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Motor Vehicles – OWI — reasonable suspicion

By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//January 12, 2012//

Motor Vehicles – OWI — reasonable suspicion

By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//January 12, 2012//

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Wisconsin Court of Appeals

Criminal

Motor Vehicles – OWI — reasonable suspicion

Heather Kolman appeals a judgment of conviction for operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, second offense, in violation of Wis. Stat. § 346.63(1)(a). Kolman contends that the circuit court erred in denying her motion to suppress all evidence obtained after the state trooper who stopped her took the following two actions during their initial encounter following a traffic stop, while Kolman remained seated in the driver’s seat of her vehicle: (1) asking her to recite the alphabet, and then (2) subjecting her to a modified, “mini” horizontal gaze nystagmus (HGN) test. She does not challenge the basis for the traffic stop, nor does she challenge the trooper’s conduct after those two actions. Instead, she argues that the two actions illegally expanded the scope of a detention that began lawfully.

This court concludes for the following reasons, based on the totality of the circumstances, that the trooper’s first request, that Kolman recite the alphabet, reasonably extended the scope of the detention, and that once Kolman attempted to recite the alphabet in the manner that she did, the trooper had reasonable suspicion of intoxicated driving justifying the trooper’s subsequent actions, including conducting the “mini” HGN test. Accordingly, the circuit court is affirmed. This opinion will not be published.

2011AP1917-CR State v. Kolman

Dist IV, Grant County, Van De Hey, J., Blanchard, J.

Attorneys: For Appellant: Orth, John C., Middleton; For Respondent: Pozorski, Anthony J., Lancaster; Weber, Gregory M., Madison

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