State v. Brake
| Decision Date | 31 May 2002 |
| Docket Number | No. 20010204-CA.,20010204-CA. |
| Citation | 51 P.3d 31,2002 UT App 190 |
| Parties | STATE of Utah, Appellee, v. Angie BRAKE, Appellant. |
| Court | Utah Court of Appeals |
Margaret P. Lindsay, Aldrich Nelson Weight & Esplin, Provo, for Appellant.
Mark L. Shurtleff, Attorney General, and Kenneth A. Bronston, Assistant Attorney General, Salt Lake City, for Appellee.
Before Judges BENCH, ORME, and THORNE.
¶ 1 Appellant Angie Brake (Brake) appeals from a conviction for Attempted Possession of a Controlled Substance, a class A misdemeanor, in violation of Utah Code Ann. § 58-37-8(2)(a)(i) (Supp.1999). We affirm.
¶ 2 On January 29, 2000, at approximately 11:45 p.m., Utah County Deputy Sheriff Neil Castleberry (Castleberry) observed two vehicles stopped in a small pullout on the side of the road west of the Geneva Steel plant. Castleberry pulled up behind the vehicles to inquire whether the occupants of either vehicle needed assistance. Because he was merely inquiring whether anyone needed assistance, Castleberry did not have his emergency lights on when he approached the vehicles. Castleberry, however, was aware that the vehicles were stopped in an area "known for frequent criminal activity."
¶ 3 Upon exiting his vehicle, Castleberry approached one of the two vehicles, a green Nissan, which he believed had the engine running. Castleberry observed a young woman in the driver's seat. He asked the woman to roll down the window, which she did, and then he asked for her driver license. The woman told Castleberry that she was fifteen years-old and that she did not have a driver license. The woman also told Castleberry that she had not been driving the vehicle. Castleberry then inquired about the vehicle's owner, and the woman told him that the vehicle's owner was sitting in the backseat.
¶ 4 Because the vehicle's windows were fogged, Castleberry was unable to see clearly into the backseat. He was able, however, to see that two persons, a male and a female, were sitting in the backseat. Because his vision was obscured, Castleberry opened the backseat door to speak to the two persons. Brake, who was sitting in the backseat, identified herself as both the vehicle's owner and the driver. Brake told Castleberry that she and the others, including the individuals in the other vehicle, were from Sanpete County. She also told Castleberry that she had changed seats with the fifteen-year-old when they arrived at their current location.
¶ 5 Castleberry asked Brake for her identification. Brake told Castleberry that her identification was in her purse and pointed to the front passenger seat, where no one was sitting. Because the purse was located "in a dark area over which he h[ad] no control[,]"1 Castleberry decided, for safety reasons, to retrieve the purse himself. Castleberry walked around to the passenger side of the front seat and opened the vehicle door to retrieve the purse. As Castleberry reached inside the vehicle to remove the purse, he saw, in plain view, a white bindle next to the purse near the vehicle's console.
¶ 6 Castleberry picked up the purse and asked for its owner. Someone sitting in the Nissan told Castleberry that the purse belonged to "Lilly," and that she was sitting in the other vehicle. Castleberry took the purse and the bindle over to the other vehicle. He opened the vehicle's door and asked for Lilly. Castleberry also asked the persons sitting in the vehicle if the purse belonged to Lilly. One of the two persons identified herself as Lilly and told Castleberry that she owned the purse. Lilly, however, denied owning the bindle. Castleberry had Lilly exit the vehicle and continued to question her at his patrol car. He also tested the white powdery substance contained in the bindle, which tested positive for cocaine.
¶ 7 Castleberry proceeded back to the Nissan and asked the three individuals who owned the cocaine. Castleberry received no response from them. Unable to determine who owned the cocaine, Castleberry told Brake that she would be arrested if no one claimed ownership because she owned the vehicle. Brake then admitted that the cocaine belonged to her and that she and the others had used the cocaine throughout the evening. Castleberry arrested Brake and called for backup. A subsequent search of the Nissan uncovered drug paraphernalia.
¶ 8 Brake was bound over on charges of possessing a controlled substance and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia. Brake subsequently filed a motion to suppress both the cocaine and her incriminating statements.2 The trial court denied Brake's Motion as it pertained to the admissibility of the cocaine and granted her Motion pertaining to her incriminating statements.
¶ 9 In denying that portion of Brake's Motion to Suppress, the trial court concluded that opening the vehicle's front passenger door to retrieve the purse was justifiable under the officer safety exception to the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement. The trial court relied upon the following facts in reaching its decision:
¶ 10 As a result of the trial court's decision, Brake pleaded guilty to attempted possession of a controlled substance. She conditioned her plea on the right to appeal the trial court's partial denial of her Motion to Suppress. This appeal followed.
¶ 11 Brake argues the trial court erred by denying that portion of her Motion to Suppress alleging that by opening the passenger door to obtain the purse, Castleberry's actions constituted an impermissible warrantless search. In reviewing a motion to suppress, "[a] trial court's factual findings are reviewed deferentially under the clearly erroneous standard, and its conclusions of law are reviewed for correctness with some discretion given to the application of the legal standards to the underlying factual findings." State v. Loya, 2001 UT App 3, ¶ 6, 18 P.3d 1116.
¶ 12 Brake argues that Castleberry conducted an impermissible warrantless search when he opened the Nissan's front passenger door to retrieve the purse, and therefore, violated her Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizures. To support her argument, Brake relies upon State v. Schlosser, 774 P.2d 1132 (Utah 1989).
¶ 13 In Schlosser, a Utah Highway Patrol trooper stopped a vehicle for a traffic violation. See id. at 1133. As the vehicle pulled to the side of the road, the trooper observed the defendant, a passenger in the vehicle, "bending forward, acting fidgety, turning to the left and to the right, and turning back to look at the [trooper]." Id. The movement drew the trooper's attention.
¶ 14 After the vehicle stopped, the driver exited the vehicle, approached the trooper, and presented the trooper his license and registration. See id. at 1133-34. All the while, the trooper noticed that the defendant "continued to move about the cab of the truck." Id. at 1134. As a result of the defendant's behavior, the trooper concluded that the defendant "was trying to hide something." Id. The trooper approached the passenger side of the vehicle, tapped on the window, and opened the door. See id. The trooper "scanned the interior of the truck for contraband and saw a bag of marijuana in the passenger door pocket." Id. The trooper also "smelled marijuana smoke." Id. The trooper arrested both the defendant and the driver.
¶ 15 The defendant moved to suppress the marijuana.3 The trial court granted the defendant's motion and suppressed "all the evidence seized." Id. The trial court concluded that the trooper "acted on `a mere suspicion that the defendant ... was engaged in criminal activity,' and had no legal basis for the search and seizure." Id. (citation omitted). The State appealed.
¶ 17 Finally, the court explained that the trooper "cited no safety concerns as the basis for his actions; he sought only to investigate the possibility that defendants were engaged in illegal activity." Id. at 1137. Because of the safety concerns in the present case, we conclude that Schlosser is inapplicable to the present matter.
¶ 18 The facts and the reasoning set forth in New York v. Class, 475 U.S. 106, 106 S.Ct. 960, 89 L.Ed.2d 81 (1986), are applicable to the present matter. In Class, the United States Supreme Court held that a minimally intrusive warrantless search was justified in light of the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches when balanced against concerns for police officer safety. See id. at 117-18, 106 S.Ct. at 967-68.
...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
State v. Brake
...Addressing only the issue of the lawfulness of the search of the sedan, the court of appeals affirmed the trial court. State v. Brake, 2002 UT App 190, ¶ 1, 51 P.3d 31. We granted certiorari to review the court of appeals' holding that considerations of officer safety rendered Sergeant Cast......