Garrison v. Com.
| Decision Date | 31 July 2001 |
| Docket Number | Record No. 1620-00-4. |
| Citation | 36 Va. App. 298,549 S.E.2d 634 |
| Parties | William GARRISON, Jr., v. COMMONWEALTH of Virginia. |
| Court | Virginia Court of Appeals |
Joseph R. Winston, Special Appellate Counsel, (Public Defender Commission, on brief), for appellant.
Susan M. Harris, Assistant Attorney General, (Mark L. Earley, Attorney General, on brief), for appellee.
Present: FITZPATRICK, C.J., and ANNUNZIATA and AGEE, JJ.
William Garrison, Jr. (Garrison) was convicted in the Loudoun County Circuit Court, pursuant to a conditional guilty plea, of stealing a credit card on or about June 28, 1999, in violation of Code § 18.2-192, credit card forgery, in violation of Code § 18.2-193 and credit card fraud, in violation of Code § 18.2-195. The trial court sentenced Garrison to serve a term of one year and six months incarceration. Pursuant to the conditional plea, Garrison now appeals averring the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress statements he made to Leesburg police officers. Garrison complains the motion should have been granted because the police officers lacked a reasonable, articulable suspicion to detain him. In addition, Garrison avers the trial court erred, at the hearing on the motion to suppress, by (1) excluding from evidence Garrison's subjective belief that he was in police custody and (2) admitting certain hearsay evidence. For the following reasons, we disagree and affirm the decisions of the trial court.
On July 8, 1999, Officers Daly and Pebler of the Leesburg Police Department were called to Dulles Motorcars, a car dealership. The proprietor of the dealership, Jeffrey Collins, complained that a customer's wallet and credit card were stolen from a car left for service on June 28, 1999. Collins suspected Garrison, an employee, to be the thief because he had access to the car when it first came in and left "unexpectedly within a few minutes." Collins also informed the police officers that a worker from K-Mart had "heard about a transaction where (Garrison) went and bought a battery charger and some jumper cables with a credit card and that those items were at this person's girlfriend's house or apartment." Collins showed the officer a carbon of the credit card receipt from K-Mart, explaining it was not the victim's handwriting.
As a result, the police officers resolved to "follow up on this and see if there was anything to this." They interviewed some dealership employees and thought it "would be a good opportunity" to interview Garrison. However, when they approached Garrison's department, he had "for whatever reason, left the business again on foot and started walking from Dulles Motorcars toward the Douglas Community Center, which was nearby. A co-worker had informed Garrison that "the police are coming back here for you right now." By police radio, Officers Daly and Pebler issued a lookout for Garrison and "completed [their] interview very quickly and started moving in the direction we thought [Garrison] had gone."
As the officers were leaving Dulles Motorcars, they received a communication from Officers Amato and Rourke that they "had seen [Garrison] and that they were detaining him for us to talk to him." Approximately one minute passed between the time the lookout was issued and Garrison was spotted. Officers Amato and Rourke, who were in plain clothes, saw Garrison in the Douglas Community Center, so they pulled into the parking lot, stopping about ten feet from him. Garrison "continued to walk toward the officers."
Officer Rourke never exited the car, but he opened his door and informed Garrison other officers were on their way and wanted to talk to him. Rourke did not order Garrison to stop, point a weapon or put hands on him.
Officer Amato knew Garrison from past "dealings" with him. As Officer Amato stepped out of the car, Garrison greeted him. The officer Officer Amato did not put his hands on Garrison or draw his weapon. He remained away from Garrison next to his vehicle while they spoke.
Officers Daly and Pebler arrived in the parking lot approximately thirty seconds later. Officers Amato and Rourke left as soon as the others began speaking with Garrison.
Officer Pebler spoke to Garrison in the parking lot. He told Garrison that he had evidence Garrison might have been involved in a theft at the car dealership and that the officers would like him to talk with them at the police station. Garrison asked what the officers wanted to speak to him about. Officer Pebler told Garrison that they would discuss everything with him at the police station, but that Garrison was "free to go and would be free to go when [they] concluded [their] conversation." He further stated that Garrison could refuse to go. Garrison agreed to go with the officers.
Garrison "got into the [police] car" but was not "put into the car." The car doors were not locked. The ride to the police station took approximately one minute. The officers and Garrison walked into the station and went into an interview room off the lobby. While entry to the interview room required a passkey, a person could exit at any time without a key. Garrison was seated by the door with the police officers across a table facing him and the door. Garrison had unimpeded access to the door. Officer Pebler again advised Garrison that he was free to leave at any time. Garrison did not ask to leave and did not ask for a lawyer.
Officer Pebler reviewed with Garrison the evidence that he had at that point. Garrison "admitted that he had taken the credit card, but not the wallet ... and [had] left work and went to the K-Mart store on his break and purchased a battery charger and jumper cables." Garrison voluntarily wrote these "very same facts" down on paper at the police officer's request. Garrison was "very cooperative and it was a cordial conversation." Garrison was never read the Miranda rights.
Officer Pebler and Garrison were in the interview room for approximately thirty minutes. Office Pebler left the room once. Officer Daly was in and out and never spoke to Garrison. When Garrison completed his written statement, Officer Pebler asked him if he wanted a ride home. Garrison declined the offer and left the station.
At the suppression hearing, Garrison gave a slightly different version of his encounter with the four police officers. Garrison claimed Officer Amato had informed him in the parking lot that "he needed me to stay here." Further, he claimed Officer Amato did not know why Garrison needed to stay. Garrison testified that he did not feel free to leave because he had witnessed Officer Amato chasing people in the past and that walking off would "create a problem that wasn't necessary at the time." Garrison admitted that no officer raised his voice, pulled a weapon or put hands on him.
Garrison testified that Officer Pebler directed him to the police car and that, when he tried to get out, the door was locked. Also, according to Garrison, he was never informed that he could leave after his arrival at the police station and he did not know the interview room door was unlocked. He testified that once, when he was left by himself, he "touched the knob, but the door wouldn't open."
As to his statements regarding the stolen credit card, Garrison, on cross-examination, explained that he "told the police officer what he, what he asked me."
At the end of the presentation of evidence on the motion to suppress, the trial court found Garrison voluntarily went with the officers to the police station. The trial court further found that Garrison knew he was in an unlocked room from which he was free to leave, but chose not to do so. Finally, the court found Garrison spoke to the officers of his own free will and accord and that a reasonable person under the circumstances would have felt free to leave and under no compulsion to participate in the police interview.
In his first contention on appeal, Garrison argues that he was seized by Leesburg Police Officers Amato and Rourke in the community center's parking lot and this seizure continued until his release at the police station. He avers that the police lacked a reasonable, articulable suspicion or probable cause to detain him and all evidence garnered as a result of the detention should have been suppressed by the trial court.
"At a hearing on a defendant's motion to suppress, the Commonwealth has the burden of proving that a warrantless search or seizure did not violate the defendant's Fourth Amendment rights." Reel v. Commonwealth, 31 Va.App. 262, 265, 522 S.E.2d 881, 882 (2000). "It[, however,] is well established that, on appeal, appellant carries the burden to show, considering the evidence in...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Barkley v. Com.
...Miranda warnings are required "only when an individual is in custody and subjected to interrogation," Garrison v. Commonwealth, 36 Va.App. 298, 309 n. 1, 549 S.E.2d 634, 640 n. 1 (2001) (citations omitted), giving these warnings does not necessarily place the individual "in custody" at the ......
-
Davis v. Com.
...were parked behind her.3 The Commonwealth cites McCain v. Commonwealth, 261 Va. 483, 545 S.E.2d 541 (2001), and Garrison v. Commonwealth, 36 Va.App. 298, 549 S.E.2d 634 (2001), as authority to demonstrate the encounter between Davis and the police was consensual. Both cases are readily dist......
-
Commonwealth v. Butcher
...that he is not in custody 'or otherwise deprived of his freedom of action inany significant way.'" Garrison v. Commonwealth, 36 Va. App. 298, 309, 549 S.E.2d 634, 640 (2001) (brackets and citation omitted). Nothing in the circumstances surrounding Butcher's interview justifies a contrary co......
-
Fisher v. Com., Record No. 3309-02-4
...a report of a burglary in progress as evidence of what prompted an officer to respond to the burglary); Garrison v. Commonwealth, 36 Va.App. 298, 549 S.E.2d 634 (2001) (allowing a statement from appellant's co-worker concerning his whereabouts as evidence of why officer issued a BOL for him......