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State v. Gauthier

The original officer on the scene needed no reasonable articulable suspicion to approach the DUI defendant in her vehicle at 2:56 a.m. in a parking spot next to a closed business, ask for identification and ask what she was doing in the parking lot, since it was a first-tier encounter, not subject to a reasonable articulable suspicion standard.

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Marissa Gauthier was arrested and charged with two counts of driving under the influence “less safe” and unlawful alcohol concentration.1 She filed a motion to suppress the results of a chemical test of her breath, asserting that police officers had lacked articulable suspicion to stop and detain her, and had lacked probable cause to arrest her and request the chemical test. The trial court granted Gauthier’s motion, citing a “lack of articulable suspicion for the stop,” and stating that Gauthier “was stopped for no legitimate reason.” The state appeals,2 asserting that the officer’s initial contact with Gauthier was a first-tier encounter, not subject to a reasonable articulable suspicion standard, and that the encounter properly evolved into a second-tier investigative encounter. We agree.

The trial court’s findings as to disputed facts in a ruling on a motion to suppress will be reviewed to determine whether the ruling was clearly erroneous; where the evidence is uncontroverted and no question regarding the credibility of witnesses is presented, the trial court’s application of the law to undisputed facts is subject to de novo appellate review.3

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