Hinojosa v. State Of Ark.

• Decision Date: 21 May 2009
• Docket Number: No. CR 08-1336.,CR 08-1336.
• Citation: 319 S.W.3d 258,2009 Ark. 301
• Parties: Martin HINOJOSA, Appellant,v.STATE of Arkansas, Appellee.
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

2009 Ark. 301

319 S.W.3d 258

Martin HINOJOSA, Appellant,v.STATE of Arkansas, Appellee.

No. CR 08-1336.

Supreme Court of Arkansas.

May 21, 2009.

Mobley Law Firm, P.A., by: Mark J. Mobley; Russellville, and Escobar, Ramirez & Associates, P.A., by: Richard Escobar, Tampa, FL, for appellant.

Dustin McDaniel, Att'y Gen., by: David R. Raupp, Sr. Ass't Att'y Gen., for appellee.

ELANA CUNNINGHAM WILLS, Justice.

This court granted the State's petition for review of the decision in Hinojosa v. State, 103 Ark.App. 312, 288 S.W.3d 718 (2008), in which the court of appeals reversed and remanded appellant Hinojosa's conviction for possession of marijuana with intent to deliver. At issue is whether the circuit court erred by denying Hinojosa's motion to suppress statements and evidence obtained following a traffic stop. Hinojosa argues that the initial stop was unlawful, and, therefore, his statements and the evidence obtained after the stop were inadmissable under the “fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine” established in Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 83 S.Ct. 407, 9 L.Ed.2d 441 (1963). We disagree and affirm the circuit court.

On January 27, 2007, Sergeant Kyle Drown of the Arkansas State Police initiated a traffic stop of Hinojosa's truck in Pope County after observing that the vehicle's license plate cover obscured the name of the issuing foreign state.¹ During the traffic stop, Drown eventually asked Hinojosa if he had anything illegal in his vehicle. Hinojosa responded that there was approximately three hundred pounds of marijuana in the truck. After a canine sniff confirmed presence of the marijuana, Hinojosa was charged with possession of a controlled substance with an intent to deliver under Ark.Code Ann. § 5-64-401.

Hinojosa filed a motion to suppress, contending that his statements and the physical evidence were illegally seized as a result of an unlawful traffic stop. Sergeant Drown testified at the suppression hearing that he stopped Hinojosa because the license plate frame on his truck obscured the identification of the plate's issuing state in violation of Ark.Code Ann. § 27-14-716.² Hinojosa asserted that the license plate cover did not violate Arkansas or Arizona law, and that Sergeant Drown's mistake of law rendered the traffic stop without probable cause and, therefore, illegal. The circuit court denied the motion to suppress in an order issued on November 5, 2007, and filed a letter containing its findings regarding the suppression motion the same day. Quoting from Travis v. State, 331 Ark. 7, 959 S.W.2d 32 1998) and Burris v. State, 330 Ark. 66, 73, 954 S.W.2d 209, 213 (1997), the trial court stated in the letter of findings that the supreme court had previously held that a law enforcement officer's mistake of law does not negate probable cause; instead, “all that is required is that the officer had probable cause to believe that a traffic violation had occurred.” Hinojosa entered a conditional plea of guilty, reserving his right to appeal the suppression ruling under Ark. R.Crim. P. 24.3(b), and filed a timely notice of appeal.

Upon review, the court of appeals first determined that the applicable law in the case was Ark.Code Ann. § 27-14-704, rather than Ark.Code Ann. § 27-14-716, which Sergeant Drown testified provided the basis for his traffic stop of Hinojosa. The court of appeals found that § 27-14-704 only requires that a motor vehicle registered in another state must “conspicuously display the registration numbers,” and stated that it was undisputed “that the registration number of Hinojosa's vehicle was conspicuously displayed.” Hinojosa, 103 Ark.App. at 315, 288 S.W.3d at 720-21. Noting that Sergeant Drown testified that “he had seen more than 100 Arizona license plates, and admitted that he recognized the license plate on Hinojosa's vehicle as an Arizona license plate,” the court of appeals stated that there “were no facts or circumstances that would permit a person of reasonable caution to believe that an offense had been committed.” Id. Accordingly, the court of appeals reversed the circuit court, holding that the traffic stop was unlawful because it was conducted without probable cause.³

When this court grants a petition for review of a decision by the court of appeals, it reviews the case as though it had originally been filed with this court. Brookshire v. Adcock, 2009 Ark. 207, 307 S.W.3d 22. In reviewing a circuit court's denial of a motion to suppress evidence, the appellate court conducts a de novo review based on the totality of the circumstances, reviewing findings of historical facts for clear error and determining whether those facts give rise to reasonable suspicion or probable cause, giving due weight to inferences drawn by the circuit court. Sims v. State, 356 Ark. 507, 157 S.W.3d 530 (2004). This court will reverse the circuit court only if the ruling is clearly against the preponderance of the evidence. Id. Additionally, this court defers to the circuit court's superior position to judge the credibility of witnesses. Id.

Hinojosa brings three points on appeal, arguing that the circuit court erred in denying his motion to suppress for the following reasons: (1) Sergeant Drown did not have probable cause to stop Hinojosa because § 27-14-716 does not prohibit the obscuring of the state name on a license plate; (2) the traffic stop was unlawful because it was based on a mistake of law that § 27-14-716 was applicable to Hinojosa as a nonresident; and (3) even if the initial stop was valid, the subsequent seizure “became unlawful when it was prolonged beyond the time necessary to issue a citation for the alleged traffic infraction in the absence of reasonable suspicion that [he] was committing a crime.”

Hinojosa first argues that Sergeant Drown lacked probable cause to stop his vehicle because the stop was based on a mistake of Arkansas law. Specifically, Hinojosa asserts that Sergeant Drown stopped him based on the erroneous belief that Hinojosa's license plate frame violated § 27-14-716 because a frame placed over the license plate obscured the name of the plate's issuing state-Arizona. Hinojosa contends that § 27-14-716(b), involving the legibility of license plates, does not contain any reference to the visibility or legibility of the state name. He also argues that § 27-14-716(c), which contains a separate prohibition against placing any type of cover over a license plate that makes the plate more difficult to read, “prohibits only license plate covers that cover the registration number in such a way as to make it more difficult to read.”

A police officer must have probable cause to believe that a vehicle has violated a traffic law before making a valid stop. Sims, supra. Probable cause is defined as “facts or circumstances within a police officer's knowledge that are sufficient to permit a person of reasonable caution to believe that an offense has been committed by the person suspected.” Burks v. State, 362 Ark. 558, 210 S.W.3d 62 (2005). In assessing the existence of probable cause, this court's review is liberal rather than strict. Laime v. State, 347 Ark. 142, 60 S.W.3d 464 (2001). In the context of traffic stops, this court has “repeatedly held that degree of proof sufficient to sustain a finding of probable cause is less than required to sustain a conviction.” Burris v. State, 330 Ark. 66, 73, 954 S.W.2d 209, 213 (1997). Whether a police officer has probable cause to make a traffic stop does not depend on whether the driver was actually guilty of the violation which the officer believed to have occurred. Id.

The proper inquiry relevant to Hinojosa's first point is whether there were “facts or circumstances within a police officer's knowledge that are sufficient to permit a person of reasonable caution to believe that an offense has been committed by the person suspected.” Burks, supra. Sergeant Drown testified that he stopped Hinojosa's vehicle because he believed that the license plate frame obscuring the name of the issuing state violated § 27-14-716. Section 27-14-716, originally adopted as part of Act 142 of 1949, provides as follows:

(a)(1) License plates issued for a motor vehicle other than a motorcycle shall be attached thereto, one (1) in the front and the other in the rear.

(2)(A) When one (1) plate is issued, it shall be attached to the rear.

(B) License plates for trucks of one (1) ton capacity or larger may be displayed either on the front or rear of the vehicle.

(C) The license plate issued for a motorcycle required to be registered under this chapter shall be attached to the rear thereof.

(b) Every license plate shall, at all times, be securely fastened in a horizontal position to the vehicle for which it is issued so as to prevent the plate from swinging and at a height of not less than twelve inches (12?) from the ground, measuring from the bottom of such plate, in a place and position to be clearly visible and shall be maintained free from foreign materials and in a condition to be clearly legible.

(c) Placing any type of cover over a license plate which makes the license plate more difficult to read or which reduces the reflective properties of the license plate is prohibited.

Section 27-14-716(b) requires that “every license plate shall, at all times, be ... clearly visible and shall be maintained free from foreign materials,” and § 27-14-716(c) prohibits “[p]lacing any type of cover over a license plate which makes the license plate more difficult to read.” The language in § 27-14-716 prohibits obscuring the license “plate.” Nothing in the language of the statute restricts its applicability to the registration numbers alone, as Hinojosa contends in his first point on appeal. It is undisputed that Hinojosa's license plate frame obscured “Arizona” from the license plate; therefore, the license plate was not “clearly visible” or “clearly legible” as required by § 27-14-716(b), and the frame made “the license plate more difficult to read”...