Sidney v. Com., Record No. 092313.

• Docket Nº: Record No. 092313.
• Citation: 280 Va. 517, 702 S.E.2d 124
• Case Date: November 04, 2010
• Court: Supreme Court of Virginia

702 S.E.2d 124
280 Va. 517

Allen Edward SIDNEY, Jr.
v.
COMMONWEALTH of Virginia.

Record No. 092313.

Supreme Court of Virginia.

Nov. 4, 2010.

702 S.E.2d 126

Daniel W. Hall, Senior Assistant Public Defender, for appellant.

Benjamin H. Katz, Assistant Attorney General (Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II, Attorney General, on brief), for appellee.

Present: All the Justices.

OPINION BY Justice LAWRENCE L. KOONTZ, JR.

280 Va. 519

Acting on an anonymous tip that there were arrest warrants outstanding for an individual who was at a particular location, police officers conducted an investigative traffic stop of the defendant's vehicle. In this appeal, we consider whether the tip provided reasonable suspicion to justify the stop.

Allen Edward Sidney, Jr. was indicted in the Circuit Court of the City of Petersburg for possession of cocaine in violation of Code § 18.2-250. Sidney was also charged with possession of marijuana in violation of Code § 18.2-250.1. Thereafter, Sidney filed a motion to suppress, claiming the stop of his vehicle, which resulted in his arrest and recovery of the illegal drugs, violated his rights as secured under

280 Va. 520

the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article 1, Section 10 of the Constitution of Virginia.^* Following an evidentiary hearing, the circuit court denied the motion. Sidney entered a conditional guilty plea to the charges, preserving for appeal the issues raised in his motion to suppress. Code § 19.2-254.

Upon appeal to the Court of Appeals, a judge of that Court denied Sidney's petition for appeal in an unpublished order. Sidney v. Commonwealth, Record No. 2125-08-2 (August 19, 2009). For the reasons stated in that order, a panel of the Court subsequently denied Sidney's petition for appeal. Sidney v. Commonwealth, Record No. 2125-08-2 (October 19, 2009). We awarded Sidney this appeal.

BACKGROUND

Under familiar principles of appellate review, we will state "the evidence in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth, the prevailing party in the trial court, and will accord the Commonwealth the benefit of all reasonable inferences fairly deducible from that evidence." Murphy v. Commonwealth, 264 Va. 568, 570, 570 S.E.2d 836, 837 (2002)(applying this principle in a case involving a motion to suppress evidence). The evidence presented at the suppression hearing showed that on December 14, 2007, Petersburg police officer Dustin Sloan received a radio dispatch that an anonymous "tip" had been called in to police headquarters. The tip reported that Sidney was at 1300 Patterson Street, driving a tan Jeep Cherokee with wood grain side paneling, and that there were outstanding warrants in the city for his arrest. The tip described Sidney as a black male, approximately 5'7? or 5'9? tall.

Upon arriving at 1300 Patterson Street, Officer Sloan observed a vehicle matching the tip's description parked in the driveway. Officer Sloan, who had never seen Sidney before, observed a man in the driver's seat of the vehicle. Officer Sloan "ran" the vehicle's license plate and discovered it was registered to Sidney's mother.

Meanwhile, Officer J.W. Schmidt was dispatched to 1300 Patterson Street "to locate a wanted subject" named "Allen Edward Sidney" for whom there were outstanding arrest warrants. The dispatcher

280 Va. 521

described Sidney as a black male, with brown eyes and black hair, 5'3? tall, weighing 165 pounds, and with a birth date of "5-26-1974." The dispatcher also informed Officer Schmidt about a tan Jeep Cherokee with "30-day tags" in the driveway of 1300 Patterson Street.

While Officer Sloan waited for backup officers to arrive, the vehicle exited from the driveway and proceeded northbound on Patterson Street. As the vehicle drove past him, Officer Sloan saw the driver's head and arms. Officer Sloan notified backup officers

702 S.E.2d 127

and followed the vehicle. After backup officers joined him, Officer Sloan stopped the vehicle on the suspicion that the driver was wanted on outstanding arrest warrants.

Officer Schmidt then approached the driver's side of the vehicle and asked the driver for his license and the vehicle registration. After identifying Sidney as the driver, Officer Schmidt radioed dispatch and confirmed that Sidney was the wanted subject. Officer Schmidt then informed Sidney of the outstanding warrants and placed him under arrest. A search incident to Sidney's arrest uncovered cocaine and marijuana.

At the suppression hearing, Officer Sloan testified that he had determined what the warrants were for prior to stopping the vehicle driven by Sidney, but could not recall if they were for felonies or misdemeanors. Upon questioning by the circuit court, Officer Sloan admitted that he had not personally checked the police database to confirm that there were outstanding warrants for Sidney's arrest. Officer Sloan explained that the dispatcher on duty verifies the existence of outstanding warrants. He further explained that dispatch does not tell the officers in the field what the warrants are for, only that they exist. Officer Schmidt corroborated this testimony when he testified without objection that dispatch had advised him that outstanding warrants existed for Sidney's arrest. In denying the motion to suppress, the court ruled that the dispatcher's knowledge of the existence of the outstanding warrants could be imputed to the officers.

DISCUSSION

Sidney contends that the Court of Appeals erred in upholding the circuit court's denial of his motion to suppress...