Lucas v. State, 03A01–1309–CR–389.

• Decision Date: 14 August 2014
• Docket Number: No. 03A01–1309–CR–389.,03A01–1309–CR–389.
• Parties: Stephanie LUCAS, Appellant–Defendant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee–Plaintiff.
• Court: Indiana Appellate Court

15 N.E.3d 96

Stephanie LUCAS, Appellant–Defendant

v.STATE of Indiana, Appellee–Plaintiff.

No. 03A01–1309–CR–389.

Court of Appeals of Indiana.

Aug. 14, 2014.

Robert D. King, Jr., David R. Thompson, Indianapolis, IN, Attorneys for Appellant.

Gregory F. Zoeller, Attorney General of Indiana, Brian Reitz, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, IN, Attorneys for Appellee.

OPINION

RILEY, Judge.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

Appellant–Defendant, Stephanie M. Lucas (Lucas), brings an interlocutory appeal of the trial court's Order denying her motion to suppress evidence obtained in the course of a traffic stop.

We reverse.

ISSUE

Lucas raises four issues on interlocutory appeal, one of which we find dispositive and restate as follows: Whether the trial court erred by denying Lucas' motion to suppress evidence that was obtained in violation of her Fourth Amendment rights.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

At approximately 1:00 a.m. on May 23, 2012, Sergeant Kriston K. Weisner (Sergeant Weisner) of the Bartholomew County Sheriff's Office observed a 1996 green Ford Thunderbird driving along U.S. 31 in Edinburgh, Indiana. As he drove behind the Thunderbird, Sergeant Weisner conducted a routine license plate check and discovered that the vehicle's registered owner, Lucas, had an expired driver's license. Thus, when Lucas turned into a gas station parking lot, Sergeant Weisner followed and activated the emergency lights on his patrol vehicle to initiate a traffic stop. Sergeant Weisner approached Lucas' driver-side window and observed that she was smoking a freshly lit cigarette. Sergeant Weisner explained to Lucas that he had stopped her for driving with an expired license, to which she responded that it must have expired on her birthday, one month earlier. “Maybe a minute, two minutes” into the traffic stop, Sergeant Weisner requested that Lucas exit her vehicle, extinguish her cigarette, and accompany him to his squad car in order to “review the information and decide what we were going to do.” (Transcript pp. 22, 41). Lucas complied, and once seated in the front seats of the patrol vehicle, they “began talking about her expired license.” (Tr. p. 34). “[W]ithin a minute or so” of this discussion, Sergeant Weisner detected the odor of alcohol on her breath. (Tr. p. 34). He questioned Lucas as to whether she had been drinking, and she admitted that she had consumed four sixteen-ounce beers.

While still seated in his patrol vehicle, Sergeant Weisner administered a variety of field sobriety tests on Lucas, as well as a portable breathalyzer test. Lucas passed the backward count test but failed the horizontal gaze nystagmus test and the finger count test. The results of the breathalyzer revealed that Lucas had a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.11. Sergeant Weisner subsequently instructed Lucas to exit the vehicle for additional field sobriety testing. Lucas successfully completed the one-leg stand test but failed the walk-and-turn test. Based on his observations during the field sobriety tests, Sergeant Weisner asked Lucas to submit to a certified chemical breath test, and she consented. Sergeant Weisner transported her to the Bartholomew County Jail and administered the chemical breath test at 1:37 a.m. The results indicated a BAC of 0.10. Pursuant to police protocol, Lucas' vehicle was towed, and during an inventory search thereof, Sergeant Weisner discovered a small amount of marijuana. No citation was issued for the expired driver's license.

On June 4, 2012, the State filed an Information, charging Lucas with Count I, operating a vehicle while intoxicated, a Class D felony, Ind.Code §§ 9–30–5–2(a), –3(a)(1); and Count II, operating a vehicle with an alcohol concentration equivalent to at least eight-hundredths (0.08) gram of alcohol per 210 liters of the person's breath, a Class D felony, I.C. §§ 9–30–5–1(a), –3(a)(1). On July 29, 2013, the State amended the Information, charging Lucas with Count III, possession of marijuana, a Class A misdemeanor, I.C. § 35–48–4–11.

On March 12, 2013, Lucas filed a motion to suppress. She argued that because Sergeant Weisner had “subjected [her] to an investigatory detention which exceeded its permissible scope” and because Sergeant Weisner “is not properly certified to conduct chemical tests[,]” “all evidence seized as a result of the investigatory detention[ ] should be suppressed pursuant to the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine.” (Appellant's App. p. 15). On June 14, 2013, the trial court conducted a suppression hearing and subsequently denied Lucas' motion on July 17, 2013. The trial court found that “[Sergeant] Weis[n]er's reasons for requesting [Lucas] to accompany him to his car were legitimate and not unnecessarily intrusive and appropriate during an investigatory stop.” (Appellant's App. p. 9). The trial court further found that Sergeant Weisner was “properly certified [as a] breath test operator and was at the time of [Lucas'] stop” and that “[t]he manner of certification of [Sergeant] Weisner ... was done pursuant to the regulations set forth by the Indiana Department of Toxicology and was endorsed by the Director of the Department of Toxicology.” (Appellant's App. p. 10).

A jury trial was scheduled for the end of August, but on August 8, 2013, Lucas petitioned the trial court to certify its suppression Order for interlocutory appeal. The trial court granted Lucas' petition on August 13, 2013. On October 25, 2013, we accepted jurisdiction. Additional facts will be provided as necessary.

DISCUSSION AND DECISION

I. Standard of Review

Our standard for reviewing a trial court's denial of a motion to suppress is similar to the standard of review employed in sufficiency of the evidence cases. Simmons v. State, 781 N.E.2d 1151, 1153–54 (Ind.Ct.App.2002). On appeal, we must determine whether there is “substantial evidence of probative value” to support the trial court's ruling. Id. at 1154. We do not reweigh the evidence, we construe all conflicting evidence in favor of the trial court's decision, and we consider any uncontested evidence in the defendant's favor. Id. A trial court's determination of reasonable suspicion and probable cause is reviewed de novo. Thayer v. State, 904 N.E.2d 706, 709 (Ind.Ct.App.2009).

II. Fourth Amendment

Lucas claims that the scope of Sergeant Weisner's traffic stop violated her rights under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Lucas does not dispute that Sergeant Weisner had a lawful basis for initiating the traffic stop based on her expired driver's license. See I.C. §§ 9–24–1–1(1), –8(a). Rather, Lucas claims that the trial court should have granted her motion to suppress the evidence obtained during the stop because Sergeant Weisner failed to use the least intrusive means reasonably available to investigate the traffic violation.

The Fourth Amendment, which is applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment, protects “[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects[ ] against unreasonable searches and seizures” by the government. U.S. Const. amend. IV. See Thayer, 904 N.E.2d at 709. Stopping a vehicle and detaining its occupants is considered a “seizure” for Fourth Amendment purposes. Id. It is well settled that “[a] traffic stop is more akin to an investigative stop under Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968), than a custodial arrest.” Lockett v. State, 747 N.E.2d 539, 541 (Ind.2001), reh'g denied. In line with the Fourth Amendment, a police officer may “briefly detain an individual for investigatory purposes if, based upon specific and articulable facts, the officer has a reasonable suspicion that criminal activity has or is about to occur.” State v. Augustine, 851 N.E.2d 1022, 1025 (Ind.Ct.App.2006).

The “touchstone” of any Fourth Amendment analysis is “ ‘the reasonableness in all the circumstances of the particular governmental invasion of a citizen's personal security.’ ” Pennsylvania v. Mimms, 434 U.S. 106, 108–09, 98 S.Ct. 330, 54 L.Ed.2d 331 (1977) (per curiam) (quoting Terry, 392 U.S. at 19, 88 S.Ct. 1868 ). The reasonableness of an investigative stop is determined by examining “whether the officer's action was justified at its inception, and whether it was reasonably related in scope to the circumstances which justified the interference in the first place.” Terry, 392 U.S. at 20, 88 S.Ct. 1868. A police officer's observation of a traffic infraction provides the requisite reasonable suspicion to justify the initial stop. State v. Keck, 4 N.E.3d 1180, 1184 (Ind.2014). Thereafter, the detention “must be temporary and last no longer than is necessary to effectuate the purpose of the stop[,]” and “the investigative methods employed should be the least intrusive means reasonably available to verify or dispel the officer's suspicion in a short period of time.” Florida v. Royer, 460 U.S. 491, 500, 103 S.Ct. 1319, 75 L.Ed.2d 229 (1983). Once the purpose of the stop has been fulfilled, a police officer may not “expand his or her investigation subsequent to the stop [unless] other circumstances arise after the stop, which independently provide the officer with reasonable suspicion of other crimes.” State v. Morris, 732 N.E.2d 224, 228 (Ind.Ct.App.2000). In the present case, it is undisputed that Sergeant Weisner was justified in stopping Lucas for driving with an invalid license; thus, our analysis turns on the reasonableness of Sergeant Weisner's subsequent conduct.

In claiming that Sergeant Weisner failed to employ the least intrusive means reasonably available to complete the traffic stop, Lucas asserts that “[t]here can be no argument that [it] is more intrusive on a citizen to have an investigation which can be conducted at the side of her vehicle conducted inside a police vehicle.” (Appellant's Br. p. 17). Relying on the United States Supreme Court's decision in Florida v. Royer, 460 U.S. at 491, 103 S.Ct. 1319, Lucas argues that Sergeant Weisner lacked “a legitimate law...