State Carolina v. Williams

• Decision Date: 16 August 2011
• Docket Number: No. COA10–738.,COA10–738.
• Parties: STATE of North Carolinav.Norma Angelica WILLIAMS.
• Court: North Carolina Court of Appeals

714 S.E.2d 835

STATE of North Carolina

v.Norma Angelica WILLIAMS.

No. COA10–738.

Court of Appeals of North Carolina.

Aug. 16, 2011.

Appeal by Defendant from judgment entered 3 November 2009 by Judge Christopher M. Collier in Iredell County Superior Court. Heard in the Court of Appeals 25 January 2011.

Attorney General Roy Cooper, by Special Deputy Attorney General J. Allen Jernigan, for the State.

Michele Goldman, Raleigh, for Defendant.

BEASLEY, Judge.

Where the trial court denied Defendant's motion to suppress and competent evidence supports its findings of fact and conclusions of law, we affirm.

Sergeant Randy Cass (Sgt.Cass) of the Iredell County Sheriff's Office was on patrol on 21 May 2008 when, around 11:00 a.m., he observed an SUV with tinted windows heading south on Interstate 77 (I–77). Believing the window tinting to be in violation of North Carolina law, Sgt. Cass stopped the SUV and immediately approached the driver's side. Sgt. Cass asked the driver, Michelle Perez (Perez), to step out of the vehicle, and then asked her several questions. Perez told him that the SUV belonged to her passenger Norma Angelica Williams (Defendant), and Sgt. Cass then asked Perez where their trip originated. Perez told him that she flew to Houston from Arizona to meet Defendant and drive her “to go DJ somewhere” but referred further questions about their trip to Defendant because it was Defendant's “gig,” and Perez was not familiar with the details of their travel plans and destination.

Sgt. Cass approached Defendant and asked if she owned the SUV. Defendant replied that she did not own the vehicle but explained that she had arranged to purchase the car from the friend to whom it belonged. Defendant produced two identification cards, each issued by the states of Arizona and Texas respectively, containing consistent information. Sgt. Cass asked where she and Perez were traveling, and Defendant told him that they “were trying to get to Club Kryptonite and showed [him] a map to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and then asked [him] directions on how to get there.” Sgt. Cass also asked where they were coming from, and Defendant responded that they were travelling from Louisville, Kentucky. Defendant gave Sgt. Cass the SUV's registration and continued to answer his questions, telling him that she and Perez were cousins and that she had recently moved to Texas from Arizona.

Sgt. Cass left Defendant and returned to speak with Perez, inquiring about her city of departure and her relationship with Defendant. Perez told him that she flew from Tucson, Arizona, and explained that she and Defendant refer to each other as cousins because of their longstanding relationship. Sgt. Cass then asked Perez to sit in his cruiser as he issued her a warning ticket. For about ten minutes, Sgt. Cass and Perez engaged in “small talk” addressing matters such as Perez's occupation. Meanwhile, Sgt. Cass contacted Blue Light Operational Center (BLOC), which he described as “an agency through United States customs that we're in access with ... for the check of the wanted persons or the vehicle, the criminal history, [and] the driver's license.” Sgt. Cass provided BLOC with information on the SUV, Perez's driver's license, and Defendant's Texas identification card, and answered BLOC's questions regarding Defendant and Perez's route from Kentucky to South Carolina. At some point while Sgt. Cass and Perez were in the cruiser, BLOC verified “that everything was good.”

After issuing a warning citation to Perez, Sgt. Cass asked her if there was any contraband, weapons or large quantities of cash in the SUV, and she indicated there was not. Sgt. Cass then asked her if he could search the SUV, but Perez did not consent. Sgt. Cass then asked Defendant if there was any contraband in the SUV, and she stated there was none. Sgt. Cass informed the women that he had requested that a canine trained in drug detection inspect the SUV. Approximately ten minutes later, Sgt. Elliott ¹ arrived and walked a canine around the SUV. The canine “alerted” on the SUV, indicating a possible presence of narcotics. Based on the dog's reaction, Sgt. Cass, Sgt. Elliott, and a third officer searched the SUV and recovered a large quantity of marijuana located in the SUV.

Defendant was arrested and was indicted on 11 August 2008 for trafficking in marijuana by possession and trafficking in marijuana by transporting. Perez was not indicted on any charges. On 12 September 2008, Defendant filed a motion to suppress the marijuana recovered from the search of the SUV. On 3 August 2009, a hearing on Defendant's motion to suppress was held. Sgt. Cass testified at the hearing, and a video of the stop, including audio portions, was admitted into evidence.

The trial court denied Defendant's motion to suppress on 5 August 2009. Defendant entered into a plea agreement whereby she would plead guilty to one count of trafficking marijuana in exchange for the dismissal of the second count. On 3 November 2009, judgment was entered and Defendant was sentenced to an active term of twenty-five to thirty months. Defendant appeals.

I.

Defendant has petitioned our Court for writ of certiorari out of precaution that her right to appeal was not preserved. We have reviewed the record and believe Defendant's right to appeal in this matter is preserved. Defendant timely filed a written notice to appeal the denial of her motion to suppress. On 28 October 2009, the trial court accepted Defendant's plea agreement with the State. At the plea hearing, both Defendant's counsel and the trial court indicated Defendant would be appealing the denial of the motion to suppress. On 3 November 2009, judgment was entered. At the sentencing hearing, the State, Defendant's counsel, and the trial court all proceeded as if Defendant had properly entered notice of appeal.

Because the transcript from the sentencing hearing does not include an express statement of Defendant's intent to appeal, we have no way of knowing whether Defendant's counsel gave oral notice of appeal before transcription of the proceedings began. However, the record reflects that the State, the trial court, and Defendant's counsel all proceeded as if proper notice of appeal had been properly noted. Upon Defendant's request, the trial court appointed the Appellate Defender's Office to represent her, and stayed the execution of judgment pending resolution of the matter in the Court of Appeals. The trial court stated in its Appellate Entries form that “[D]efendant has given Notice of Appeal to the N.C. Court of Appeals,” and “ordered that [Defendant] is allowed to appeal as an indigent.”

Where we presume the “regularity and correctness” of the actions of the trial court unless the record proves otherwise, In re A.R.H.B. & C.C.H.L, 186 N.C.App. 211, 219, 651 S.E.2d 247, 253 (2007), we do not believe, on these facts, that the trial court's finding that Defendant gave notice of appeal is sufficiently contradicted by the record. We therefore address the merits of Defendant's appeal.

II.

Defendant first contends the trial court lacked competent evidence to support Findings of Fact 4, 5, and 9, arguing that there was no competent evidence to support them. As Defendant does not challenge the remaining findings of fact, they are binding on this Court. See State v. Biber, 365 N.C. 162, 167, 712 S.E.2d 874, 878 (2011) (“[W]hen, as here, the trial court's findings of fact are not challenged on and are binding on appeal.”).

Our standard of review for the denial of a motion to suppress is as follows:

[T]he trial court's findings of fact are conclusive on appeal if supported by competent evidence, even if the evidence is conflicting. This Court must not disturb the trial court's conclusions if they are supported by the court's factual findings. However, the trial court's conclusions of law are fully reviewable on appeal. At a suppression hearing, conflicts in the evidence are to be resolved by the trial court. The trial court must make findings of fact resolving any material conflict in the evidence.

State v. McArn, 159 N.C.App. 209, 211–12, 582 S.E.2d 371, 373–74 (2003) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). Moreover,

[a]n appellate court accords great deference to the trial court's ruling on a motion to suppress because the trial court is entrusted with the duty to hear testimony (thereby observing the demeanor of the witnesses) and to weigh and resolve any conflicts in the evidence. Our review of a trial court's denial of a motion to suppress is strictly limited to a determination of whether [its] findings are supported by competent evidence, and in turn, whether the findings support the trial court's ultimate conclusion.

State v. Hernandez, 170 N.C.App. 299, 303–04, 612 S.E.2d 420, 423 (2005) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted).

In general, “[t]he scope of the detention must be carefully tailored to its underlying justification.” Florida v. Royer, 460 U.S. 491, 500, 103 S.Ct. 1319, 1325, 75 L.Ed.2d 229, 238 (1983). This Court requires that “[t]he stop ... be based on specific and articulable facts, as well as the rational inferences from those facts, as viewed through the eyes of a reasonable, cautious officer, guided by his experience and training.” State v. Watkins, 337 N.C. 437, 441, 446 S.E.2d 67, 70 (1994) (citing Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 21–22, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 1879–81, 20 L.Ed.2d 889, 906 (1968)). “A court must consider the totality of the circumstances—the whole picture' in determining whether a reasonable suspicion to make an investigatory stop exists.” Watkins, 337 N.C. at 441, 446 S.E.2d at 70 (quoting United States v. Cortez, 449 U.S. 411, 417, 101 S.Ct. 690, 695, 66 L.Ed.2d 621, 629 (1981)).

In Finding of Fact 4, the trial court found that Sgt. Cass asked Perez where they were coming from, and “Perez eventually stated they were coming from Houston, Texas, even though they were traveling south on the interstate.”...