Goettl v. State, 90-284

• Citation: 842 P.2d 549
• Decision Date: 30 November 1992
• Docket Number: No. 90-284,90-284
• Parties: Edward Everette GOETTL, Appellant, v. The STATE of Wyoming, Appellee.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Wyoming

Page 549

842 P.2d 549

Edward Everette GOETTL, Appellant, v. The STATE of Wyoming, Appellee.

No. 90-284.

Supreme Court of Wyoming.

Nov. 30, 1992.

Wyoming Public Defender Program: Leonard D. Munker, State Public Defender, Gerald M. Gallivan, Director, Wyoming Defender Aid Program; David M. Wallick, Student Intern, for appellant.

Joseph B. Meyer, Atty. Gen., Sylvia Lee Hackl, Deputy Atty. Gen., Jennifer L. Gimbel, Senior Asst. Atty. Gen., D. Michael Pauling, Asst. Atty. Gen., Theodore E. Lauer, Director, Prosecution Assistance Program; Linda D. Burt and Roger E. Cockerville, Student Interns, for appellee.

Before MACY, C.J., and THOMAS, CARDINE, URBIGKIT, ^* and GOLDEN, JJ.

THOMAS, Justice.

The only question presented in this case is whether law enforcement officers had probable cause to stop Edward E. Goettl (Goettl) and then to arrest him for possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and conspiracy to commit that offense. Relying upon Alabama v. White, 496 U.S. 325, 110 S.Ct. 2412, 110 L.Ed.2d 301 (1990), the trial court ruled that the requisite probable cause was present. Goettl argues a collateral and alternative issue with respect to the denial of a motion to suppress all evidence obtained after the stop on the ground the stop was not supported by sufficient probable cause. We agree with the decision of the trial court that this record establishes adequate probable cause to justify the action of the law enforcement officers in stopping Goettl and then arresting him for the offenses with which he was charged. The resolution of that question also determines the question arising out of the motion to suppress because that motion assumed the absence of the requisite probable cause. The judgment and sentence entered by the trial court is affirmed.

In the Brief of Appellant, Goettl submits his statement of the issues as follows:

I. Whether the court below erred when it found that the anonymous tip furnished the necessary indicia of reliability to justify a forcible stop of the Appellant's vehicle.

II. Whether the court below erred by denying the motion to suppress all evidence obtained after the arrest of the Appellant when the arrest was made without probable cause.

In its Brief of Appellee, the State of Wyoming sets forth the issues in this way:

I. Did the information furnished by the anonymous informant, as corroborated by law enforcement officers, exhibit sufficient indicia of reliability to justify the investigatory stop of Appellant's automobile?

II. Was Appellant unlawfully arrested, so as to require suppression of his subsequent confession?

The record demonstrates the following facts that are material to the disposition of this case. At about 3:45 P.M. on Saturday, April 28, 1990, the dispatcher for the Johnson County Sheriff's office at Buffalo received a telephone call from an anonymous informant who claimed knowledge of illegal drug activity. The informant told the dispatcher that Don Goettl, the appellant's brother, had "a lot of acid" and that Don Goettl and Goettl were going to Sheridan to sell it. Apparently, Goettl had come from Colorado to visit his brother and had brought the LSD to Wyoming with him. The informant advised the dispatcher that the Goettl brothers planned to transport the drugs in Goettl's silver Volvo automobile, bearing Colorado license UKB 606. The informant stated that the vehicle was parked at 178 Western Avenue in Buffalo, which was Don Goettl's address. In addition, the informant told the dispatcher the Goettl brothers were going along with others; they were getting ready to leave; and they would be leaving soon.

The dispatcher then contacted an officer of the Buffalo Police Department and asked the officer to come to the station. After the officer arrived, the dispatcher related the content of the anonymous phone call. About 4:00 P.M., the officer went by Don Goettl's residence at 178 Western Avenue to attempt to verify the information the anonymous informant had furnished. The officer saw a silver Volvo bearing Colorado license plate UKB 606 parked in the driveway of Don Goettl's residence with the passenger door open. The make of car, the license number, and its location all matched the information given by the informant. The officer then left the neighborhood where the residence was situated and drove to the north exit on the route from Buffalo leading to Sheridan. In about twenty minutes, the officer saw the same silver Volvo traveling north on Highway 87 toward the interstate. He could see at least four people in the Volvo. At the time he saw the car with the people in it, the officer was at a pay telephone talking to an agent of the drug task force. That agent then contacted Kevin Hughes, the supervisor of the Northeast Drug Enforcement Team, at about 4:15 P.M. and reported the information he had received from the Buffalo police officer. The information given to Agent Hughes consisted of the substance of what the informant had told the dispatcher, including a description of the vehicle, together with the observations of the Buffalo police officer.

Agent Hughes then left Sheridan and traveled toward Buffalo after using his radio to arrange with officers of the Sheridan Police Department to watch for the silver Volvo in case Hughes missed it. After traveling about five miles south toward Buffalo, Hughes saw the Volvo traveling toward Sheridan. He turned around and followed the Volvo, but missed the Coffeen exit at Sheridan which the Volvo had taken. After Goettl's Volvo turned off the interstate, an officer of the Sheridan Police Department stopped it because of Agent Hughes' earlier request. There were five people in the car: Goettl, Don Goettl, Laura Goettl, Shalom Waltenbaugh and Matthew Demary.

Goettl was driving the Volvo when the Sheridan police officer pulled the vehicle over. Goettl presented a Wyoming driver's license to the officer who made a radio check and learned from the Wyoming Highway Patrol that Goettl's Wyoming driver's license had been suspended. At that time, the Sheridan police officer arrested Goettl for driving while his license was suspended.

Agent Hughes arrived at the Volvo some three or four minutes after it was stopped by the Sheridan police officer. Agent Hughes advised Goettl of his constitutional rights in accordance with the decision in Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694, 10 A.L.R.3d 974, reh'g denied, 385 U.S. 890, 87 S.Ct. 11, 17 L.Ed.2d 121 (1966). Goettl then gave permission to Agent Hughes to search both his person and the vehicle he was driving. That search did not disclose any contraband on Goettl's person. Agent Hughes then requested, and received, consent to search one of the passengers, Matthew Demary. That search revealed a quantity of LSD in the pocket of Demary's trousers. Demary then was placed under arrest by Agent Hughes, and he was advised of his constitutional rights in accordance with the Miranda decision. Thereafter, the other occupants of the car, except for Laura Goettl, consented to a search of their persons, but no other contraband was disclosed. All five people were then taken to the police station in Sheridan where they were questioned by Agent Hughes and another Sheridan police officer. In the course of the interrogation that evening Goettl made statements to Agent Hughes. Those statements were not recorded, but the contents of the statements were related by Agent Hughes in the course of his testimony at Goettl's trial.

Goettl was charged with possessing a controlled substance, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), as defined in Schedule I, Wyo.Stat. § 35-7-1014(d)(xii) (1988), with intent to deliver and with conspiring to deliver that controlled substance, in violation of Wyo. Stat. §§ 35-7-1031(a) and 6-1-303 (1988), respectively. ¹ A hearing was held on two different days in July addressing a defense motion to suppress the statements made by Goettl to Agent Hughes while he was under arrest. That motion was denied. At his trial in August, Goettl was convicted of both charges. He then was sentenced to the state penitentiary for a term of not less than three nor more than five years on the charge of possessing the controlled substance with intent to deliver, and he was sentenced to not less than two nor more than five years on the conspiracy charge. Credit was given for 161 days for presentence confinement against Count I, possessing a controlled substance with intent to deliver. Goettl's terms of imprisonment were imposed to run consecutively, but the court ordered that the conspiracy sentence was to be reduced to probation if Goettl successfully completed his sentence on the count of possession with intent to deliver. Goettl appeals from the judgment and sentence.

In Neilson v. State, 599 P.2d 1326, 1333 (Wyo.1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 1079, 100 S.Ct. 1031, 62 L.Ed.2d 763 (1980), this court stated:

A peace officer may arrest a person without a warrant if, at the moment the arrest is made, he has probable cause to believe that a crime had been committed by the person to be arrested, or he has reasonable grounds to believe that a crime is being committed in his presence by the person to be arrested. Stated another way, the determination of probable cause to arrest without a warrant depends upon whether the facts and circumstances within the peace officer's knowledge and of which he has reasonably trustworthy information were sufficient to warrant a reasonably cautious or prudent man to believe that the person arrested has committed or is committing an offense. The constitutional standard governing probable cause is grounded upon reasonableness. Thus, an appellate court's inquiry into whether or not an arrest is legal in a given case is restricted to an objective consideration of the evidence in the record. (Citations omitted.)

In accordance with Neilson, our review is premised upon an objective consideration of the evidence set forth in the...