Possession of alcohol in dry county provides probable cause for arrest
Facts In 1997, Officer Mark Fulco of the Amory Police Department, Monroe County, received a radio dispatch directing him to the Tenn-Tom Inn to investigate an anonymous report of a domestic disturbance. Once Fulco arrived at the Tenn-Tom Inn, he observed a lone car occupied by four individuals, three males and one female, parked in […]
common law DUI is used when test results not available or subject is under .10%
Facts In 1995, Richard Leuer, a licensed driver in the State of Indiana, was taken into custody and charged with DUI and careless driving after he was stopped on Old Brandon Road in Rankin County. Brian Harper of the Flowood Police Department stopped Leuer after he observed his vehicle run off the road onto the […]
HGN test can be used for probable cause to arrest but not in court to convict
Facts In 1995 Randall Richbourg began driving a 1995 Geo Prizm automobile, which he had rented, from a Howard Johnson’s motel in Kansas City, Missouri, toward his home in Panama City, Florida. Richbourg spent the previous night partying to celebrate his having successfully completed twenty-one days of apprenticeship training as a boiler maker at the […]
Roadblock for drivers license and vehicle registration is constitutional
Facts In 1995, Simpson County law enforcement officers were conducting a routine roadblock to check such items as proper drivers licenses and vehicle registration. One of the officers participating in the roadblock testified that, when he approached Howard Briggs‘s vehicle at the roadblock, he smelled the odor of alcohol emanating from Briggs’s person. Upon further […]
MTCA no longer requires actual intent to harm to be liable
Facts This case arises out of a two-car accident involving a deputy sheriff employed by Pearl River County and a private citizen. The facts are substantially uncontested. On July 14, 1994, Deputy Daniel L. Collier was backing out of a driveway at the Pearl River County jail in Poplarville when he backed into a car […]
HGN test can still be used to prove probable cause to arrest and administer the intoxilizer or blood test
Facts As Meridian policeman R. L. Thomas drove his police cruiser into the parking lot of a Shell service station located on Highway 39 North in Meridian around midnight in 1995, a male customer emerged from the service station and spoke to Officer Thomas and Officer Troy Smith, who was riding in the front passenger’s […]