Commonwealth v. Huggins (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-096-13)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports. If you find a typographical error or other formal error, please notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Judicial Court, John Adams Courthouse, 1 Pemberton Square, Suite 2500, Boston, MA 02108-1750; (617) 557-1030; SJCReporter@sjc.state.ma.us 12‑P‑14 Appeals Court COMMONWEALTH vs. LANCE C. HUGGINS. No. 12‑P‑14. Plymouth. October 4, 2012. ‑ August 8, 2013. Present: Grasso, Fecteau, & Agnes, JJ. Motor Vehicle, Operating under the influence. Arrest. Probable Cause. Practice, Criminal, Dismissal. Evidence, Field sobriety test. Complaint received and sworn to in the Brockton Division of the District Court Department on March 30, 2009. A motion to dismiss was heard by Angel Kelley Brown, J., and the case was heard by James F.X. Dinneen, J. Michael P. Gerace for the defendant. Robert C. Thompson, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth. AGNES, J. The defendant, Lance Huggins, raises a single issue following his conviction of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor, second offense:[1] whether the judge erred in finding that the charge was supported by probable cause when both the police and the judge relied in part on evidence that, at the scene, the defendant refused to perform field sobriety tests. For the reasons that follow, we affirm. Background. The defendant’s pretrial motion to “dismiss/suppress” sought two different types of relief — the suppression of evidence and the dismissal of the charge. Only the motion to dismiss is before us.[2] The judge conducted an evidentiary hearing, and heard testimony from three police officers. We summarize the facts found by the judge, supplemented “with uncontested testimony from the suppression hearing that the judge explicitly or implicitly credited.” Commonwealth v. Bermudez, 83 Mass. App. Ct. 46, 47-48 (2012). On March 30, 2009, at approximately 12:45 A.M., Officer Baker of the Brockton police department was on routine patrol when he noticed headlights shining into a wooded area near Intervale Street. On investigation, he saw a vehicle approximately fifteen feet off the side of the road. The vehicle had struck a few trees and “was hung up on some rocks.” The roads were dry. The area was well lit. The defendant was in the driver’s seat of the vehicle when Officer Baker approached it. After determining that there was no need for immediate medical assistance, he returned to his cruiser and called for a tow truck. Several additional officers arrived. Officer Kalp approached the defendant, who was still seated in his vehicle, to ask for his license and registration. He noticed “an […]