the Appeals Panel of the Administrative Adjudication Court of Rhode Island (“AAC”) that upheld a dismissal of Defendant’s cited violation of R.I. Gen. Laws 1956 § 31-27-2.1 (refusal to submit to a chemical test). An anonymous tipster reported that Defendant may have been driving under the influence, and an officer was dispatched to the area, armed with information from a police dispatcher that the vehicle’s registration had been suspended. The officer located the vehicle and, though he did not observe any erratic driving, pulled the vehicle over. After further investigation Defendant was placed under arrest for operating while under the influence of alcohol, operating a vehicle with a suspended registration, and operating with a suspended license. At the police station, Defendant was asked to submit to a chemical test, which he refused. At a trial at the Administrative Adjudication Court the Trial Judge found that the police did not have reasonable suspicion to justify a stop in order to investigate for driver intoxication because the anonymous tip alone was not sufficient. The Defendant further argued that the suspended registration was a pretext for the real reason the police stopped him. The Supreme Court noted that, like in the United States Supreme Court decision in Whren v. United States, 116 S. Ct. 1769, 1774 (1996), the “[s]ubjective intentions [of the arresting police officer] plays no role in ordinary, probable-cause Fourth Amendment analysis.” The Rhode Island Supreme Court had previously stated in State v. Scurry, 636 A.2d 719, 723 (R.I. 1994), that “an arrest is not . . . fatally pretextual merely because . . . police officers have a dual motive for making the arrest.” Instead, the Rhode Island Supreme Court had held that motive alone could only invalidate searches and seizures in cases where it is doubtful that probable cause ever existed to justify the initial stop. Here, the Court found that there was probable cause to justify the stop because the vehicle’s registration was suspended. Accordingly, the police officer’s stop of Defendant was justified by probable cause, the State’s appeal was granted, and the case was remanded to the AAC.
State v. Bjerke, 697 A.2d 1069 (R.I. 1997).pdf