Byndloss v. State

• Decision Date: 08 March 2006
• Docket Number: No. 54 Sept. Term, 2005.,54 Sept. Term, 2005.
• Citation: 893 A.2d 1119
• Parties: Orlando BYNDLOSS v. STATE of Maryland.
• Court: Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

893 A.2d 1119

Orlando BYNDLOSS v. STATE of Maryland.

No. 54 Sept. Term, 2005.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

March 8, 2006.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Amy E. Brennan, Asst. Public Defender (Nancy S. Forster, Public Defender, on brief), Baltimore, for Petitioner.

Brian S. Kleinbord, Asst. Atty. Gen. (J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Atty. Gen. of Md., on brief), Baltimore, for Respondent.

Argued before BELL, C.J., RAKER, WILNER, CATHELL, HARRELL, BATTAGLIA and GREENE, JJ.

CATHELL, Judge.

This case concerns whether a police officer may detain the occupants of a vehicle for approximately thirty minutes, after the driver and passenger have both provided driver's licenses and registration for the vehicle and the officer has written a warning for the traffic violation, while waiting for confirmation of the validity of the licenses and registration and checking for outstanding warrants. The central issue is whether the period of time that the driver and passenger were detained while the officer retrieved the information improperly extended the traffic stop beyond what is considered reasonable under the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution or Article 26 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights.¹

Petitioner, Orlando Byndloss, was charged in the Circuit Court for Prince George's County with importation of 28 or more grams of cocaine (count one),² possession of 448 or more grams of cocaine with intent to distribute (count two),³ possession of cocaine with intent to distribute (count three),⁴ conspiracy to distribute cocaine (count four), and possession of cocaine (count five).⁵ On March 19, 2004, a pretrial hearing was held before the Circuit Court for Prince George's County concerning petitioner's motion to suppress the drug evidence. The motion was denied. On March 24, 2004, petitioner was subsequently tried and convicted on all counts, except conspiracy to distribute cocaine (count four), at a bench trial before the Circuit Court for Prince George's County. On May 7, 2004, the Circuit Court imposed a sentence of 15 years for importation of cocaine (count one) and a concurrent 15 years, the first five without the possibility of parole, for possession of 448 grams or more of cocaine with intent to distribute (count two). Counts three and five were merged with count two for sentencing purposes. Petitioner appealed to the Court of Special Appeals and that court affirmed the conviction. Byndloss v. State, 162 Md. App. 286, 873 A.2d 1233 (2005). On June 21, 2005, petitioner filed a petition for writ of certiorari. On August 10, 2005, we granted certiorari. Byndloss v. State, 388 Md. 404, 879 A.2d 1086 (2005).

Petitioner presented only one question:

"During a routine traffic stop, may a State trooper withhold the issuance of a written warning and continue to detain the occupants of a vehicle after the driver and passenger have both provided driver's licenses and registration for the vehicle and the trooper has written a warning for the traffic infraction, but he has not issued it to the driver because the computer system, through which record[s] are checked, is inoperable, preventing the trooper from confirming the validity of the licenses and registration and checking for outstanding warrants?"

We hold that, under the particular factual circumstances of the case at bar, the police did not improperly detain petitioner. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the Court of Special Appeals.

I. Facts

On November 19, 2003, Sergeant Clifford Hughes⁶ of the Maryland State Police was on duty in the area of I-95 and I-495 in Prince George's County. At approximately 10:58 a.m. Sergeant Hughes observed a 1997 green Chevrolet Malibu with Florida registration plates driving north on I-95. The vehicle had a plastic license plate cover over its registration plate. The license plate of the vehicle was not clearly visible due to the plastic cover, in fact, "the vehicle registration tags and month were not visible at all."⁷ As a result of this violation of § 13-411 of the Transportation Article, Sergeant Hughes activated his emergency equipment and pulled the vehicle over.⁸ Petitioner was a passenger in this vehicle.

Sergeant Hughes called in the stop to the College Park barrack and was advised that the computer systems through which licenses, vehicle registrations, and outstanding warrants are checked were down. The two systems are known as (1) Maryland Interagency Law Enforcement System (MILES) and (2) National Crime Information Center (NCIC). During the call Sergeant Hughes was not given any indication of when the systems would be up and operating again.

At 10:59 a.m. Sergeant Hughes walked up to the vehicle on the passenger side.⁹ He knocked on the window of the front seat passenger. Petitioner, sitting in the front passenger seat, put the window down. Sergeant Hughes identified himself as a Maryland State Trooper and advised the driver, Joan Henry Malone, and passenger, petitioner, that they were being audibly and visually recorded.¹⁰ Sergeant Hughes then asked Ms. Malone for her driver's license and registration. He explained that the reason for the stop was the plastic cover on the vehicle license plate. Ms. Malone stated that she didn't know that it was illegal and volunteered to remove it from the vehicle. Sergeant Hughes explained to her that it was too dangerous to do that due to the traffic on I-95. Throughout this conversation Ms. Malone was still looking for her driver's license and registration card.

When Ms. Malone handed over her driver's license and registration card Sergeant Hughes noticed that her hands were shaking and that she seemed "nervous" and "restless." Sergeant Hughes asked Ms. Malone where she was going and she told him that she was on her way from Florida to New York. At this time petitioner also gave Sergeant Hughes his driver's license.¹¹ At 11:02 a.m. the conversation ended and Sergeant Hughes went back to his vehicle with the driver's licenses and registration card.

Sergeant Hughes sat in his vehicle, called for a K-9 unit, and then proceeded to write a warning for the license plate cover. He did not immediately call his dispatcher and ask them to run Ms. Malone's and petitioner's information through MILES and NCIC because he had been informed that the systems were down. Sergeant Hughes testified that he told the other officer on the scene "I'm going to talk to them a little more, she is real nervous." At 11:08 a.m., when he was finished writing the warning, Sergeant Hughes called back the College Park barrack and asked whether the systems were still down. The dispatcher advised him that the systems were still down, but that the problem only affected the College Park barrack. The dispatcher then advised him to contact either the Rockville or Forestville barrack because their systems were up and functioning. Sergeant Hughes then decided to hold off on giving Ms. Malone the written warning because he had not yet been able to run the licenses and registration through MILES and NCIC.

At 11:09 a.m. Sergeant Hughes switched over to another channel and called the Waterloo barrack, which was the closest barrack, approximately three miles north of the stop. Upon receiving the call, the dispatcher at the Waterloo barrack advised Sergeant Hughes that he could not hear him due to background noise or interference. At 11:10 a.m. Sergeant Hughes called the Waterloo dispatcher back using his cell phone. Sergeant Hughes requested license and outstanding warrant checks for Ms. Malone and petitioner and provided the dispatcher with the information from their driver's licenses and Ms. Malone's registration card. The Waterloo dispatcher said that he would call him back with the information.

While waiting to hear back from the Waterloo dispatcher, Sergeant Hughes got out of his vehicle and approached Ms. Malone's car. He explained to her that he was waiting for a license and warrant check to come back, and as soon as that came back, they would be free to go. He then asked Ms. Malone to step out of the car and come to the rear of the vehicle. Sergeant Hughes testified that he again explained to her that "apparently the system was being slow today and as soon as the information came back, she would be free to go, and explained to her because of liability purposes, [he] couldn't allow her to drive away without knowing if her license was suspended or anything." Sergeant Hughes then asked Ms. Malone again about her trip and where she was going:

"She told me she was going to New Jersey, and she had previously told me she was going to New York. I asked her did she have a lot of luggage in the vehicle and she said no. She had previously told me she was going to stay a week, and I asked her how she was going to stay a week without a lot of luggage, and she stated that she wasn't going to stay a week because she had to go back to work. Her stories were inconsistent with what she had previously stated to me. And at that time I also noticed that her eyes were watering and she appeared to be crying. She was jumpy. She couldn't keep still and she was holding herself."

On the video of the stop it is evident that it had become windy as Sergeant Hughes and Ms. Malone were standing outside and Ms. Malone stated that she was cold. After finishing their conversation, Sergeant Hughes returned to his police car and Ms. Malone remained standing outside.

At 11:19 a.m. Sergeant Hughes received a call from the College Park dispatcher informing him that Trooper First Class (TFC) Butler, the certified K-9 handler, could not locate Sergeant Hughes. After this call Sergeant Hughes called back the Waterloo barrack to see if they had received the information from MILES and NCIC. The Waterloo police communications officer told him to "stand by," which, according to the officer's testimony, means to wait and not transmit. At this point, Sergeant Hughes asked Ms. Malone, who was still outside on the side of the road, if she wanted to...