People v. Patnode

• Decision Date: 09 January 2006
• Docket Number: No. 03CA1072.,03CA1072.
• Citation: 126 P.3d 249
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Michael John PATNODE, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Colorado Supreme Court

126 P.3d 249

The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Michael John PATNODE, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 03CA1072.

Colorado Court of Appeals, Division IV.

August 11, 2005.

Certiorari Denied January 9, 2006.

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John W. Suthers, Attorney General, John D. Seidel, Assistant Attorney General, Denver, Colorado, for Plaintiff-Appellee.

Neff Services, Inc., Lauretta A. Martin Neff, Grand Junction, Colorado, for Defendant-Appellant.

Opinion by: Judge ROY.

Defendant, Michael John Patnode, appeals from the judgment of conviction entered on a jury verdict finding him guilty of one count of possession of a schedule II controlled substance (methamphetamine) with intent to distribute and one count of resisting arrest. He also appeals his sentence as a habitual offender. We affirm the conviction, vacate the sentence, and remand for further sentencing proceedings.

On December 6, 2001, the Larimer County Drug Task Force was conducting surveillance of defendant and defendant's friend at the friend's home. After the Task Force observed several vehicles stop briefly at the home in a thirty-five minute period, defendant and his friend left the home in defendant's 1975 Corvette.

Pursuant to a prior arrangement, the Task Force had two Fort Collins traffic patrol officers follow the Corvette in two marked patrol cars with instructions to pull the Corvette over if they observed any traffic infractions and perfect an arrest if possible. The arresting officer observed defendant speeding and changing lanes without signaling. On this basis, he pulled the Corvette over and made contact with defendant and the friend. The assisting officer arrived shortly thereafter.

After stopping the Corvette, the arresting officer asked defendant to produce his license, vehicle registration, and proof of insurance. Defendant, who was angry, nervous, and belligerent, was unable to produce the registration or correct proof of insurance for the Corvette. The arresting officer then asked defendant to step out of the car and, after conducting a protective pat-down of defendant's clothing, arrested defendant for his failure to provide correct proof of insurance, an arrestable offense.

The two traffic officers then attempted to place defendant in the back seat of the patrol vehicle. Defendant lunged at one of the officers and then had to be forcibly placed in the patrol vehicle.

The assisting officer then conducted a search of the passenger compartment of the Corvette. The officer found a black fanny pack in the center console of the front seat, which pack, in turn, contained several baggies that appeared to contain methamphetamine, a glass pipe, another pipe wrapped in plastic bubble wrap, and a small digital scale. A subsequent inventory search of the vehicle produced a cigarette package containing what appeared to be more methamphetamine and a record of drug transactions, both found elsewhere in the passenger compartment.

At the police station, the arresting officer advised defendant, both orally and with a consent form, of his constitutional rights pursuant to Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). Defendant refused to sign the consent form and stated that he would "never" waive his rights. At the same time, however, he asked the arresting officer whether he could speak to him "man to man."

In the ensuing conversation, defendant stated that he wanted to turn his life around. When the officer mentioned that working with the Task Force could be an option for him, defendant interrupted the officer and said, "I like what I do. I'm good at what I do." After the officer asked him what that meant, defendant stated, "Come on, let's not insult each other's intelligence."

At this point, a detective with the Task Force entered the room with the evidence of the drugs gathered from the inventory search of the Corvette and advised defendant of the charges that would be filed against him. To this, defendant responded, "You think this is big time. This ain't shit." The detective then asked defendant whether he was willing to provide them any information, and defendant responded that if he were released with his drugs in his possession that night, he would call the police occasionally with information on certain persons he felt needed to be off the streets. The detective then started to leave the booking area, and defendant said, "And I want my shit back." When the detective asked him whether he was referring to the drugs discovered in the Corvette, defendant responded that he was.

Defendant was charged with one count of possession of a schedule II controlled substance with intent to distribute, in violation of § 18-18-405(1)(a), (2)(a)(I)(A), C.R.S.2004, a class three felony, and one count of resisting arrest, in violation of § 18-8-103, C.R.S.2004, a class two misdemeanor. Prior to trial, defendant filed several pro se motions challenging the traffic stop, his arrest, and the search of the Corvette. Following an evidentiary hearing at which defendant appeared pro se, the trial court determined that the traffic stop, arrest, and searches were lawful. The court further found that defendant's statements to the police were made knowingly and voluntarily and were thus properly admissible.

After the court appointed alternate defense counsel to represent defendant, defendant through counsel filed renewed motions challenging the traffic stop and his arrest and seeking suppression of the drug evidence and statements. Following a second hearing, the court denied these motions as well.

Defendant was convicted by a jury of the charged offenses. The court then adjudicated him a habitual offender on the basis of three prior convictions pursuant to § 18-1.3-801(2), C.R.S.2004 (formerly codified as § 16-13-101). At defendant's request, the court conducted an abbreviated proportionality review, following which the trial court sentenced defendant to fifty-five years in the Department of Corrections on the possession of a controlled substance charge, nine years less than the prescribed sixty-four years. The court also imposed a one-year concurrent sentence for resisting arrest. This appeal followed.

I.

Defendant first contends that the trial court erred in denying his motions to suppress the evidence found in the Corvette and the statements he made to the officers at the police station because the drug evidence was the product of an illegal search and seizure and the statements were elicited in violation of his rights under Miranda v. Arizona, supra. We disagree.

In reviewing a suppression order, we defer to the trial court's findings of fact, which will not be overturned if supported by competent evidence in the record. However, we apply a de novo standard of review to ascertain whether the trial court's legal conclusions are supported by sufficient evidence and whether it has applied the correct legal standard. People v. Cruse, 58 P.3d 1114 (Colo.App.2002).

A.

Relying principally on Amador-Gonzalez v. United States, 391 F.2d 308 (5th Cir.1968); People v. Hauseman, 900 P.2d 74 (Colo.1995); People v. Corpany, 859 P.2d 865 (Colo.1993); and State v. Hoven, 269 N.W.2d 849 (Minn.1978), defendant argues that his traffic stop and arrest were only a pretext to permit officers to conduct what would otherwise be an illegal search of his vehicle. We are not persuaded.

Under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and article II, section 7 of the Colorado Constitution, warrantless searches are per se unreasonable unless they fall under a specifically established and well-delineated exception to the warrant requirement. People v. Savedra, 907 P.2d 596 (Colo.1995).

One such established exception is a search conducted incident to a lawful arrest. People v. Kirk, 103 P.3d 918 (Colo.2005). Under this exception, the scope of the search is generally limited to the person of the arrestee and the area within the arrestee's immediate control. People v. H.J., 931 P.2d 1177 (Colo.1997). However, when the search is incident to the lawful arrest of an occupant of a vehicle, it may be extended to include the entire interior of the passenger compartment of the vehicle and the contents of any containers found within the passenger compartment, whether open or closed. See New York v. Belton, 453 U.S. 454, 101 S.Ct. 2860, 69 L.Ed.2d 768 (1981); People v. H.J., supra.

Here, the traffic officers pulled defendant over after observing him commit several traffic violations. After being pulled over, defendant failed to produce vehicle registration or proof of insurance. In failing to produce the required insurance card, defendant committed a class one misdemeanor traffic offense for which arrest is authorized. See §§ 42-4-1409(4)(a), 42-4-1705, C.R.S.2004; People v. Barrientos, 956 P.2d 634 (Colo.App.1997). Thus, because defendant was lawfully arrested, the resultant search of the vehicle incident to that arrest was authorized and proper as well. As our supreme court has stated, "The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution does not prohibit police from effecting a full custodial arrest and conducting a search incident thereto for misdemeanors and petty criminal offenses perpetrated in an officer's presence." People v. Triantos, 55 P.3d 131, 133 (Colo.2002).

Furthermore, it is undisputed that the assisting officer conducted the search of the passenger compartment of the Corvette incident to defendant's arrest. Therefore, defendant has no basis for his claim that the officers' search of the fanny pack's interior exceeded the scope of a protective weapons search.

Nevertheless, defendant argues that, even if the search was conducted incident to his arrest, under our supreme court's decisions in People v. Valdez, 182 Colo. 80, 511 P.2d 472 (1973), and Cowdin v. People, 176 Colo. 466, 491 P.2d 569 (1971), his arrest for a minor traffic violation did not authorize a search for...