Charity v. State

• Decision Date: 08 June 2000
• Docket Number: No. 1949,1949
• Citation: 753 A.2d 556,132 Md. App. 598
• Parties: Kendrick Orlando CHARITY v. STATE of Maryland.
• Court: Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

753 A.2d 556

132 Md. App. 598

Kendrick Orlando CHARITY v. STATE of Maryland.

No. 1949, Sept. Term, 1999.

Court of Special Appeals of Maryland.

June 8, 2000.

William P. Robinson, Jr. (Robinson and Anderson, on the brief), Norfolk, VA, for appellant.

Kathryn Grill Graeff, Assistant Attorney General (J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Attorney General, Baltimore and David R. Ruark, State's Attorney for Wicomico County, Salisbury, on the brief), for appellee.

Argued before MOYLAN, WENNER and BYRNES, JJ.

MOYLAN, Judge.

If there is a lesson to be learned from this case, it is that when the police are permitted a very broad but persistently controversial investigative prerogative,¹ they would be well advised, even when not literally required to do so, to exercise that prerogative with restraint and moderation, lest they lose it. In Whren v. United States, 517 U.S. 806, 116 S.Ct. 1769, 135 L.Ed.2d 89 (1996), the Supreme Court extended law enforcement officers a sweeping prerogative, permitting them to exploit the investigative opportunities presented to them by observing traffic infractions even when their primary, subjective intention is to look for narcotics violations.

The so-called "Whren stop" is a powerful law enforcement weapon. In utilizing it, however, officers should be careful not to attempt to "push out the envelope" too far,² for if the perception should ever arise that "Whren stops" are being regularly and immoderately abused, courts may be sorely tempted to withdraw the weapon from the law enforcement arsenal. Even the most ardent champions of vigorous law enforcement, therefore, would urge the police not to risk "killing the goose that lays the golden egg."

The secondary lesson is that if this case is not squarely controlled by a linear application of the holding of the Court of Appeals in Ferris v. State, 355 Md. 356, 735 A.2d 491 (1999), it is nonetheless a variation on a theme by Ferris.

The appellant, Kendrick Orlando Charity, was convicted in the Circuit Court for Wicomico County of the possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute. His sole contention on appeal is that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress.

The Traffic Stop and Its Sequelae

At about 7:10 P.M. on the evening of January 21, 1999, Maryland State Police Sergeant Mike Lewis observed three vehicles traveling closely together, southbound, on Route 13 in Wicomico County near Salisbury. Sergeant Lewis, though assigned primarily to drug interdiction, believed that the second and third vehicles were following top closely to the respective vehicles in front of them for the foggy and rainy weather conditions. He called for assistance and then initiated a traffic stop of the second and third vehicles. Sergeant Lewis approached the second car, a blue Nissan Maxima driven by the appellant, while another trooper approached the third vehicle. The Nissan Maxima had North Carolina tags. The driver of the third car was given a written warning and released within several minutes. The appellant was not.

According to Sergeant Lewis's testimony at the suppression hearing, he approached the second vehicle, advised the appellant as to why he had been stopped, and asked to see a driver's license and registration card. After noticing that Sean White, the only passenger in the car, was not wearing a seat belt, Sergeant Lewis requested his identification as well. Both the appellant and White complied. As he stood at the window, Sergeant Lewis noticed a large bundle of air fresheners hanging from the rear view mirror. A subsequent count revealed 72 such air fresheners.

Sergeant Lewis also indicated at the suppression hearing that "there was little doubt" in his mind that there was "something criminal going on inside the vehicle." His suspicion was based on the large number of air fresheners and on the fact that the appellant had a North Carolina driver's license and White had a New York license. Based on those observations, Sergeant Lewis asked the appellant to step out and to move to the rear of the vehicle, notwithstanding that a light rain was falling. He then began questioning the appellant as to where he was coming from and where he was going.

Leaving the appellant standing in the rain, Sergeant Lewis then approached the passenger side of the vehicle and began asking White the same questions. After receiving answers from White that were different from the answers given by the appellant, Sergeant Lewis returned to the rear of the vehicle where the appellant was standing. Because it then began to "rain heavier" and because he wanted to have the appellant "seated in [his] cruiser," Sergeant Lewis requested a "consensual patdown" of the appellant. The appellant ostensibly consented.

In the course of the pat-down, Sergeant Lewis felt a bulge in the appellant's front pants pocket. In response to the sergeant's question regarding the contents of the pocket, the appellant reached into the pocket and pulled out a packet of gum and some money. In the process of the appellant's doing so, Sergeant Lewis saw "a one gram size packet" of what he "readily recognized to be marijuana" between the appellant's ring finger and his middle finger. Sergeant Lewis then "plucked" the packet from the appellant's fingers, held it in front of his face, and stated, "This authorizes me to conduct a full-blown search of your vehicle now."

White was also ordered out of the vehicle and was directed to stand next to the appellant while Lewis and another state trooper, Corporal Bromwell, performed a Carroll Doctrine search of the vehicle. A large quantity of cocaine, 194 grams, was found in the bottom of a box located inside the trunk. Both the appellant and White were then placed under arrest and subsequently charged with 1) the importation of cocaine, 2) possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, 3) possession of cocaine, 4) conspiracy to import cocaine, and 5) conspiracy to possess cocaine with the intent to distribute.

The Suppression Hearing

The appellant filed a motion to suppress the cocaine. A hearing was held on August 10, 1999. With respect to the traffic stop, the judge stated:

I certainly have no question under the evidence as to propriety of the stop. It was a dark, rainy, foggy night with cars following much too closely for the conditions that existed there.

The officer stopped the two cars that were in violation of the law, in his opinion, for following too closely. After he stops the car, Trooper Lewis approaches the defendant's vehicle.

The judge went on to make other rulings with respect to 1) the propriety of a further Terry-stop, 2) the voluntariness of a consent to a pat-down, and 3) probable cause for a Carroll Doctrine search of the car. At the conclusion of the hearing, he denied the appellant's motion to suppress.

The Trial

The appellant agreed to proceed on a plea of Not Guilty on an Agreed Statement of Facts on the charge of the possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. He was found guilty of that offense.³ The State placed the remaining four charges against him on the stet docket. The appellant then noted this appeal.

The Limited Focus of Our Review

Because the only contention raised by the appellant is that the trial judge erroneously denied his motion to suppress the cocaine found in the trunk of the car, the only subject matter properly before us consists of the motion to suppress, the transcript of the hearing on the motion, and the trial judge's ruling on the motion. Except for the fact that the appellant was convicted, without which we would have no appeal, it is for our purposes as if the trial on the merits never took place.

The leading summary of what is properly before a reviewing court on an issue concerning pretrial suppression was made by Judge Karwacki in In re Tariq A-R-Y, 347 Md. 484, 488, 701 A.2d 691 (1997):

In reviewing the denial of a motion to suppress, we look only to the record of the suppression hearing and do not consider the evidence admitted at trial. Gamble v. State, 318 Md. 120, 125, 567 A.2d 95, 98 (1989); Herod v. State, 311 Md. 288, 290, 534 A.2d 362, 363 (1987); Trusty v. State, 308 Md. 658, 670, 521 A.2d 749, 755 (1987).

Even within that limited universe of the suppression hearing, we are yet further restricted in that we may consider only that version of the evidence most favorable to the prevailing party. Judge Karwacki explained:

We are further limited to considering only that evidence and the inferences therefrom that are most favorable to the prevailing party on the motion, in this instance the State. Riddick v. State, 319 Md. 180, 183, 571 A.2d 1239, 1240 (1990); see also Simpler v. State, 318 Md. 311, 312, 568 A.2d 22, 22 (1990)

.

Id. At the suppression hearing in this case, for instance, the appellant himself testified, diametrically contrary to the testimony of Sergeant Lewis, 1) that he was not closely following any other automobile but was many car lengths behind the nearest vehicle and 2) that he was never asked to consent to a frisk of his person and never did consent. For present purposes, however, we treat that testimony as if it had never been given. Our ruling will be based exclusively on the State's most favorable version of the events.

The one obvious qualification to or modification of a reviewing court's acceptance of the version of the evidence most favorable to the prevailing party, of course, is with respect to findings of first-level fact actually made by the hearing judge. Except in rare cases of clear error, we give great deference to such findings of fact when actually made. The actual findings of fact made by the hearing judge, unless clearly erroneous, "trump" the version most favorable to the prevailing party to the extent to which they might be in conflict. Again, Judge Karwacki explained:

In considering the evidence presented at the suppression hearing, we extend great deference to the fact-finding of the suppression hearing judge with

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