Gonzalez v. State, 657 S.E.2d 617 (Ga. Ct. App. 2008). · Go Syfert
Gonzalez v. State, 657 S.E.2d 617 (Ga. Ct. App. 2008). Cases Citing This Book View Copy Cite
27 citation events (27 in the last 25 years) across 1 distinct court.
Strongest positive: Joseph Johnson v. State (gactapp, 2013-03-11)
Treatment trajectory · 2008 → 2026 · click a year to view as-of
2008 2017 2026
Top citers, strongest first. 9 distinct citers.
cited Cited as authority (rule) Joseph Johnson v. State
Ga. Ct. App. · 2013 · confidence medium
(Citation and punctuation omitted.) Gonzalez v. State, 289 Ga. App. 549, 550 ( 657 SE2d 617 ) (2008).
cited Cited as authority (rule) Johnson v. State
Ga. Ct. App. · 2013 · confidence medium
(Citation and punctuation omitted.) Gonzalez v. State, 289 Ga. App. 549, 550 ( 657 SE2d 617 ) (2008).
discussed Cited as authority (rule) James Williams v. State
Ga. Ct. App. · 2012 · confidence medium
Rather, “officers are not precluded as a matter of law from acting simultaneously as a supervisor and a field officer.”17 A supervisory officer’s participation in a roadblock 15 See Gonzalez v. State, 289 Ga. App. 549, 551 ( 657 SE2d 617 ) (2008) (supervisory officer who occasionally participated in traffic stops when traffic backed up still was acting in supervisory role); Hobbs v. State, 260 Ga. App. 115, 117 (1) ( 579 SE2d 50 ) (2003) (upholding the supervisory role of an officer who ordered the roadblock and stopped defendant at the scene). 16 See Giacini v. State, 281 SE2d 426 , 428…
discussed Cited as authority (rule) State v. Brown
Ga. Ct. App. · 2012 · confidence medium
See, e.g., Jacobs v. State, 308 Ga. App. 117, 120 ( 706 SE2d 737 ) (2011) (officer’s testimony that she was authorized to plan and implement roadblocks was sufficient to establish that fact); Gonzalez v. State, 289 Ga. App. 549, 551 ( 657 SE2d 617 ) (2008) (roadblock valid where uncontradicted testimony established that sergeant alone made decision to implement roadblock and evidence showed he had authority to do so; fact that sergeant participated in roadblock did not transform him from a supervisor into a field officer); Bennett v. State, 283 Ga. App. 581, 583 ( 642 SE2d 212 ) (2007) (pre-…
examined Cited as authority (rule) Owens v. State (3×) also: Cited "see, e.g."
Ga. Ct. App. · 2011 · confidence medium
State, 294 Ga. App. 142, 143-145 (1) (a) (i), (ii) ( 668 SE2d 461 ) (2008) (A roadblock was implemented at the programmatic level for a legitimate primary purpose because the evidence showed that the roadblock was established by supervisory *378 personnel, as opposed to officers in the field, and that its purpose was to perform a driver’s license and sobriety check.); Gonzalez v. State, 289 Ga. App. at 550-551 (A roadblock was implemented at the programmatic level where the deciding officer was authorized to implement the roadblock pursuant to a policy promulgated by the police chiefs office…
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Jacobs v. State (2×)
Ga. Ct. App. · 2011 · confidence medium
Sczubelek, 402 F3d 175, 201-202 (3d Cir. 2005) (“[N]ever once in over two hundred years of history has the Supreme Court [of the United States] approved a suspicionless search designed to produce ordinary evidence of criminal wrongdoing for use by the police.”) (citation and punctuation omitted). 5 See Gonzalez v. State, 289 Ga. App. 549, 551 ( 657 SE2d 617 ) (2008) (A roadblock was implemented by a supervisor even though the deciding officer testified that, while his primary duty at the location was to oversee the roadblock, he did occasionally step in and participate when traffic backed …
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Sutton v. State
Ga. Ct. App. · 2009 · confidence medium
See Coursey, supra, 295 Ga. App. at 477-478 (1) (roadblock established to check for licenses, insurance, seat belts, and impaired drivers proper); Gonzalez v. State, 289 Ga. App. 549, 551 ( 657 SE2d 617 ) (2008) (same); Cater v. State, 280 Ga. App. 891, 892 (1) ( 635 SE2d 246 ) (2006) (roadblock permissible where primary purpose was to check for drivers’ licenses, seat belts, and vehicle registrations).
cited Cited as authority (rule) Britt v. State
Ga. Ct. App. · 2008 · confidence medium
(Citation omitted.) Gonzalez v. State, 289 Ga. App. 549, 550 ( 657 SE2d 617 ) (2008).
discussed Cited "see" Williams v. State (2×)
Ga. Ct. App. · 2012 · signal: see · confidence high
See Gonzalez v. State, 289 Ga. App. 549, 551 ( 657 SE2d 617 ) (2008) (supervisory officer who occasionally participated in traffic stops when traffic backed up still was acting in supervisory role); Hobbs v. State, 260 Ga. App. 115, 117 (1) ( 579 SE2d 50 ) (2003) (upholding the supervisory role of an officer who ordered the roadblock and stopped defendant at the scene).
Gonzalez
v.
the State
A07A1742.
Court of Appeals of Georgia.
Feb 8, 2008.
657 S.E.2d 617
George C. Creal, Jr., for appellant., Charles A. Spahos, Solicitor-General, Tasha M. Mosley, Assistant Solicitor-General, for appellee.
Miller, Barnes, Smith.
Cited by 10 opinions  |  Published
Pinpoint authority: bottom 50%
Miller, Judge.

Jose A. Gonzalez appeals from his conviction for driving under the influence, asserting that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress the results of his breathalyzer test because they stemmed from an unconstitutional police roadblock. Discerning no error, we affirm.

When reviewing a ruling on a motion to suppress, where, as here, the evidence is uncontroverted and there exists no question regarding witness credibility, we review de novo the trial court’s application of the law to the facts presented. State v. Dymond, 248 Ga. App. 582, 584 (546 SE2d 69) (2001).

The evidence presented at the motion to suppress hearing showed that in the early morning hours of May 17, 2006, the Henry County Police Department instituted a roadblock at the intersection of Highway 138 and Interstate 75 in Henry County. Sergeant Richard Harned, a squad supervisor in the uniform patrol division, authorized the roadblock for the purpose of ensuring that drivers had valid licenses and proof of insurance and that they were wearing seatbelts and were not impaired.

When Gonzalez stopped at the roadblock, Officer Robert Reddick noticed vomit on both the inside and outside of the driver’s side door of Gonzalez’s van and smelled alcohol on Gonzalez’s breath. At Reddick’s request, Gonzalez submitted to field sobriety testing. Several different tests were administered and, when Gonzalez failed them all, he was arrested. After a breathalyzer test administered to Gonzalez at the Henry County J ail showed that he had a blood alcohol level of 0.235, Gonzalez was charged with both DUI less safe and DUI per se, in violation of OCGA§ 40-6-391 (a) (1) and (a) (5), respectively.[*550] Prior to trial, Gonzalez moved to suppress all evidence obtained as a result of the roadblock, arguing that it was unconstitutional. Following a hearing on that motion, the trial court denied the same. Gonzalez then agreed to a stipulated bench trial, which resulted in his conviction. This appeal followed.

Gonzalez’s sole enumeration of error is that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress, because the roadblock at issue violated the Fourth Amendment. We disagree.

For a police roadblock to satisfy the Fourth Amendment, the State must show that

(1) the decision to implement the roadblock was made by supervisory personnel at “the programmatic level,” rather than officers in the field, for a legitimate primary purpose; (2) all vehicles, rather than random vehicles, are stopped; (3) the delay to motorists is minimal; (4) the roadblock is well identified as a police checkpoint; and (5) the screening officer has adequate training to make an initial determination as to which motorists should be given field sobriety tests.

(Footnote omitted.) Harwood v. State, 262 Ga. App. 818, 819 (1) (586 SE2d 722) (2003).

On appeal, Gonzalez challenges only the trial court’s finding that the roadblock satisfied the first of these criteria, which requires the State to prove “that the roadblock was ordered by a supervisor and implemented to ensure roadway safety rather than as a constitutionally impermissible pretext aimed at discovering general evidence of ordinary crime.” (Citation and footnote omitted.) Hobbs v. State, 260 Ga. App. 115, 116 (1) (579 SE2d 50) (2003). Gonzalez argues that the State failed to meet this burden, because Sergeant Harned was a field officer who lacked the authority to order a roadblock, the roadblock violated Henry County’s roadblock policy, and the roadblock lacked a legitimate primary purpose. Neither the record nor the applicable law, however, supports these assertions.

Sergeant Harned’s unrefuted testimony established that he was a squad supervisor for his precinct and that pursuant to department policy he was authorized to decide when and where to establish a roadblock. This “uncontradicted testimony that [Harned] was a supervising officer authorized to order roadblocks was sufficient to establish that fact.” Harwood, supra, 262 Ga. App. at 820 (1) (a). See also Giacini v. State, 281 Ga. App. 426, 428 (1) (636 SE2d 145) (2006) (“The uncontradicted testimony of the supervisor that he was a supervising officer authorized to implement roadblocks is sufficient to establish the fact.”) (footnote omitted).

[*551] To refute this testimony, Gonzalez relies on this Court’s decision in Thomas v. State, 277 Ga. App. 88 (625 SE2d 455) (2005). In that case, this Court found that a corporal, even though he supervised the other officers on his shift, was not acting as a supervisor when he made the decision to implement a roadblock. Id. at 90. Rather, he was acting merely as an “officer in the field,” because he made that decision “while he spoke with other officers at a convenience store immediately before implementing the roadblock itself.” Id. Additionally, “there was no evidence that [the officer] relied on any specific authorization, by the chief or otherwise, to conduct roadblocks. Moreover, because the police department had no manual or guidelines for implementing roadblocks, there was no implicit authority on which [he] could rely.” Id. at 90-91.

Unlike the police corporal in Thomas, however, Harned testified that he alone made the decision to implement the roadblock at issue, independent of any officers in the field. Additionally, Harned’s authority to implement the roadblock resulted from a roadblock policy promulgated by the police chiefs office.

Gonzalez further argues that Harned could not be considered a supervising officer because he participated in the roadblock, rather than supervising it. We disagree.

Harned testified that although his primary duty was to oversee the roadblock, he did occasionally “step in” and participate when traffic backed up. The mere fact that Harned participated in the roadblock, however, is insufficient to transform him from a supervisor into a field officer. See Hobbs, supra, 260 Ga. App. at 117 (1) (fact that supervising officer who ordered the roadblock was also the officer who stopped defendant at the scene did not render the roadblock unconstitutional).

Gonzalez attempts to refute Harned’s testimony that police department policy authorized him to order roadblocks by pointing to the Henry County Police Department’s roadblock policy, as it existed in 2000. Under that policy, all roadblocks had to be approved in writing at least a week in advance. While Harned acknowledged the 2000 policy, he further testified that the policy was amended in 2002 and that such advance, written approval was no longer required at the time the roadblock was conducted.

Finally, we find no merit in Gonzalez’s argument that the roadblock was unconstitutional because it lacked a legitimate primary purpose. Both Sergeant Harned and Officer Reddick testified that the purpose of the roadblock was to check for valid driver’s licenses, proof of insurance, compliance with the seatbelt laws, and potentially impaired drivers. “Such a purpose has long been considered a valid purpose for a traffic roadblock.” (Footnote omitted.) Giacini, supra, 281 Ga. App. at 429 (1). See also Hobbs, supra, 260 Ga. App. at 116-117[*552] (1); Ross v. State, 257 Ga. App. 541, 542 (1) (573 SE2d 402) (2002); Buell v. State, 254 Ga. App. 456, 457 (562 SE2d 526) (2002).

Decided February 8, 2008 George C. Creal, Jr., for appellant. Charles A. Spahos, Solicitor-General, Tasha M. Mosley, Assistant Solicitor-General, for appellee.

In light of the foregoing, we find that the roadblock at issue was legal, and we affirm the trial court’s order denying Gonzalez’s motion to suppress evidence obtained as a result of that roadblock.

Judgment affirmed.

Barnes, C. J., and Smith, P. J., concur.