A three-judge state Superior Court panel has upheld the conviction and sentence of a Frackville man who was under the influence of marijuana when he drove in November 2013 in Mahanoy City.
In a six-page opinion filed Monday, the judges ruled Robert E. Victor, 33, offered no reason to overturn the conviction for driving under the influence.
Victor did not properly present the to the panel his claim that the stop of his vehicle was unlawful, Judge Sallie Updyke Mundy wrote in the opinion.
“(Victor’s) only issue on appeal is waived,” Mundy wrote.
As a result, Victor conviction for DUI and failure to stop at red signal stands.
In a nonjury trial on March 24, 2015, county Judge James P. Goodman found Victor guilty of those charges. Goodman sentenced Victor on May 7, 2015, to serve 72 hours to six months in prison and pay costs, $1,025 in fines, $100 to the Substance Abuse Education Fund, $60 restitution to Schuylkill Medical Center-South Jackson Street and $1,995.12 restitution to the state police crime laboratory in Bethlehem.
Mahanoy City police had alleged Victor was DUI with marijuana in his system on Nov. 8, 2013, at Catawissa and West Centre streets, where he ran the red light in the borough.
Mundy wrote in the opinion that the only issue raised by Victor in his appeal was whether police had probable cause to arrest him and then have him submit to a blood alcohol test.
However, Victor had not raised that issue before trial, only in his closing argument at the trial, according to Mundy. Raising that issue during trial does not preserve it for appellate review, Mundy wrote.
“(Victor) did not raise any issue pertaining to probable cause to arrest (him),” she wrote. “Therefore, (he) has waived this issue on appeal.”
Furthermore, the stop was lawful due to Victor having run the red light and the arresting officers smelling marijuana in the vehicle in which he was the only occupant, so the claim has no merit, Mundy wrote.
Judge Jack A. Panella and President Judge Emeritus Correale F. Stevens, the other panel members, joined in Mundy’s opinion.