Collins v. Commonwealth

• Decision Date: 21 July 2015
• Docket Number: Record No. 1096–14–2.
• Citation: 773 S.E.2d 618,65 Va.App. 37
• Court: Virginia Court of Appeals
• Parties: Ryan Austin COLLINS v. COMMONWEALTH of Virginia.

65 Va.App. 37

773 S.E.2d 618

Ryan Austin COLLINS

v.COMMONWEALTH of Virginia.

Record No. 1096–14–2.

Court of Appeals of Virginia, Richmond.

July 21, 2015.

Charles L. Weber, Jr., Charlottesville, for appellant.

Michael T. Judge, Senior Assistant Attorney General (Mark R. Herring, Attorney General, on brief), for appellee.

Present: Chief Judge HUFF, Judges BEALES and ATLEE.

Opinion

ATLEE, Judge.

On May 7, 2014, a judge convicted Ryan Austin Collins (hereinafter “appellant”) for receiving stolen goods. The court sentenced him to three years in prison, with all but two months suspended. Appellant argues that the trial court erred in two respects. First, appellant contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence related to the stolen motorcycle because law enforcement obtained the evidence through an illegal search, in violation of the Fourth Amendment. Second, appellant submits that the trial court erred in denying his motion to strike because the evidence was insufficient as a matter of law to prove appellant knew the motorcycle was stolen. For the reasons that follow, we find no error and affirm.

I. Facts of the Case

“On appellate review, we are bound by the familiar principle that ‘we must consider the evidence and all reasonable inferences fairly deducible therefrom in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth, the prevailing party below.’ ” Robinson v. Commonwealth, 273 Va. 26, 30, 639 S.E.2d 217, 219 (2007) (quoting Rose v. Commonwealth, 270 Va. 3, 6, 613 S.E.2d 454, 455 (2005) ). So viewed, the evidence is as follows.

On July 25, 2013, Albemarle County Police Officer Rhodes was on patrol when he saw a motorcycle rapidly approaching his vehicle from behind. Officer Rhodes's radar indicated the motorcycle was going 100 miles per hour. The motorcycle passed Officer Rhodes, at which point he activated his lights and attempted to initiate a stop. The motorcycle then raced off at a speed exceeding 140 miles per hour. Officer Rhodes initially pursued the driver, but ultimately abandoned the pursuit due to the driver's recklessness. This same motorcycle was associated with an earlier eluding incident involving a different police officer, Officer McCall.

Officer Rhodes taped the July 2013 eluding incident on a video recording device in his vehicle, and recorded the motorcycle's license plate number. The plates came back as inactive, and had been so for several years. The plates previously had been associated with Eric Jones (hereinafter “Jones”). Officer Rhodes learned from Jones that he had sold the motorcycle prior to the eluding incident, and another source linked appellant to the motorcycle. Through another officer who had access to appellant's Facebook page, Officer Rhodes obtained two images. The first depicted a residence with several vehicles parked in the driveway and a silver Acura parked in front of the house. The other depicted an orange and black motorcycle parked between a silver Toyota 4–Runner and a black sedan, beside a low brick wall framing the driveway at the same residence. Officer Rhodes recognized the motorcycle as the one he attempted to stop during the July 2013 eluding incident and identified a number of custom features on the bike. Specifically, it had chrome accents and had been “stretched out,” meaning a rear piece was added to the motorcycle, a modification generally indicating the motorcycle was intended for drag racing.

On September 10, 2013, appellant was at the DMV to register a silver Acura. Officer Rhodes heard appellant's name on the police radio because other officers were investigating the vehicle. Officer Rhodes went to speak with appellant and showed him the photos from his Facebook page. Appellant denied knowing anything regarding the location of the house or the motorcycle. Officer McCall, the officer who was present for the earlier eluding incident, also went to the DMV and questioned appellant. Appellant told him that he had not driven a motorcycle for several months.

While the officers questioned appellant at the DMV, Officer Rhodes learned the location of the residence in the photos from other sources. After leaving the DMV, he went to the address, where he saw a “stretched out” motorcycle with visible chrome wheels and swingarm (part of the rear suspension on a motorcycle) parked in a similar location and at a similar angle in the driveway as in one Facebook photo. Someone had partially covered the motorcycle with a tarp. Officer Rhodes took a picture of the covered motorcycle from the sidewalk. He then walked up the driveway, lifted the tarp off of the motorcycle, and confirmed that it was the one from the July 25, 2013 eluding incident. The motorcycle now had different plates. When Officer Rhodes ran the license plate number, he found that the plates were associated with a different vehicle. Officer Rhodes ran the vehicle identification number and learned that the motorcycle had been reported stolen in New York several years earlier.

After surveilling the residence, Officer Rhodes went to the front door. Appellant answered. When asked about the motorcycle, appellant initially denied knowing about it, but later admitted that he had purchased it from Jones. Appellant also stated that he had recently driven it to get new tires. Before that, it had been at his mother's home. It had been in its current location at the residence, where appellant's girlfriend lived and he frequently stayed, for about a week. Less than one hour had passed between Officer Rhodes questioning appellant at the DMV to this point. Officer Rhodes arrested appellant for receiving stolen property. During a search incident to arrest, Officer Rhodes found a key to the motorcycle in appellant's pocket.

II. Alleged Fourth Amendment Violation

Appellant first argues that the trial court erred in denying his pre-trial motion to suppress because Officer Rhodes violated appellant's Fourth Amendment rights by entering the property and lifting the tarp to view the motorcycle.

A. Standard of Review

“On appeal, constitutional arguments present questions of law that this Court reviews de novo.” Crawford v. Commonwealth, 281 Va. 84, 97, 704 S.E.2d 107, 115 (2011) (citing Shivaee v. Commonwealth, 270 Va. 112, 119, 613 S.E.2d 570, 574 (2005) ); see also Archer v. Commonwealth, 26 Va.App. 1, 8, 492 S.E.2d 826, 830 (1997) (stating that “[q]uestions of reasonable suspicion and probable cause to make a warrantless search are subject to de novo review”). In our review, we “must give deference to the factual findings of the circuit court and give due weight to the inferences drawn from those factual findings; however, the appellate court must determine independently whether the manner in which the evidence was obtained meets the requirements of the Fourth Amendment.” Commonwealth v. Robertson, 275 Va. 559, 563, 659 S.E.2d 321, 324 (2008). “The issue of whether an officer acted with probable cause and under exigent circumstances ... is a mixed question of fact and law that we review de novo.”

Robinson v. Commonwealth, 273 Va. 26, 39, 639 S.E.2d 217, 224–25 (2007) (citing Brown v. Commonwealth, 270 Va. 414, 419, 620 S.E.2d 760, 762 (2005) ).

B. Relevant Legal Standards: Protected Searches and Exigent Circumstances

Appellant challenges two separate actions of Officer Rhodes: first, entering onto the property, and second, lifting the tarp to view and photograph the motorcycle. Appellant relies heavily on two recent cases from the United States Supreme Court in support of his argument, United States v. Jones, –––U.S. ––––, 132 S.Ct. 945, 181 L.Ed.2d 911 (2012),¹ and Florida v. Jardines, ––– U.S. ––––, 133 S.Ct. 1409, 185 L.Ed.2d 495 (2013).² Both cases concern what constitutes a protected search under the Fourth Amendment; neither addresses any exceptions to those protections. The Commonwealth does not dispute that Officer Rhodes's actions constituted searches. Accordingly, the question is what exceptions, if any, may apply to each search. The most relevant exception in this case is exigent circumstances.

Exigent circumstances render lawful an otherwise unlawful search. A number of different conditions may create exigencies justifying a warrantless search, including “the officers' reasonable belief that contraband is about to be removed or destroyed[,] ... information that the possessors of the contraband are aware that the police may be on their trail,” or “whether the officers have strong reason to believe the suspects are actually present in the premises.” Verez v. Commonwealth, 230 Va. 405, 410–11, 337 S.E.2d 749, 753 (1985). When evaluating if exigent circumstances existed, “the court must examine the circumstances as they reasonably appeared to the law enforcement officers on the scene.”Id. at 411, 337 S.E.2d at 753.

C. Analysis

1. Probable Cause

For a search to be lawful due to exigent circumstances, Officer Rhodes needed probable cause to search; accordingly, this is a helpful starting place for our analysis. In support of his argument that Officer Rhodes did not have probable cause to search, appellant contends that Officer Rhodes did not learn that the “motorcycle may have been the same one involved in an earlier eluding incident” until after he trespassed onto the property. Appellant's Br. at 16. This is facially incorrect, as evidence at trial indicated that from the public street, Officer Rhodes could see, as could any other passerby, a number of features unique to this motorcycle. These include the unusual length of the motorcycle due to it having been “stretched out” for drag racing, which was clearly visible even when under the tarp. In addition, the tarp did not extend to the ground, leaving the customized chrome wheel covers and swingarm uncovered. These are all distinctive features Officer Rhodes recognized from the motorcycle he encountered, and videorecorded, during the eluding incident. Furthermore, Officer Rhodes possessed photos of the same motorcycle before someone covered it with a tarp,...