UW-Madison sophomore men's hockey player Ryan MacMurchy will appear in Dane County Circuit Court April 23 for an evidentiary hearing stemming from a Nov. 16, 2003 arrest in which he was charged with drunk driving and underage drinking.
MacMurchy was pulled over at 3:30 a.m. after a police officer noticed his moped swaying as he approached an intersection, according to a police report. After he failed a field sobriety test, he was arrested and charged with drunk driving and underage drinking.
John Hyland, MacMurchy's lawyer, filed a motion seeking to suppress most evidence against MacMurchy on the grounds that the arresting officer lacked probable cause to arrest him.
\The officer observed a legal violation, giving [the officer] the right to pull over his moped. The officer detected alcohol on his breath, giving her the right to conduct a field sobriety test. However, his performance on the field sobriety test did not support the decision to arrest [MacMurchy],"" Hyland said.
Hyland said he will argue that since MacMurchy's arrest was without probable cause, his subsequent chemical breath test is also inadmissible in court since it required an arrest before the test could be given.
However, Hyland noted that since MacMurchy admitted to the officer he consumed a couple of beers, the underage drinking charges would still apply.
""But usually we can substitute an alcohol education program for the drinking ticket,"" Hyland said.
Mike Eaves, UW-Madison men's hockey head coach, declined to comment and said he would discuss the issue with MacMurchy.
MacMurchy was not suspended from the men's hockey team.
According to the UW Student-Athlete Discipline Policy, if a student athlete is arrested for ""a violation of local, state, or federal law involving drugs, gambling, or violence ... then the student athlete shall be immediately suspended from participation and competition...""
However, the discipline policy does not include alcohol-related arrests in the current list of punishable offenses. Instead, all alcohol-related incidences are handled within the team by the coach.
According to the Capital Times, UW-Madison Head Coach Mike Eaves was aware of the incident and ""addressed it within the team.""
The April 23 hearing will determine if the evidence against MacMurchy is inadmissible in court, according to Hyland. If the evidence is suppressed, he said he is confident the charges will be dropped.
-Eric Schmoldt contributed to this report.
