Jeremy Edward Whalen, Appellant v. State of Arkansas, Appellee

Summary

The court held that the sobriety checkpoint violated the Fourth Amendment because the State failed to prove that it was established under a preexisting, neutral plan and because field officers retained unfettered discretion over the checkpoint's location and operation. Evidence obtained through the checkpoint should therefore have been suppressed, requiring reversal and remand of Whalen's conviction and sentence; the court did not reach the separate probable-cause issue. Justice Wood, joined by Chief Justice Brill, concurred in the result but would not have adopted the additional factors governing field-officer discretion.