People v. Archuleta

Decision Date08 March 1999
Docket NumberNo. 98SA356,98SA356
Parties1999 CJ C.A.R. 1192 The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Jesse ARCHULETA, Defendant-Appellee.
CourtColorado Supreme Court

A. William Ritter, Jr., District Attorney, Second Judicial District, Nathan B. Coats, Chief Appellate Deputy District Attorney, Denver, Colorado, Attorneys for Plaintiff-Appellant.

David F. Vela, Colorado State Public Defender, Angela Kruse, Deputy State Public Defender, Kathleen Lord, Deputy State Public Defender, Denver, Colorado, Attorneys for Defendant-Appellee.

Justice KOURLIS delivered the Opinion of the Court.

This case comes before us on interlocutory appeal from a trial court order suppressing evidence in a drug prosecution. Because we conclude that under the circumstances of this case, a police officer's actions in chasing the defendant and then approaching him with his gun drawn did not offend the Fourth Amendment, we reverse the trial court order.

I.

On the evening of May 10, 1998, Officer Daniel Felkins of the Denver Police Department was in his marked vehicle patrolling the area surrounding the 2100 block of Larimer Street in Denver between 10:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. The officer noticed three men "huddled together" in the dark alley by the back door of the El Charrito bar. Officer Felkins testified that because the area is known for illicit drug activity, he suspected that these individuals might be engaged in a drug transaction. 1

Acting on this general suspicion, Officer Felkins circled around once, saw the men again, parked his car, and approached them. Upon seeing the officer, one of the men in the group, Jesse Archuleta, took off running. Officer Felkins chased Archuleta, who ran up 21st Street toward Market Street, up the alley between Larimer Street and Market Street and then back down Larimer Street to the front door of the El Charrito. As he ran into the bar, he knocked over a bicyclist who was in the entryway.

Officer Felkins followed Archuleta into the building. He asked a person in the bar where Archuleta had gone. The person pointed to the dining area at the back of the restaurant, which was not occupied by patrons at that time. Officer Felkins drew his gun and proceeded toward that area to look for Archuleta. He eventually found him hiding under some tables in the dining area.

With his weapon still drawn, Officer Felkins asked the suspect why he had been running. Archuleta replied that there were warrants outstanding for his arrest. After hearing that response, Officer Felkins detained Archuleta, and with the help of another officer pulled him out from under the tables. When Archuleta stood, the officer observed two baggies of a substance that he suspected to be heroin on the floor where Archuleta had been lying. The police subsequently searched the dining area and found a handgun under a table near where they apprehended Archuleta.

After Officer Felkins seated Archuleta in a patrol car, he told Archuleta that he was a fast runner and commented to him that he should have been an athlete instead of a drug dealer. Archuleta responded with an apparent reference to the baggies, saying that he was just holding them for a friend.

Archuleta was charged with possession of a controlled substance and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance in violation of sections 18-18-405(1)(a) and 2(a)(I), 6 C.R.S. (1998), and as a special offender under section 18-18-407(1)(f), 6 C.R.S. (1998). Archuleta pled not guilty and filed a motion to suppress all of the evidence against him, alleging that it was the product of an illegal seizure in violation of the Colorado and United States Constitutions. The trial court granted the motion to suppress and the matter now comes before us as a result of the prosecution's interlocutory appeal pursuant to C.A.R. 4.1.

We conclude that Archuleta's comment regarding his outstanding warrants was evidence produced in the course of a valid investigatory stop. That comment then provided Officer Felkins with a sufficient reason to detain Archuleta. The police subsequently seized the bags of heroin and the gun as a result of Archuleta's lawful detention.

II.

The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article II, Section 7, of the Colorado Constitution protect against unreasonable searches and seizures. See U.S. Const. amend. IV; Colo. Const. art. II, § 7; see also, e.g., People v. Salazar, 964 P.2d 502, 504 (Colo.1998). The determination of whether a search or seizure is reasonable depends upon the reason for and the extent of the intrusion. See, e.g., Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 21, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968).

In determining whether a particular encounter between the police and a citizen violates the Fourth Amendment, it is helpful to classify the incident as one of three general types of police-citizen contact: consensual encounters; arrests or full-scale searches; or intermediate forms of intrusion such as investigatory stops or limited searches. See Florida v. Bostick, 501 U.S. 429, 434, 111 S.Ct. 2382, 115 L.Ed.2d 389 (1991); Salazar, 964 P.2d at 506; People v. Johnson, 865 P.2d 836, 842 (Colo.1994); People v. Tate, 657 P.2d 955, 958 (Colo.1983). Consensual encounters are those in which the police approach a person to ask questions or request identification. They do not trigger Fourth Amendment scrutiny "so long as a reasonable person would feel free 'to disregard the police and go about his business.' " Bostick, 501 U.S. at 434, 111 S.Ct. 2382 (quoting California v. Hodari D., 499 U.S. 621, 628, 111 S.Ct. 1547, 113 L.Ed.2d 690 (1991)); Johnson, 865 P.2d at 841. Arrests and full-scale searches, on the other hand, are subject to the Fourth Amendment's reasonableness requirement. In order to be constitutionally sound, they must be based on warrants issued upon probable cause or on an established exception to the warrant requirement. See, e.g., Salazar, 964 P.2d at 504.

In the middle of the spectrum between consensual encounters and arrests based upon probable cause exist "intermediate forms of police response" that "may be employed under narrowly defined circumstances upon less than probable cause." Tate, 657 P.2d at 958. Police may undertake intermediate intrusions such as investigatory stops 2 consistent with the Fourth Amendment as long as three conditions are satisfied: (1) there is a specific and articulable basis in fact for suspecting that criminal activity has taken place, is in progress, or is about to occur (that is, "reasonable suspicion"); (2) the purpose of the intrusion is reasonable; and (3) the scope and character of the intrusion are reasonably related to its purpose. See Salazar, 964 P.2d at 505.

At the motions hearing before the trial court, Archuleta contended that Officer Felkins's pursuit of him constituted an investigatory stop, that it was conducted in violation of the Fourth Amendment, and therefore that the trial court should suppress any evidence discovered as a result of that chase. First, Archuleta argued that at the time the foot chase began, Officer Felkins did not have an articulable suspicion of criminal activity. 3 Moreover, Archuleta asserted that his subsequent act of running away to avoid contact with the police officer "[did] not constitute the type of specific and articulable fact that is constitutionally sufficient to justify a stop." People v. Thomas, 660 P.2d 1272, 1275 (Colo.1983). Thus, Archuleta continued, Officer Felkins's non-consensual contact with Archuleta at the end of the chase was not supported by facts sufficient to satisfy the requirements of the Fourth Amendment. Accordingly, Archuleta's statement regarding his outstanding warrants, his resulting arrest, the discovery of the drugs and the gun, and his subsequent incriminating statement were all inadmissible fruits of the improper contact. The trial court agreed and granted Archuleta's motion to suppress the evidence. We now reverse.

III.

In order to reach a conclusion regarding the admissibility of the evidence, we must first determine the nature of the contact between Officer Felkins and Archuleta. We then apply the test applicable to that type of contact to the facts in this case in order to analyze whether Officer Felkins's actions were justifiable and appropriate under the Fourth Amendment.

Here, when Officer Felkins drew his weapon and approached Archuleta in the dining area, his actions constituted a seizure for purposes of the Fourth Amendment. See United States v. Mendenhall, 446 U.S. 544, 554, 100 S.Ct. 1870, 64 L.Ed.2d 497 (1980) (opinion of Stewart, J.) (stating that "the display of a weapon by an officer" was an example of a seizure). We now conclude that this seizure was an investigatory stop rather than an arrest, and that under the totality of the circumstances, this investigatory stop was a reasonable seizure that did not violate Archuleta's rights under the Fourth Amendment.

A.

The United States Supreme Court has never clearly differentiated between the characterization of seizures as arrests as opposed to investigatory stops. However, as the Seventh Circuit has noted, the trend developing since Terry has been to include within the rubric of investigatory stops in some circumstances "the use of handcuffs, the placing of suspects in police cruisers, the drawing of weapons and other measures of force more traditionally associated with arrest than with investigatory detention." United States v. Tilmon, 19 F.3d 1221, 1224-25 (7th Cir.1994), quoted in 4 Wayne R. LaFave, Search and Seizure § 9.2(d) at 36 (3d ed.1996).

A law enforcement officer conducts an investigatory stop because he suspects an individual of criminal activity and deems it necessary to take action in order protect himself and those around him. See Terry, 392 U.S. at 30, 88 S.Ct. 1868. It is logical, then, to conclude that in the course of conducting an investigatory stop, an officer may take reasonable measures...

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