The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

July 20, 2008

Court nixes claim of driver convicted of drunken driving

By Joe Pinchot

GROVE CITY — An appeals court has refused to throw out the conviction of a Grove City man who claimed medical conditions accounted for his behavior when he was arrested for drunken driving.

Carl W. Hodge, 51, was convicted May 17, 2007, by a jury of drunken driving and speeding. He was arrested Feb. 22, 2006 in Grove City. Police said Hodge smelled of alcohol, his eyes were blood shot and glassy and his speech was slurred. Hodge failed three field sobriety tests, police said.

At trial, Hodge and his fiancée testified Hodge had cancer and had recently suffered two heart attacks, and those conditions explained his appearance, limp, poor performance on the tests, and refusal to have his blood tested.

In his appeal, Hodge, represented by Komron J. Maknoon of Pittsburgh, said Mercer County Common Pleas Court Judge Thomas R. Dobson should not have denied Hodge’s motion to suppress evidence, and the jury verdict was not supported by evidence.

Hodge’s suppression motion was filed the day of trial, and Dobson dismissed it as untimely.

The Rules of Criminal Procedure require that suppression motions be filed within 30 days of arraignment — Hodge’s was Sept. 11, 2006 — unless any of three exceptions exist. Hodge did not show that any of the exceptions existed, said a three-judge panel of Superior Court, ruling Thursday.

On the evidence issue, Hodge said the testimony of himself and his fiancée prove he was not drunk. He said the field sobriety tests were performed in an unlit parking lot on uneven pavement, and he refused to have his blood tested because he developed a phobia of needles as a result of his cancer treatment.

Superior Court said the prosecution evidence of Hodge speeding, Grove City police patrolman Patrick A. Krumpak’s observations and the results of the field sobriety tests are sufficient for conviction.

The judges also noted prosecutors cross-examined Hodge and his fiancée, and the jury found their testimony not to be credible.

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