Plaintiff-Respondent,
v.
MICHAEL A. THOMAS,
Defendant-Appellant.
Submitted January 6, 2004 Decided February 24, 2004
Before Judges Parker and Coleman.
On appeal from Superior Court of New Jersey,
Law Division, Camden County, Docket Number
A-16-02, whose opinion is reported at ____
N.J. Super. _____ (Law Div. _____).
Lutz, Levow & Costello, attorneys for appellant
(Evan M. Levow, of counsel and on the brief).
Vincent P. Sarubbi, Camden County Prosecutor,
attorney for respondent (Jeanne T. Covert,
Assistant Prosecutor, of counsel and on the brief).
PER CURIAM
Defendant was arrested for driving while intoxicated (DWI) in violation of N.J.S.A. 39:4-50,
on November 22, 2001, after being stopped at a DWI roadblock in Pennsauken.
Defendant and five others who were stopped at the same roadblock moved in
municipal court to consolidate their cases and to suppress the evidence on the
ground that the roadblock was unconstitutional. The municipal judge granted the consolidation motion
and denied the suppression motion for all of the defendants. They then entered
conditional pleas and appealed to the Law Division. On a de novo review,
the Law Division judge rendered a written opinion on September 13, 2002, finding
the roadblock constitutional and sustaining the municipal court ruling. Defendant appeals and argues:
POINT ONE
THE STATE DID NOT SET FORTH ANY EMPIRICAL DATA UTILIZED FOR SITE SELECTION
OF THIS ROAD BLOCK, AND, AS SUCH, CANNOT DEMONSTRATE THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF THE
ROADBLOCK IN PENNSAUKEN
POINT TWO
ALLOWING 100 CARS, OR NINE PERCENT OF THE OVERALL TRAFFIC, THROUGH THE CHECKPOINT,
DUE TO TRAFFIC BACKUP, DEMONSTRATES THAT THE CHECKPOINT WAS NON-RANDOM AND THAT THE
SITE SELECTION WAS FLAWED
POINT THREE
WHERE THE SUPERVISING OFFICER IS ALSO PARTICIPATING IN FIELD SOBRIETY TESTING AND OPERATION
OF THE BREATHALYZER, HE IS NOT ACTING AS A DETACHED, OBJECTIVE SUPERVISOR, PROPERLY
ADMINISTRATING THE ROADBLOCK
POINT FOUR
THE MUNICIPAL COURTS FAILURE TO CONSIDER THE EFFECT OF FIVE NEIGHBORING TOWNS ROADBLOCKS
ON THAT SAME NIGHT IS REVERSIBLE ERROR REQUIRING REMAND FOR CONSIDERATION OF THAT
ISSUE
Defendant concedes that a DWI roadblock is constitutional if properly conducted. He maintains,
however, that the roadblock location on Route 70 was not appropriate because there
was no data such as the number of accidents, DWI arrests, arrests per
hour, DWI involved accidents, injuries, or injuries from DWI accidents. He argues that
State v. Mazurek,
237 N.J. Super. 231, 236 (App. Div. 1989), certif. denied
by
121 N.J. 623 (1990), requires the roadblock to be:
[C]arefully targeted to a designated area at a specified time and place based
upon data justifying the site selection for reasons of public safety and reasonably
efficacious or productive law enforcement goals . . . . Other factors which
enhanced judicial approval were (1) adequate warnings to avoid frightening the traveling public,
(2) advance general publicity designed to deter drunken drivers from getting in cars
in the first place, and (3) officially specified neutral and courteous procedures for
intercepting officers to follow when stopping drivers.
[Ibid. (citing State v. Kirk,
202 N.J. Super. 28, 40-41 (App. Div. 1985)).]
Defendant contends that the police failed to establish the roadblock in accordance with
the specified criteria in that the stops were not random, the site selection
was flawed and the supervising officer participated in testing the detainees.
The State presented extensive evidence as to the procedure for selecting the site
and conducting the roadblock. The Law Division judge outlined that evidence in his
written decision and addressed each of the points raised by the defendants. He
concluded that this roadblock passes constitutional muster. The Law Division judges decision was
consistent with the principles articulated in Mazurek, supra, 237 N.J. Super. at 236;
Kirk, supra, 202 N.J. Super. at 40-41.
We have carefully considered the record in light of the applicable law, and
we find insufficient merit in defendants arguments to warrant discussion in a written
opinion. We affirm substantially for the reasons set forth by Judge Cook in
his well reasoned written opinion dated September 17, 2002.
Affirmed.