HomeMy WebLinkAbout99-1757 criminalCOMMONWEALTH
JAMES A. FAIDLEY, JR.
IN THE COURT OF CO?.,~M:)N PLEAS OF
CUMBERLAND COtJNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
99-1757 CRIMINAL TERM
IN RE: MOTION TO SUPPRESS EVIDENCE
BEFORE BAYLEY, J.
OPINION AND ORDER OF COURT
Bayley, J., December 20, 1999:--
Defendant, James A. Faidley, Jr., is charged with a count of driving under the
influence.' He filed a motion to suppress evidence upon which a hearing was
conducted on December 14, 1999. We find the following facts.
On numerous occasions prior to November 7, 1998, Patrolman Jeffrey O'Donnell
of the West Shore Regional Police Department and other officers of his department had
responded at nighttime to incidents of malicious mischief on the property of the Harsco
Corporation. On November 7, 1998, at 4:40 a.m., Patrolman O'Donnell observed a
Jeep proceed from a public street onto a paved lane on the property of Harsco
Corporation. The Jeep went past a sign marked "PRIVATE PROPERTY No
Trespassing." It went to the end of the lane to a parking lot, made a U-turn, came back
and then out onto the public street. The Jeep had no taillights or brake lights.
Patrolman O'Donnell then stopped the vehicle which defendant was driving. As a result
' 75 Pa.C.S. § 3731(a)(1) & (4).
99-1757 CRIMINAL TERM
of what he learned after the stop he arrested defendant for driving under the influence.
Defendant maintains that all evidence discovered by the police after he was
stopped must be suppressed because there was no legal basis for the stop. To the
contrary, Patrolman O'Donnell had articulable and reasonable grounds to believe that
defendant had committed the offense of defiant trespass? and was driving the Jeep on
a public street without operable taillights, and brake lights? Commonwealth v.
Whitmyer, 668 A.2d 1113 (Pa. 1995); Commonwealth v. Sebek, 716 A.2d 1266 (Pa.
Super. 1998).
AND NOW, this
He therefore had a legal basis to stop defendant.
ORDER OF COURT
day of December, 1999, the motion of defendant to
suppress evidence, IS DENIED.
Maw-Jo Mullen, Esquire
For the Commonwealth
Austin Grogan, Esquire
For Defendant
2 18 Pa.C.S. § 3503(b)(ii).
:saa
3 75 Pa.C.S. § 4303(b).
-2-