State v. Cobbs
| Decision Date | 12 November 1985 |
| Docket Number | No. 8631,8631 |
| Citation | 711 P.2d 900,103 N.M. 623,1985 NMCA 105 |
| Parties | STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. James Eddie COBBS, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | Court of Appeals of New Mexico |
From an order suppressing evidence, the state appeals. NMSA 1978, Sec. 39-3-3(B). We reverse and remand.
In its docketing statement, the state raised two issues. The first issue was whether the patdown search of the defendant was justified, and, second, whether the search of the defendant's jacket pockets exceeded the permissible scope of a patdown search for weapons. With the filing of its brief-in-chief, the state moved to amend its docketing statement to add two additional arguments: first, whether the discovery of a syringe during the patdown provided probable cause for the further search which led to the discovery of the cocaine; and, second, whether the discovery of the syringe could be justified as the result of a search incident to a lawful arrest. We deferred ruling on the motion pending consideration on the merits. Because we rule that the frisk was justified and remand for a further fact-finding, we need not reach those issues presented by the motion. Instead, we remand the case to the district court to determine whether the scope of the officer's patdown of the defendant exceeded permissible limits; and if the scope of the patdown was within permissible limits, whether after discovering the syringe, the officer's search of the defendant was justified.
For the purposes of clarity, we order our discussion as follows:
1) Whether Officer Pell had "reasonable suspicion" to believe that the defendant was engaged in criminal activity;
2) Whether the officer's protective patdown of the defendant was permissible;
a. Whether the officer erred in failing to question the defendant prior to conducting the patdown;
b. Whether the patdown exceeded constitutional limits because prior to performing the patdown, the officer had no particularized belief that the defendant was presently armed and presently dangerous; and
c. When the right to conduct a protective search arises.
On February 9, 1985, at about 11:40 p.m., Officer Pell of the Hobbs Police Department received a dispatch to investigate "suspicious persons" and a possible residential burglary in progress. According to the dispatch, two men were repeatedly approaching the rear door of a residence and then returning to their vehicle. Their vehicle was parked behind the residence. There was evidence that the dispatcher had reported that the two men were sitting in the vehicle.
When Officer Pell arrived at the scene, he observed a car parked behind the residence with its lights on and two passengers sitting in it. About two minutes after the officer began surveillance, the vehicle started to leave. At that point, Officer Pell turned on the lights of his patrol car and pulled the car over. After stopping the car, the officer left his patrol car, drew his revolver, and ordered the two men out of their vehicle. He ordered the men to lean against their car with their hands on the hood. The officer kept the men in that position while awaiting the arrival of another officer. Apparently, the officer did not question the suspects or request any identification until sometime following the patdowns.
When the second officer arrived, each officer patted down a suspect. Officer Pell patted down the defendant. In the course of the patdown, the officer felt a hard object, approximately three inches long, in the right front pocket of the defendant's jacket. The officer thought that the object might be a pocket knife. Based upon that belief, he reached into the pocket in order to identify the object. When he did, a sharp object pricked his hand, and he immediately pulled his hand out of the pocket. The officer then put his hand back into the pocket in order to discover what had stuck him. He discovered a syringe.
When he discovered the syringe, Officer Pell began a search of the defendant for narcotics. In the defendant's left front jacket pocket, the officer found a plastic bag, the contents of which were later determined to be cocaine.
Officer Pell, an eight-year veteran of military and civilian police work, justified the patdowns of the suspects on the basis of the nature of the dispatch. Because he was called to investigate suspicious persons and a possible burglary in progress, the officer reasoned that the suspects might be armed or dangerous. The officer's concern for his safety was prompted only by the nature of the radio call. The suspects apparently were cooperative and displayed no violent tendencies.
Concerning his search of the defendant for narcotics, Officer Pell testified that, based upon his police experience, the discovery of the open needle suggested its use for injecting narcotics into the body. Additionally, the needle appeared to have been used; a wet substance was inside the syringe.
After he discovered the narcotics, the officer arrested the defendant, read to him his Miranda rights, and placed him in the back seat of the patrol car. Later, after defendant had been transported to the police station, two additional syringes were found in Officer Pell's patrol car. Those syringes were traced to the defendant.
Defendant moved to suppress introduction of the cocaine on the basis that the cocaine was seized as the result of an unlawful search and unlawful arrest. At the hearing on defendant's motion, the trial judge did not allow argument because he had read the defendant's brief and the preliminary hearing transcript. The court granted the motion to suppress without expressly articulating any findings or rulings. Based upon a colloquy between the court and Officer Pell, the court apparently disapproved of the officer's failure to question the defendant prior to conducting the patdown. Due to the uncertain nature of the court's ruling, however, we will review the stop and the frisk, beginning with an analysis of whether the stop was justified.
This court has recognized that, in appropriate circumstances, a police officer may detain a person in order to investigate possible criminal activity, even if there is no probable cause to make an arrest. State v. Galvan, 90 N.M. 129, 560 P.2d 550 (Ct.App.1977). "Appropriate circumstances" arise from the officer's "reasonable suspicion" that the law is being or has been broken. Id. See also Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968); United States v. Brignoni-Ponce, 422 U.S. 873, 95 S.Ct. 2574, 45 L.Ed.2d 607 (1975). The officer must be able to base such "reasonable suspicion" upon specific articulable facts, together with rational inferences from those facts. Terry v. Ohio. Those facts and accompanying inferences must provide the basis for the reasonable suspicion. State v. Galvan. Unsupported intuition and inarticulate hunches are not sufficient. Id.
Reasonable suspicion is measured by an objective standard. In analyzing the sufficiency of the facts and inferences, the critical inquiry is: "Would the facts available to the officer warrant the officer, as a person of reasonable caution, to believe the action taken was appropriate." Id. 90 N.M. at 131, 560 P.2d at 552, citing State v. Hilliard, 81 N.M. 407, 467 P.2d 733 (Ct.App.1970).
Accordingly, our first inquiry is to determine what facts were available to Officer Pell and what inferences logically flowed from those facts. First, the officer was dispatched to investigate "suspicious persons" and a possible residential burglary in progress. Second, the dispatcher told the officer that the suspects were repeatedly approaching the rear of the residence and then returning to a vehicle parked at the back of the residence. Finally, the dispatcher informed Officer Pell that the suspects were presently seated in the vehicle.
When the officer arrived at the scene, there indeed was a vehicle parked at the rear of the home, and two persons were inside the automobile. Therefore, from the situation the officer encountered, he could logically infer that, based upon the information in the dispatch, these men and this vehicle were the subjects of the dispatch. The contents of the dispatch plus his own observations thus formed his reasonable suspicion that the men might have been engaged in criminal activity.
The next inquiry is whether Officer Pell's reasonable suspicion can satisfy the objective test: Would the information relayed in the dispatch combined with the officer's observations, which basically corroborated the dispatch, warrant a person of reasonable caution in believing that criminal activity was possibly afoot, thus necessitating an investigatory stop? State v. Galvan. Clearly, these articulable facts, supported by corroborating personal observation and logical inferences, would prompt a reasonable person to conclude that these suspects might be involved in criminal conduct:
A police officer directed to a location by a general radio call cannot reasonably be instructed to close his eyes to reality--neither the officer nor justice can be that blind. The officer was rightfully and dutifully on the scene and could not ignore possible indications of criminality, nor is there any logical reason for him to reject the natural mental connection between newly encountered facts and the substance of the radio message.
People v. Benjamin, 51 N.Y.2d 267, 271, 434 N.Y.S.2d 144, 146, 414 N.E.2d 645, 647 (1980).
Upon these bases, we conclude that the trial court could have found that Officer Pell was amply justified in stopping the defendant. The record does not suggest that the trial court thought otherwise.
The trial court evidently...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Lantion v. Commonwealth of Virginia, Record No. 2617-05-4 (Va. App. 12/18/2007)
...is enough," id., to satisfy the reasonable suspicion standard. 4. See, e.g., State v. Schneider, 389 N.W.2d 604, 605 (N.D. 1986); Cobbs, 711 P.2d at 907; People v. Moore, 295 N.E.2d 780, 783-84 (N.Y. 1973); State v. Lackey, 444 N.E.2d 1047, 1049 n.2 (Ohio Ct. App. 1981) (holding "it is not ......
-
State v. Flores
...1065 (D.C.Cir.1986) (listing cases in which courts have taken notice that drug dealers are often armed); cf. State v. Cobbs, 103 N.M. 623, 630, 711 P.2d 900, 907 (Ct.App.1985) (because burglary is type of crime for which offender might be armed, officer had right to frisk suspect); State v.......
-
State v. Vandenberg
...¶ 12, 122 N.M. 232, 923 P.2d 599). "Unsupported intuition and inarticulate hunches are not sufficient." State v. Cobbs, 103 N.M. 623, 626, 711 P.2d 900, 903 (Ct.App.1985). We agree with the analysis of both the district court and the Court of Appeals that Officer Roberts reasonably suspecte......
-
State v. Murillo
...here because Gonzales did not have articulable facts giving rise to reasonable suspicion to support the stop. State v. Cobbs, 103 N.M. 623, 711 P.2d 900 (Ct.App.1985). The district judge did not hear argument from the state, but ruled from the bench at the close of defendant's argument. The......