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State v. Robert Rideout
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MAINE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT					Reporter of Decisions
Decision:	2000 ME 194
Docket:	Aro-00-181	
Submitted
on Briefs:	September 27, 2000
Decided:	November 3, 2000

Panel:WATHEN, C.J., and CLIFFORD, RUDMAN, DANA, SAUFLEY, ALEXANDER, and
CALKINS, JJ.

STATE OF MAINE

v.

ROBERT RIDEOUT

DANA, J.

	[¶1]  Robert Rideout appeals from the judgment of conviction entered
in the Superior Court (Aroostook County, Pierson, J.) on his conditional plea
of guilty to the offense of operating a motor vehicle while his license was
revoked as an habitual offender (Class C), 29-A M.R.S.A. § 2557 (Supp.
1999).{1}  Rideout contends that the Superior Court erred by denying his
pretrial motion to suppress statements and the out of court identification
because the officer made the stop in violation of the fresh pursuit statute,
30-A M.R.S.A. § 2671(2) (1996).{2}  Rideout contends that the officer did not
have probable cause, and in light of the circumstances, an extraterritorial
stop was unreasonable.  We affirm the judgment.

I.  FACTS AND PROCEDURE

	[¶2]  Joseph Bubar, Chief of the Fort Fairfield Police Department, was
acquainted with Rideout, a resident of Fort Fairfield, because he had
arrested him on two previous occasions.  On September 9, 1999, Chief
Bubar was in uniform and driving a marked Fort Fairfield police cruiser from
Fort Fairfield to attend court in Presque Isle.  As he was traveling in Presque
Isle, Chief Bubar came upon a vehicle driven by a person he believed to be
Rideout.  The Chief believed that Rideout's license was under suspension.{3} 
He followed the vehicle for approximately three miles and observed that the
driver was tall and had long hair.  Other than the Chief's belief that Rideout
was driving with a suspended license, he had no reason to stop the vehicle.       
	[¶3]  Chief Bubar radioed the Presque Isle Police Department and was
told that Rideout's license was, indeed, under suspension.  The Chief
requested that a unit from Presque Isle be dispatched to stop Rideout.  The
Presque Isle dispatcher responded that all of the Presque Isle units were
busy and requested that the Chief make the stop.  Chief Bubar stopped the
vehicle and confirmed that it was Rideout operating the vehicle.  A Presque
Isle officer arrived after the Chief had requested Rideout's license, and Chief
Bubar left.
	[¶4]  After being indicted by the grand jury on one count of operating
after habitual offender revocation, Rideout pleaded not guilty and filed a
motion to suppress his statements and the out of court eyewitness
identification.  Chief Bubar testified at the suppression hearing, and the
court denied the motion to suppress.  The Superior Court found that the
Chief had probable cause to stop Rideout's vehicle, and the extraterritorial
stop was reasonable.  Pursuant to M.R. Crim. P. 11(a)(2), Rideout entered a
conditional plea of guilty.{4}

II.  SUPERIOR COURT'S FINDING OF PROBABLE CAUSE

	[¶5]  At the end of the suppression hearing, the Superior Court found
that Chief Bubar had probable cause to stop Rideout's vehicle.  Rideout
contends that Chief Bubar did not have probable cause to stop the vehicle.
	[¶6]  The Superior Court's finding of probable cause subsumes a
finding of a reasonable and articulable suspicion.  See State v. Babcock, 361
A.2d 911, 914 (Me. 1976) (inferring that probable cause is a more difficult
standard to establish than a reasonable and articulable suspicion standard). 
The Constitution requires only the presence of a reasonable and articulable
suspicion to make an investigatory stop of a vehicle, so we need not
determine whether Chief Bubar also had probable cause to make the stop. 
Id.; State v. Dulac, 600 A.2d 1121, 1122 (Me. 1992) (finding that "[t]he
Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, section 5
of our Maine Constitution require that in order to make a valid investigatory
stop, a law enforcement officer must act on the basis of specific and
articulable facts which, taken together with rational inferences from those
facts, reasonably warrant that intrusion") (citations and internal quotations
omitted).  We do not need to review the finding of a reasonable and
articulable suspicion, however, because Rideout concedes that Chief Bubar
had a reasonable and articulable suspicion to make the stop.  See State v.
Huether, 2000 ME 59, 748 A.2d 993.

III.  VIOLATION OF FRESH PURSUIT STATUTE

	[¶7]  Chief Bubar stopped Rideout in a municipality in which Chief
Bubar was not appointed as a law enforcement officer; therefore, the stop
violated the fresh pursuit statute, 30-A M.R.S.A. § 2671.  Rideout contends
that the statutory violation warrants the application of the exclusionary rule
because of the absence of the requisite probable cause and reasonableness to
justify a violation of the fresh pursuit statute.
	[¶8]  The Superior Court's decision not to suppress the evidence is
reviewed only for clear error.  State v. Pike, 642 A.2d 145, 147 (Me. 1994). 
We have declined to adopt a per se rule to exclude evidence that is obtained
in violation of the fresh pursuit statute.  See State v. Jolin, 639 A.2d 1062,
1064 (Me. 1994).  In both Jolin,{5} and Pike,{6} we found that the exclusionary
rule did not apply after the officer violated the hot pursuit statute.  Jolin,
639 A.2d at 1064; Pike, 642 A.2d at 147.  In Jolin, the exclusionary rule did
not apply because the "officer had probable cause to arrest defendant and
her [the officer's] action was reasonable in light of the immediate need to
prevent defendant from harming himself or others."  Jolin, 639 A.2d at
1064.  Similarly in Pike, we found that the officer had probable cause to
detain the defendant, and the officer "acted reasonably and did not
intentionally disregard the territorial limits to which he was subject in order
to ferret out crime."  Pike, 642 A.2d at 147.  We hold that a reasonable and
articulable suspicion satisfies the probable cause component of the Jolin and
Pike test.
	[¶9]  Chief Bubar did not leave Fort Fairfield to make an excursion into
Presque Isle to ferret out crime.  He was traveling in a different jurisdiction
for a reason unrelated to the stop and was on duty while making the stop. 
Once in Presque Isle, after observing a vehicle he believed to be driven by
Rideout, he requested that an officer in the correct jurisdiction make the
stop, and he only made the stop when he was instructed to do so by the
dispatcher.  These facts indicate that Chief Bubar acted reasonably and did
not intentionally disregard his territorial limits in an attempt to ferret out
crime.
	The entry is:
			Judgment affirmed.
                                                         
Attorneys for State:

Neale T. Adams, District Attorney
John M. Pluto, Deputy Dist. Atty.
Carrie Linthicum, Asst. Dist. Atty.
144 Sweden Street
Caribou, ME 04736-2353

James M. Dunleavey, Esq.
Dunleavey Law Offices, P.A. 
P O Box 33
Presque Isle, ME 04769