Hembree v. State

• Decision Date: 11 October 2006
• Docket Number: No. 05-158.,05-158.
• Citation: 143 P.3d 905,2006 WY 127
• Parties: Donald Shane HEMBREE, Appellant (Defendant), v. The STATE of Wyoming, Appellee (Plaintiff).
• Court: Wyoming Supreme Court

Page 905

143 P.3d 905

2006 WY 127

Donald Shane HEMBREE, Appellant (Defendant), v. The STATE of Wyoming, Appellee (Plaintiff).

No. 05-158.

Supreme Court of Wyoming.

October 11, 2006.

Representing Appellant: Kenneth M. Koski, State Public Defender; Donna D. Domonkos, Appellate Counsel; Tina N. Kerin, Senior Assistant Appellate Counsel. Argument by Ms. Kerin.

Representing Appellee: Patrick J. Crank, Wyoming Attorney General; D. Michael Pauling, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Paul S. Rehurek, Deputy Attorney General. Argument by Mr. Rehurek.

Before VOIGT, C.J., and GOLDEN, HILL,^* KITE, BURKE, JJ.

GOLDEN, Justice.

[¶ 1] Appellant Donald Shane Hembree entered conditional guilty pleas to two counts of felony possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver in violation of Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 35-7-1031(a)(i) (Lexis Nexis 2005). He reserved the right to appeal the district court's denial of his motion to suppress evidence seized during a search of his luggage following a traffic stop. In this appeal, Hembree claims that his prolonged detention during the traffic stop and the subsequent search of his luggage was constitutionally infirm under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Finding that the detention and search were proper, we affirm.

ISSUE

[¶ 2] The only issue presented for our review is:

Did the trial court err in denying Appellant's motion to suppress evidence?

FACTS

[¶ 3] On May 28, 2004, Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper Jason Green stopped a car driven by Hembree after observing the car traveling 85 miles per hour in a 75 miles per hour zone on Interstate 80 just outside of Sinclair, Wyoming. As Trooper Green approached the driver's door, he noticed that the California license plates on the car had expired. Trooper Green asked Hembree for his driver's license, registration and proof of insurance. Hembree produced a Louisiana driver's license that had expired in 2002 and stated the car was a rental. Both Hembree and his passenger, Hembree's sister Bretta Hembree, told Trooper Green that Ms. Hembree's boyfriend, Ronnie McDowell, had rented the car in California from Enterprise Rent-A-Car. However, neither Hembree nor his sister could produce a copy of the rental agreement.

[¶ 4] Trooper Green asked Hembree to accompany him back to his patrol car. Trooper Green then requested his dispatcher to contact Enterprise to determine who was authorized to drive the car and the geographic area in which it was authorized to be operated. While waiting for a response on the status of the rental car, Trooper Green asked Hembree about his travel plans and how he acquired the rental car. He also occasionally returned to the rental car where Ms. Hembree was situated and asked her some of the same questions. Additionally, Trooper Green issued Hembree a citation for driving without a valid driver's license and warning citations for speeding and operating a vehicle with an expired registration, and returned the expired driver's license to Hembree. Approximately 45 minutes into the stop, dispatch informed Trooper Green that neither occupant of the rental car was authorized to drive it, the car was not authorized to be in Wyoming, and Enterprise wanted the car impounded.

[¶ 5] Trooper Green advised the Hembrees that they were not authorized to drive the car and it was going to be impounded pursuant to Enterprise's request. Trooper Green offered to drive them into town to the bus station or to a motel. Trooper Green also explained to Hembree that he was free to grab his bags and walk on down the road. Hembree and his sister opted to accept the trooper's offer for a ride to a nearby motel. Trooper Green advised them that before he loaded their luggage in his patrol car he needed to know if the bags contained any drugs or contraband. Hembree and his sister denied any illegal or harmful contents and both consented to Trooper Green searching their luggage. A search of Hembree's bags revealed a small plastic bag containing one ounce of cocaine and five small plastic bags containing approximately four and one-eighth ounces of methamphetamine.

[¶ 6] Hembree was arrested and subsequently charged with one count of possession of cocaine with intent to deliver, one count of possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver, one count of conspiracy to deliver cocaine, and one count of conspiracy to deliver methamphetamine.¹ Hembree filed a motion to suppress the drug evidence. After a hearing the district court denied the motion. The district court found Hembree's continued detention was lawful and Hembree voluntarily consented to Trooper Green's search of his luggage. Pursuant to a plea agreement with the State, Hembree entered conditional guilty pleas to the possession with intent to deliver charges, reserving the right to appeal the district court suppression ruling. In exchange for his pleas, the State dismissed the conspiracy charges. The district court sentenced Hembree to concurrent prison terms of three to seven years. This appeal followed.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

[¶ 7] When reviewing a district court's decision on a motion to suppress evidence, we defer to the court's findings on factual issues unless they are clearly erroneous. Campbell v. State, 2004 WY 106, ¶ 9, 97 P.3d 781, 784 (Wyo.2004). We view the evidence in the light most favorable to the district court's decision because it is in the best position to assess the witnesses' credibility, weigh the evidence and make the necessary inferences, deductions and conclusions. Id. The constitutionality of a particular search or seizure, however, is a question of law that we review de novo. Id.

DISCUSSION

[¶ 8] Before we begin our review, we pause to comment on Hembree's statement of the issue. Although it states briefly and concisely the action and ruling of the trial court claimed to be erroneous, it fails to state why it is claimed to be erroneous. Rule 7.01(d) of the Wyoming Rules of Appellate Procedure requires that an appellate brief contain a statement of the issues presented for review. The statement of the issues presented on appeal is designed to assist the court. Strang Telecasting, Inc. v. Ernst, 610 P.2d 1011, 1015 (Wyo.1980). An understanding of the issues is the beginning point of orderly consideration by a reviewing court. The broad form of the issue presented here does nothing to focus attention to any specific claim of error. In every case the issue could be phrased "the judgment is erroneous" but that is not what the rules envision. Cline v. Safeco Ins. Cos., 614 P.2d 1335, 1337 (Wyo.1980) (abstract statement to the effect that summary judgment was improperly granted "is not a particularly helpful statement of an issue"). To best assist this Court, each issue should consist of a concise statement of the point of law sought to be argued and reviewed.

[¶ 9] Further, a clear statement of the issues facilitates full advocacy and affords the opportunity for clarification by meaningful questions directed to the issues. A concise statement of the reason why a judgment is in error serves to inform and provide to adverse parties a fair basis for response. It should also prove to be of great assistance to appellants' counsel in separating meritorious points from those which have no realistic chance of success on appeal. Counsel will find that it is extremely difficult to draft a proper point relied on if the error has not been properly preserved below, if no case authority can be found, if the evidence supporting the contention cannot be succinctly specified, or if reversal is foreclosed by the applicable standard of review.

[¶ 10] Because of Hembree's abstract statement of the issue, this Court is forced to deconstruct the argument portion of his brief to determine and clarify the nature of the specific contentions asserted. Besides adding to the appellate time and resources required for determination of this appeal, it also creates the obvious problem that we may interpret the thrust of Hembree's contentions differently than was intended by Hembree. Within the context of this regrettable state of affairs we have done our best to give Hembree's brief a fair reading and discern his real points of contention. In doing so, we find that Hembree faults the district court's suppression ruling on two discrete grounds — the legality of the initial detention and the voluntariness of his consent to the search of his luggage.

The Detention

[¶ 11] Hembree claims Trooper Green violated his constitutional rights under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution by unreasonably detaining him to investigate his authority to operate the rental car. He contends the trooper should have simply issued the appropriate traffic tickets and released him instead of injecting himself into a civil contract dispute with the rental car company. In this regard, Hembree portrays his detention as an unjustifiable attempt by Trooper Green to "enforce a civil contract" between private parties in another state.²

[¶ 12] The Fourth Amendment protects individuals from "unreasonable searches and seizures." The detention of an individual during a traffic stop, even if only for a brief period of time, constitutes a seizure within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. Whren v. United States, 517 U.S. 806, 809-10, 116 S.Ct. 1769, 1772, 135 L.Ed.2d 89 (1996); Campbell, ¶ 11, 97 P.3d at 784. The reasonableness of a traffic stop detention under the Fourth Amendment is determined by applying the two-part inquiry set forth in Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 19-20, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 1879, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968):(1) whether the initial stop was justified; and (2) whether the officer's actions during the detention were "reasonably related in scope to the circumstances that justified the interference in the first instance." O'Boyle v. State, 2005 WY 83, ¶ 46, 117 P.3d 401, 414 (Wyo. 2005); Campbell, ¶ 11, 97 P.3d at 784. See also United States v. Holt, 264 F.3d 1215, 1220 (10th...