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How many DWI investigations/detentions begin because the officer smells the odor of alcoholic beverage associated with the driver?

Suppose this were the law on the matter: The strong odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from inside a vehicle does not provide sufficient evidence to raise a reasonable suspicion to detain and investigate whether that person had committed the offense of Driving While Intoxicated. O'Neal

Giving due deference to this fact- O'Neal was the driver and only occupant of a truck whose interior had a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage- Justice Vance said the Fourth Amendment could be reasonably interpreted to require suppression of all of the statements and/or acts or omissions of the Defendant. Thus, in his view the trooper had no right to discover that O'Neal would stagger as he got out of his truck and explain that he was coming from a nightclub where he had been drinking.

We need an exclusionary rule, but does it need to be that broad?
 
Posts: 2386 | Registered: February 07, 2001Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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To answer the first question - obviously a good majority of DWI cases start with "strong odor of alcohol coming from the vehicle.."

Thankfully, the 10th COA got it right and shut this one down. If I'm reading the opinion correctly, strong odor of alcohol is RS for additional detention for both DWI and Open Container violation...
 
Posts: 115 | Location: Denton, TX, USA | Registered: February 15, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Can't the officer ask the driver to get out of the car just as part of the speeding stop? Why do you have to add the odor of alcohol at all just to get him out of the car?
 
Posts: 1116 | Location: Waxahachie | Registered: December 09, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Vance will soon retire.
 
Posts: 7860 | Location: Georgetown, Texas | Registered: January 25, 2001Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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quote:
Originally posted by AndreaW:
Can't the officer ask the driver to get out of the car just as part of the speeding stop? Why do you have to add the odor of alcohol at all just to get him out of the car?


But the odor will come out in the officer's report and testimony because it is a relevant fact in a DWI case. Under skillful questioning, wouldn't the officer have to say either
1)the odor of alcoholic beverage is not a factor in evaluating intoxication; or
2)it really was a factor in his decision to ask the driver to get out.

Or maybe it is just a matter of articulating that the odor was emanating from the defendant, not the vehicle. Or adopting the practice of asking every speeder to step out.
 
Posts: 245 | Location: Austin, Texas | Registered: July 08, 2003Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I usually ask the driver out so I can determine whether or not the odor is coming from them, or the interior of the vehicle.
 
Posts: 95 | Location: Marble Falls, TX USA | Registered: October 29, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I'm not saying the odor isn't important or shouldn't come out. But it's sort of like making a traffic stop for speeding and suspicion of DWI. While all the factors that you have that made you suspect DWI are important for the ultimate issue, as far as the stop itself goes, why spend all your time arguing those when the speeding in and of itself justifies the stop? So if an officer is completely justified in asking a suspect to step outside just because of making the speeding stop, why argue whether the odor of alcohol would also give him reason to?
 
Posts: 1116 | Location: Waxahachie | Registered: December 09, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I think your distinction comes in the basic justification under Florida v. Royer and the Texas case law as it has evolved. Though the speeding stop is justified both as to 4th amendment intrusion into the defendant's expectation of privacy and removal of the defendant from the vehicle for officer safety during investigation, the context and length of the detention is likewise limited by objectively reasonable time that an officer would require to to complete the speeding citation.

With extension or reasonable suspicion for DWI, such as your odor of alcohol example, it seems that the courts' constitutional justification does somewhat of a balancing act between what would have been required for the length of the stop (just for speeding) and the extension of that time for the investigation of DWI. If the court finds that the officer's justification for the extension is unreasonable (failure to clearly state the articulable facts on which the DWI r/s was based), the extension of time would be found unreasonable b/c the time allowed for investigation of the speeding stop would necessarily have expired (unless the officer can testify to circumstances that reasonable extended the time for the speeding investigation).

A good discussion with references to quite a few cases on the subject is:

Additionally, the court of criminal appeals has stated: Florida v. Royer, 460 U.S. 491, 500, 103 S.Ct. 1319, 1325-26, 75 L.Ed.2d 229 (1983). Here the justified �stop� was in regard to Rodriguez's speeding violation. Absent additional evidence, there was no justification for any �stop� that exceeded what was necessary to ticket Rodriguez for speeding...There must be a reasonable suspicion by the officer that some activity out of the ordinary is occurring or had occurred, some suggestion to connect the detained person with the unusual activity, and some indication that the activity is related to a crime. Johnson v. State, 658 S.W.2d 623, 626 (Tex.Crim.App.1983)...In the present case, the administrative record contains no evidence indicating that Officer Gautier had probable cause to administer field sobriety tests to Rodriguez. In case after case, Texas courts have required some causal link (usually in the form of testimony from the arresting officer) between the probable cause for the stop of the vehicle and the subsequent probable cause to arrest the motorist without a warrant for the offense of driving while intoxicated. See, e.g., Hooker v. State, 932 S.W.2d 712, 714 (Tex.App.-Beaumont 1996, no pet.) (driver appeared sluggish, disoriented, and slow to respond to questions and to find driver's license); *365 Trent v. State, 925 S.W.2d 130, 134 (Tex.App.-Waco 1996, no pet.) (appeared drunk, smelled of alcohol, and was belligerent); Raffaelli v. State, 881 S.W.2d 714, 715 (Tex.App.-Texarkana 1994, pet. ref'd) (after speeding stop, officer noticed slurred speech and staggering); Espericueta v. State, 838 S.W.2d 880, 881 (Tex.App.-Corpus Christi 1992, no pet.) (officer smelled alcohol on breath); Townsend, 813 S.W.2d at 185 (officer noticed that motorist's eyes were glassy and there was a strong odor of alcohol on his breath); Gillentine v. State, 781 S.W.2d 382, 383 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 1989, no pet.) (after speeding stop, officer noticed strong odor of alcohol and inability to maintain balance).


Texas Dept. of Public Safety v. Rodriguez 953 S.W.2d 362, 364 -365 (Tex.App.-Austin,1997)

GM
 
Posts: 51 | Location: Dallas, TX USA | Registered: April 25, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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