Commonwealth v. Guzman

• Decision Date: 30 April 2012
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellant v. Alexis GUZMAN, Appellee.
• Court: Pennsylvania Superior Court

44 A.3d 688

2012 PA Super 93

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellant

v.Alexis GUZMAN, Appellee.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Submitted Oct. 24, 2911.

Filed April 30, 2012.

Stefanie J. Salavantis, Assistant District Attorney, Wilkes–Barre, for Commonwealth, appellant.

Joseph J. Yeager, Forty Fort, for appellee.

BEFORE: STEVENS, P.J., MUSMANNO, J., and GANTMAN, J.

OPINION BY GANTMAN, J.:

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania appeals from the order entered in the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas, granting Appellee's motion to suppress. After review, we hold the court erred when it suppressed the evidence at issue because: (1) the preliminary interaction between Appellee and Officer Wetzel was a mere encounter only; (2) Officer Wetzel's subsequent decision to conduct a frisk for weapons was justified under the circumstances; and (3) Officer Wetzel lawfully seized the drugs inside the SUV as contraband found in plain view. Accordingly, we reverse the order suppressing the evidence and remand for further proceedings.

The relevant facts and procedural history of this case are as follows. Officer Kirk Wetzel of the Hazelton City Police was patrolling in a high crime area ¹ in Hazelton around 2:30 a.m. on March 10, 2010, when he saw a dark SUV make a right turn from Chestnut Street onto Bennett Street. About a minute later, Officer Wetzel noticed a man walk from the direction where the SUV had turned into an apartment on Bennett Street. Officer Wetzel watched the man enter the building. Officer Wetzel then drove down Bennett Street, where he saw the SUV parked with its headlights on in a private driveway. Officer Wetzel pulled his patrol car behind the SUV and illuminated the car with his spotlight. As Officer Wetzel approached the vehicle, he saw a man in the passenger's seat turn and lean forward. Officer Wetzel was walking alongside the SUV when Appellee suddenly jumped out of the vehicle, leaving the door open and setting off the car alarm. Appellee fumbled in his pockets to find the car key and deactivated the alarm. Officer Wetzel ordered Appellee to keep his hands out of his pockets, but Appellee continued to reach inside his pants and yelled, “I'm not going down for this” and “It's not mine.” After his initial non-compliance, Appellee obeyed the officer's commands to calm down and stay still. At this point, Officer Wetzel handcuffed Appellee and patted him down but found no weapons. Officer Wetzel walked back to the open passenger door of the SUV, looked in, and noticed suspected heroin and bags of marijuana on the floor sticking out from beneath the seat. Officer Wetzel described the drugs as small white folded-over wax paper bags in another plastic bag. (N.T. Suppression Hearing, 11/12/10, at 13–15). Based on his training, Officer Wetzel suspected the white substance was heroin because heroin is often packaged in that manner. There were also four bags of suspected marijuana. ( Id.) The substances were later confirmed as heroin and marijuana. Upon Officer Wetzel's discovery, Appellee renewed his objections that he “[was] not going down for this” and claimed “it's not mine”; but he was nevertheless placed under arrest. A search of Appellee incident to arrest produced two cell phones and $1,014.80 in cash.

The Commonwealth charged Appellee with possession with intent to deliver and other drug-related offenses. Appellee filed a motion to suppress the items seized from both his person and the SUV as well as the statements he had made to Officer Wetzel at the time of the incident. On November 12, 2010, the court heard testimony from Officer Wetzel and argument on the motion. Ultimately, the court found Officer Wetzel lacked the necessary justification to pull his car behind the SUV and approach the vehicle, and learned no new facts after Appellee jumped out of the SUV, to authorize a Terry frisk.² By order dated March 24, 2011, the court suppressed Appellee's statements and all physical evidence as the product of an illegal detention. On April 8, 2011, the Commonwealth timely filed a notice of appeal.

The Commonwealth raises one issue for our review:

DID THE SUPPRESSION COURT ERR BY SUPPRESSING EVIDENCE OBTAINED FOLLOWING SEARCHES OF APPELLEE AND HIS VEHICLE?

(Commonwealth's Brief at 4).

When the Commonwealth appeals an order suppressing evidence, we may consider on review only the evidence from the defendant's witnesses along with the Commonwealth's evidence that remains uncontroverted. Commonwealth v. Brown, 606 Pa. 198, 203, 996 A.2d 473, 476 (2010). “Our standard of review is restricted to establishing whether the record supports the suppression court's factual findings; however, we maintain de novo review over the suppression court's legal conclusions.” Id.

The Commonwealth disagrees with the court's suppression ruling on several grounds. Initially, the Commonwealth argues the preliminary interaction between Officer Wetzel and Appellee was nothing more than a mere encounter, which required no justification. The Commonwealth asserts Officer Wetzel's act of simply walking up to the SUV was consistent with the informal nature of a mere encounter between police and ordinary citizens. Additionally, the Commonwealth avers Officer Wetzel was justified in conducting a pat down search of Appellee based on the facts presented to Officer Wetzel: Appellee jumped out of an SUV in a high crime area and reached into his pockets while simultaneously screaming, “I'm not going down for this.” These facts created a reasonable concern for officer safety that justified the limited intrusion of a pat down search. Regarding the drugs found in the front seat of the SUV, the Commonwealth argues Officer Wetzel was justified in seizing those items under the plain view doctrine. Because the SUV door was open, Officer Wetzel was lawfully present at the scene, the items were immediately apparent to Officer Wetzel as suspected contraband. The Commonwealth contends the plain view doctrine allowed Officer Wetzel to reach inside the SUV and seize the drugs. For these reasons, the Commonwealth concludes the court erred in suppressing the evidence. We agree.

“ ‘Interaction’ between citizens and police officers, under search and seizure law, is varied and requires different levels of justification depending upon the nature of the interaction and whether or not the citizen is detained.” Commonwealth v. DeHart, 745 A.2d 633, 636 (Pa.Super.2000). The three levels of interaction are mere encounter, investigative detention, and custodial detention. Id. “A mere encounter can be any formal or informal interaction between an officer and a citizen, but will normally be an inquiry by the officer of a citizen.” Commonwealth v. Coleman, 19 A.3d 1111, 1115 (Pa.Super.2011). A mere encounter does not carry any official compulsion to stop or respond to police, and as a result, does not need to be supported by any level of suspicion. Commonwealth v. Hudson, 995 A.2d 1253, 1256–57 (Pa.Super.2010). See also Commonwealth v. Reid, 571 Pa. 1, 26, 811 A.2d 530, 545 (2002), cert. denied,540 U.S. 850, 124 S.Ct. 131, 157 L.Ed.2d 92 (2003) (quoting Florida v. Royer, 460 U.S. 491, 497, 103 S.Ct. 1319, 1324, 75 L.Ed.2d 229, 236 (1983)) (stating: “Law enforcement officers do not violate the Fourth Amendment by merely approaching an individual on the street or in another public place, by asking him if he is willing to answer some questions, by putting questions to him if the person is willing to listen, or by offering in evidence in a criminal prosecution his voluntary answers to such questions”). In contrast, an investigative detention carries an official compulsion to stop and respond. Commonwealth v. Jones, 874 A.2d 108, 116 (Pa.Super.2005). The detention is temporary, but it must be supported by specific and articulable facts creating a reasonable suspicion that the suspect is engaged in criminal activity. Commonwealth v. Cottman, 764 A.2d 595, 598 (Pa.Super.2000). The test for reasonable suspicion is an objective one: “Our inquiry is a dual one—whether the officer's action was justified at its inception, and whether it was reasonably related in scope to the circumstances which justified the interference in the first place. Regarding the stop, a police officer may, short of an arrest, conduct an investigative detention if he has a reasonable suspicion, based upon specific and articulable facts, that criminality is afoot.” Commonwealth v. Stevenson, 894 A.2d 759, 771 (Pa.Super.2006), appeal denied,591 Pa. 691, 917 A.2d 846 (2007) (quoting Commonwealth v. Zhahir, 561 Pa. 545, 552, 751 A.2d 1153, 1156 (2000)). The assessment of reasonable suspicion, “like that applicable to the determination of probable cause, requires an evaluation of the totality of the circumstances, with a lesser showing needed to demonstrate reasonable suspicion in terms of both quantity or content and reliability.” Id. at 552, 751 A.2d at 1156–57. Finally, an arrest or “custodial detention” must be supported by probable cause. Commonwealth v. Bryant, 866 A.2d 1143, 1146 (Pa.Super.2005), appeal denied,583 Pa. 668, 876 A.2d 392 (2005).

“To determine if an interaction rises to the level of an investigative detention, i.e., a Terry stop, the court must examine all the circumstances and determine whether police action would have made a reasonable person believe he was not free to go and was subject to the officer's orders.” Jones, supra. To guide this crucial analysis, the United States Supreme Court has devised an objective test entailing whether, in view of all surrounding circumstances, a reasonable person would believe he was free to leave. United States v. Mendenhall, 446 U.S. 544, 554, 100 S.Ct. 1870, 1877, 64 L.Ed.2d 497 (1980). “In evaluating the circumstances, the focus is directed toward whether, by means of physical force or show of authority, the citizen-subject's movement has in some way been restrained.” Commonwealth v. Strickler, 563 Pa. 47, 58–59, 757 A.2d 884, 890 (200...