Davis v. Commonwealth

• Decision Date: 17 March 2016
• Docket Number: 2014–SC–000405–MR
• Citation: 484 S.W.3d 288
• Parties: Thomas J. Davis, Appellant v. Commonwealth of Kentucky, Appellee
• Court: United States State Supreme Court — District of Kentucky

484 S.W.3d 288

Thomas J. Davis, Appellant

v.Commonwealth of Kentucky, Appellee

2014–SC–000405–MR

Supreme Court of Kentucky.

RENDERED: MARCH 17, 2016

COUNSEL FOR APPELLANT: JULIA KAROL PEARSON, ASSISTANT PUBLIC ADVOCATE, DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC ADVOCACY

COUNSEL FOR APPELLEE: ANDY BESHEAR, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF KENTUCKY, JULIE SCOTT JERNIGAN, ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL

OPINION OF THE COURT BY JUSTICE VENTERS

Appellant, Thomas J. Davis, entered a conditional guilty plea in the McLean Circuit Court to charges of first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance, first-degree possession of drug paraphernalia, and being a first-degree persistent felony offender. Judgment was entered accordingly, and pursuant to the plea agreement, he was sentenced to a total of twenty years in prison.

The issue preserved for appeal is the trial court's denial of Appellant's motion to suppress evidence that was found on his person and in his car following a sniff search by a narcotics-detection dog. The search was conducted after a routine traffic stop, which Appellant contends was unlawfully extended beyond its original purpose to enable the sniff search. In addition to evidence found on his person and in his car, Appellant seeks to suppress incriminating statements he made following his arrest. For the reasons stated below, we reverse Appellant's conviction and remand this case to the trial court for further proceedings.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Officer Tim McCoy was on duty in the late evening hours, parked on the side of a remote gravel road in a rural area of McLean County, as he described it, "looking for DUI drivers." Riding with McCoy that evening was his canine partner, Chico. Chico is a trained and certified narcotics-search dog. McCoy was aware of allegations that Appellant was involved with illegal drugs. Earlier that day he had discussed those allegations with other police officers. As McCoy sat by the roadside on the lookout for drunk drivers, Appellant drove by, and McCoy decided to follow him.

RCr 8.27governs motions to suppress evidence and requires the trial court to "state its essential findings on the record." RCr 8.27(5), RCr 8.20(2); see also CR 52.01. On appellate review of the denial of a motion to suppress evidence, we first review the trial court's findings of fact under the clearly erroneous standard;¹ under this standard, the trial court's findings of fact will be conclusive if they are supported by substantial evidence. Simpson v. Commonwealth, 474 S.W.3d 544, 547 (Ky.2015).

Appellant does not challenge the trial court's factual findings. We find them to be supported by substantial evidence, and so they are binding upon our review. Appellant contends that the trial court erred in its application of the law to the facts which, in Appellant's view, compelled a conclusion that Chico's sniff search was illegal because it occurred after McCoy had accomplished the purpose of the traffic stop. We undertake a de novo review of the trial court's application of the law to the facts to determine whether its decision to deny the motion to suppress was correct as a matter of law. Id.; see also Payton v. Commonwealth, 327 S.W.3d 468, 471–472 (Ky.2010).

Following the suppression hearing, the trial court found the facts to be as follows. McCoy saw Appellant's vehicle cross the center line of the road two or three times, a well-known indication that the driver may be intoxicated. McCoy then initiated a traffic stop. When he approached the driver's window, McCoy recognized Appellant and smelled alcohol coming from within the vehicle. He also noticed an open beer can in the center console next to the driver. McCoy asked Appellant about the beer can, and Appellant said that he had just opened it and had drank about half of it.

McCoy then asked Appellant to exit the vehicle. Over the next few minutes, McCoy conducted a pat-down search of Appellant and he administered two field sobriety tests. Appellant passed both tests. The preliminary breath test registered no presence of alcohol.

McCoy then asked if he could search Appellant's vehicle. Appellant refused to consent to the search, telling McCoy that several people had recently used his car, and he did not know what was in it. At that point, McCoy informed the defendant that he was going to have Chico perform a sniff search of the vehicle's exterior. Although Appellant objected, the sniff search proceeded.

According to the trial court's finding, Chico sniffed for "approximately one to two minutes" before he "alerted on a lower panel door of the vehicle, indicating to McCoy that narcotics were inside." By that time, another officer had arrived on the scene. Appellant's person was more thoroughly searched and a quantity of what, looked like methamphetamine was found. Thirteen minutes after the initial stop, Appellant was arrested and taken into in custody.

When the officers searched the interior of the Appellant's vehicle, they found more methamphetamine, scales, syringes, and plastic baggies. Upon later interrogation at the sheriffs office, and after receiving his Miranda warnings, Appellant admitted he was involved in the drug trade because he had lost his job after he had refused to take a drug test.

The trial court also found that McCoy's purpose for conducting the traffic stop was to "stop a careless driver in order to verify his sobriety (or lack thereof)." This particular finding was mentioned in the "Conclusions of Law" section of the trial court's order. It is, nevertheless, a factual matter that is crucial to our review.

II. ANALYSIS

Appellant moved to suppress the incriminating evidence discovered on his person and in his vehicle, as well as his subsequent admissions, on the basis that all of the evidence was the fruit, of an illegal search that occurred after the lawful traffic stop was unlawfully extended. "It has long been considered reasonable for an officer to conduct a traffic stop if he or she has probable cause to believe that a traffic violation has occurred." Commonwealth v. Bucalo, 422 S.W.3d 253, 258 (Ky.2013)(citing Wilson v. Commonwealth, 37 S.W.3d 745 (Ky.2001)). "As long as an officer 'has probable cause to believe a civil traffic violation has occurred, [he] may stop [the] vehicle regardless of his or her subjective motivation in doing so,' " Id. (quoting Wilson, 37 S.W.3d at 749); see also Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968)(permitting an investigatory detention upon a reasonable suspicion that criminal activity is afoot).

We agree with the trial court that Officer McCoy lawfully stopped Appellant's vehicle after witnessing it cross the center line. This observed violation, supported by the observation of the open beer can in the car, provided reasonable suspicion that Appellant may have been driving while intoxicated. Accordingly, McCoy was authorized to detain Appellant for the routine purpose of determining his state of sobriety and his ability to drive. This lawful detention properly extended throughout the time required to administer the two field sobriety tests. The critical question is whether, after the field sobriety tests and McCoy's personal observation of Appellant substantially eliminated a legitimate concern about Appellant's sobriety, it was lawful to prolong the detention to enable Chico to perform the sniff search.

"Although an officer may detain a vehicle and its occupants in order to conduct an ordinary traffic stop, 'any subsequent detention ... must not be excessively intrusive in that the officer's actions must be reasonably related in scope to circumstances justifying the initial interference.' " Turley v. Commonwealth, 399 S.W.3d 412, 421 (Ky.2013)(quoting United States v. Davis, 430 F.3d 345, 353 (6th Cir.2005)(citation omitted)).² "Thus, an officer cannot detain a vehicle's occupants beyond completion of the purpose of the initial traffic stop unless something happened during the stop to cause the officer to have a reasonable and articulable suspicion that criminal activity [is] afoot." Id .(citations and internal quotations omitted); see also United States v. Hunnicutt, 135 F.3d 1345, 1349 (10th Cir.1998).³ If the traffic stop is prolonged beyond the time required for the purpose of the stop, "the subsequent discovery of contraband is the product of an unconstitutional seizure." Epps v. Commonwealth, 295 S.W.3d 807, 811 (Ky.2009)(citation omitted).

In Epps,⁴ we explained that, a canine sniff search for drugs itself does not necessarily implicate Fourth Amendment concerns because a vehicle owner has no reasonable expectation of privacy that this mode of narcotics detection will not be used during a legitimate traffic stop. Id. at 810. As long as the sniff search is conducted during the course of a lawful traffic stop, including any lawful extensions of the traffic stop, the search is proper and does not violate the Fourth Amendment. Johnson v. Commonwealth, 179 S.W.3d 882, 884 (Ky.App.2005)(quoting Florida v. Royer, 460 U.S. 491, 500, 103 S.Ct. 1319, 75 L.Ed.2d 229 (1983)) ("Investigative detention [in relation to a narcotics canine sniff search] must be temporary and last no longer than is necessary to effectuate the purpose of the stop.").

However, as recently clarified by the United States Supreme Court in Rodriguez v. United States, ––– U.S. ––––, 135 S.Ct. 1609, 191 L.Ed.2d 492 (2015), a police officer may not extend a traffic stop beyond its original purpose for the sole purpose of conducting a sniff search—not even for a de minimis period of time.

In Rodriguez, a police officer stopped Rodriguez for driving on a highway shoulder in violation of Nebraska law. After completing all matters related to the purpose of the stop, including the issuance of a warning for the traffic violation and checking the driver's licenses of Rodriguez and his passenger, the officer asked if Rodriguez would permit a police dog to walk around the vehicle. When Rodriguez refused, the officer detained him until a second...