Sieffert v. State

• Decision Date: 02 June 2009
• Docket Number: No. 07-08-0242-CR.,07-08-0242-CR.
• Citation: 290 S.W.3d 478
• Parties: Kristy R. SIEFFERT, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

290 S.W.3d 478

Kristy R. SIEFFERT, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.

No. 07-08-0242-CR.

Court of Appeals of Texas, Amarillo.

June 2, 2009.

Amy Cook, Boyles Cook & Romo P.C., Lubbock, TX, for Appellant.

Jeri Leigh Myers, Asst. Criminal District Atty., Lubbock, TX, for State.

Before QUINN, C.J., and CAMPBELL and PIRTLE, JJ.

OPINION

PATRICK A. PIRTLE, Justice.

Appellant, Kristy R. Sieffert, was convicted by a jury of the Class A Misdemeanor offense of Failure to Identify¹ and sentenced to confinement in the Lubbock County Jail for 365 days. Appellant's single issue on appeal is whether the trial court erred in denying her motion to suppress her statements made while being illegally detained. We reverse and remand.

Background

At the suppression hearing, Officer Brady Lewis, Lubbock Police Department, testified that, on May 9, 2007, he observed a white SUV with four occupants driving slowly through a high crime area at approximately 12:45 a.m.² He followed the SUV until he paced its speed at forty miles per hour in a thirty-five mile per hour speed zone, at which point he stopped the SUV for speeding.³

As Officer Lewis approached the SUV, he had decided that his investigation would "go to something further" because the SUV had been in a high crime area and contained four occupants. When he approached the vehicle, Robert Stevens, the driver, had already retrieved his driver's license and proof of insurance. Officer Lewis testified this concerned him.⁴ He also observed that the driver was "real nervous"—fidgeting around inside the SUV. After having Stevens exit the SUV, Officer Lewis conducted a pat-down for officer safety because he was "real nervous" and "they were coming from a high crime area, and a lot of prostitution and narcotics involves weapons." No weapons were located.

Officer Lewis then walked Stevens back to his patrol car, placed him in the backseat, and asked if there was anything he needed to know about in the SUV. Stevens responded, "No." The officer then asked him for consent to search the SUV and Stevens refused. At that moment, Officer Lewis "didn't know exactly what they were up to, but [he] knew something was out of the ordinary." Based upon these circumstances, Officer Lewis decided to detain Stevens and the other occupants while he called the K-9 Unit and requested a dog to search for drugs.

Officer Lewis testified that, at this point, Appellant had not given him any reason for suspicion. Nevertheless, he removed her and the other passengers from the SUV and then questioned each as to their activities, identities, and the SUV's contents. Appellant was questioned twice regarding her identity and she responded with incorrect information.

Approximately ten minutes later, a drug-sniffing canine arrived and alerted to the vehicle. Despite the alert, no drugs were found in the SUV following a search. While searching the SUV, however, Officer Lewis discovered Appellant's identification information. When he ran her name, he identified three outstanding warrants and placed her under arrest. No warning or traffic citation was issued to the driver. Appellant was charged with Failure to Identify, a Class A Misdemeanor and subsequently convicted following a jury trial. This appeal followed.

Discussion

Appellant asserts the trial court erred by not suppressing her statements made while being illegally detained. She contends Officer Lewis improperly prolonged the traffic stop in order to initiate an investigation for drugs based upon less than articulable facts sufficient to support a reasonable suspicion warranting her continued detention.⁵ The State asserts that Officer Lewis had reasonable suspicion to conduct an investigation for drug-related offenses because the SUV had been observed driving slowly through a high crime area and the driver was "extremely nervous" and "fidgeting around and reaching around [inside] the vehicle" after being stopped for speeding.

I. Standard of Review

A trial court's ruling on a motion to suppress is reviewed for abuse of discretion, Balentine v. State, 71 S.W.3d 763, 768 (Tex.Crim.App.2002), under a bifurcated standard. Amador v. State, 221 S.W.3d 666, 673 (Tex.Crim.App.2007). When a trial court's fact findings are based on an evaluation of witness credibility or demeanor, almost total deference is given to its factual determinations supported by the record. St. George v. State, 237 S.W.3d 720, 725 (Tex.Crim.App.2007). However, on questions of mixed law and fact that do not turn on the trial court's evaluation of witness credibility and demeanor, we conduct a de novo review. Amador, 221 S.W.3d at 673.

When, as here, no findings of fact were requested nor filed, we review the evidence in the light most favorable to the trial court's ruling and assume the trial court made implicit findings of fact supported by the record. See State v. Ross, 32 S.W.3d 853, 855-56 (Tex.Crim.App. 2000). Whether the totality of the circumstances is sufficient to support an officer's reasonable suspicion is a legal question that we review de novo. See Madden v. State, 242 S.W.3d 504, 517 (Tex.Crim.App. 2007); Lopez v. State, 223 S.W.3d 408, 415 (Tex.App.-Amarillo 2006, no pet.).

II. Traffic Stops

For Fourth Amendment purposes, a traffic stop is a seizure and must be reasonable. Davis v. State, 947 S.W.2d 240, 243, 245 (Tex.Crim.App.1997). Both the driver and any passengers are considered seized within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment and may challenge the legality of the stop and the length and scope of their detention. Brendlin v. California, 551 U.S. 249, 127 S.Ct. 2400, 2406-07, 168 L.Ed.2d 132 (2007).

A traffic stop is reasonable if the police officer was justified in making the stop and his actions during the stop were confined in length and scope to that necessary to fulfill the purpose of the stop. Kothe v. State, 152 S.W.3d 54, 63 (Tex. Crim.App.2004). Actions an officer may take within the scope of investigation attendant to a traffic stop include requesting identification, proof of insurance, and vehicle registration; checking outstanding warrants; confirmation of vehicle registration; and asking about the purpose of the trip and intended destination. Id.; Strauss v. State, 121 S.W.3d 486, 491 (Tex. App.-Amarillo 2003, pet. ref'd). An officer may approach not only the driver but passengers for this information. Duff v. State, 546 S.W.2d 283, 286 (Tex.Crim.App. 1977). However, "[a]bsent reasonable suspicion, officers may conduct only consensual questioning of passengers in a vehicle." St. George, 237 S.W.3d at 726 (citing Florida v. Bostick, 501 U.S. 429, 435, 111 S.Ct. 2382, 115 L.Ed.2d 389 (1991).)⁶

Although no rigid time limitation exists on its length, a traffic stop is temporary and may last no longer than necessary to effectuate its purpose. Kothe, 152 S.W.3d at 63-64, 65 n. 43. Once its purpose has been satisfied, the stop may not be used as a "fishing expedition for unrelated criminal activity." Davis, 947 S.W.2d at 243 (quoting Ohio v. Robinette, 519 U.S. 33, 41, 117 S.Ct. 417, 422, 136 L.Ed.2d 347 (1996)(Ginsberg, J., concurring)).

After an officer has validly stopped a vehicle for a traffic offense, the officer may conduct a brief investigative detention, or "Terry stop," of the occupants of the vehicle when he has a reasonable suspicion to believe that the occupant is involved in criminal activity. The reasonableness of the temporary detention must be examined in terms of the totality of the circumstances and will be justified when the detaining officer has specific articulable facts, which, taken together with rational inferences from those facts, lead him to conclude that the person detained actually is, has been, or soon will be engaged in criminal activity. See Balentine, 71 S.W.3d at 768. If during a valid traffic stop the officer develops reasonable suspicion that the detainees are engaged in other criminal activity,⁷ prolonged or continued detention is justified. Davis, 947 S.W.2d at 244. See Haas v. State, 172 S.W.3d 42, 52 (Tex.App.-Waco 2005, pet. ref'd); Perales v. State, 117 S.W.3d 434, 439 (Tex.App.-Corpus Christi 2003, pet. ref'd); McQuarters v. State, 58 S.W.3d 250, 256 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth 2001, pet. ref'd).

In Robinette, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a continued detention and request to search a detainee's vehicle following a traffic stop was reasonable, where consent was given, even though no circumstances were noted that would have constituted reasonable suspicion of other criminal activity. See Robinette, 117 S.Ct. at 420-21. By contrast, in Davis, the Court of Criminal Appeals found the officers' conduct unreasonable where officers nevertheless detained the vehicle, and thus its occupants, after the detainee refused to consent to a search of his car, and sufficient time to effectuate the purpose of the original detention had elapsed. See Davis, 947 S.W.2d at 246. We interpret Davis and Robinette to mean that an officer may request consent to search a vehicle after a traffic stop but may not detain the vehicle or its occupants if such consent is refused unless reasonable suspicion of some criminal activity exists. In other words, if a valid traffic stop evolves into an investigative detention of other criminal activity (such as possession of a controlled substance) so that a canine sniff can take place, reasonable suspicion is required to prolong the detention and refusal to consent to search does not, in and of itself, establish that requirement. Green v. State, 256 S.W.3d 456, 462 (Tex.App.-Waco 2008, no pet.) (collected cases cited therein); McQuarters, 58 S.W.3d at 256 (olfactory inspection by police dog trained to detect the odor of illegal drugs requires a reasonable suspicion that the vehicle contains narcotics).

The burden is on the State to elicit testimony showing sufficient facts to create a reasonable suspicion. Garcia v. State, 43 S.W.3d 527, 530 (Tex.Crim.App. 2001).⁸ In our determination of...