State v. DeLaRosa

• Decision Date: 12 February 2003
• Docket Number: No. 22231, No. 22232.
• Citation: 657 N.W.2d 683,2003 SD 18
• Parties: STATE of South Dakota, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. Edward DE LA ROSA, Defendant and Appellee. State of South Dakota, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. Lane Stocker, Defendant and Appellee.
• Court: South Dakota Supreme Court

657 N.W.2d 683

2003 SD 18

STATE of South Dakota, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. Edward DE LA ROSA, Defendant and Appellee.

State of South Dakota, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. Lane Stocker, Defendant and Appellee.

Nos. 22231, 22232.

Supreme Court of South Dakota.

Argued October 9, 2002.

Reassigned December 16, 2002.

Decided February 12, 2003.

Lawrence E. Long, Attorney General, Patricia Archer, Assistant Attorney General, Pierre, South Dakota, Attorneys for appellant.

Candi L. Thomson of Morman Law Firm, Sturgis, South Dakota, Attorney for appellee De La Rosa.

Robert A. Haivala, Sturgis, South Dakota, Attorney for appellee Stocker.

GILBERTSON, Chief Justice (on reassignment).

[¶ 1.] Edward De La Rosa and Lane Stocker were arrested and charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance (SDCL 22-42-5) and Possession of Two Ounces or Less of Marijuana (SDCL 22-42-6). Both Defendants filed Motions to Suppress the drug evidence seized during a traffic stop on August 7, 2001. After an evidentiary hearing, the trial court entered its decision granting the motions to suppress. The State appeals claiming no constitutional violation occurs when a motorist is briefly detained for a few seconds beyond the conclusion of a traffic stop for a canine sniff of the vehicle's exterior. We agree and reverse the trial court.

FACTS

[¶ 2.] During the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, on August 7, 2001, De La Rosa was pulled over in Sturgis, South Dakota for failure to use his left turn signal. De La Rosa identified himself as being from Denver, Colorado. The arresting officer, Steve Marquardt, was an 18-year veteran of the South Dakota Highway Patrol on duty with his drug detection canine named Tess. After confirming that De La Rosa's turn signal was in working order, Trooper Marquardt requested that De La Rosa accompany him to his patrol car. The trooper performed a radio check for warrants and a license check, which checks eventually came back clear, and he issued a warning citation for the signal violation.

[¶ 3.] Trooper Marquardt testified that once he returned De La Rosa's documents and issued the warning citation, the traffic stop was completed but that he did not inform De La Rosa that he was free to go. Rather, he had De La Rosa stand in front of the patrol car while he used Tess to perform a sniff test on De La Rosa's truck. Before beginning the sniff test, Officer Marquardt approached the passenger side of the truck and requested that the passenger, Defendant Lane Stocker, exit the vehicle. She did so, and Tess began her work. Tess indicated that there were drugs in the passenger compartment of the truck. A search of Stocker's purse revealed marijuana. A further search of Stocker's travel bag in the back of the pickup revealed some peyote and more marijuana. Both Stocker and De La Rosa were arrested.

[¶ 4.] The State has conceded that at the time the sniff test was performed, De La Rosa's traffic stop was completed and that Trooper Marquardt had no particularized suspicion that illegal drugs were in the vehicle. Thus, the sole question on appeal is whether there is a violation of the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article IV § 11 of the South Dakota Constitution (collectively Fourth Amendment) when a motorist's detention at a valid traffic stop is briefly extended for a canine sniff of the vehicle's exterior, when the officer has a drug canine at his immediate disposal. Based on a totality of the circumstances, we hold that the facts of this case result in no constitutional violation. We reverse the circuit court's grant of the Defendants' motions to suppress the evidence seized.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

[¶ 5.] In reviewing a motion to suppress based on an alleged violation of a constitutional right, we utilize the de novo standard. State v. Rechtenbach, 2002 SD 96, ¶ 6, 650 N.W.2d 290, 292 (citing State v. Hodges, 2001 SD 93, ¶ 8, 631 N.W.2d 206, 209). Findings of fact are reviewed under the clearly erroneous standard. Hodges, 2001 SD 93, ¶ 8, 631 N.W.2d at 209. "Once the facts have been determined, however, the application of a legal standard to those facts is a question of law reviewed de novo." State v. Hirning, 1999 SD 53, ¶ 8, 592 N.W.2d 600, 603 (citing Spenner v. City of Sioux Falls, 1998 SD 56, ¶ 13, 580 N.W.2d 606, 610). The facts in this case are not disputed so our review is de novo.

[¶ 6.] DOES A CONSTITUTIONAL FOURTH AMENDMENT VIOLATION OCCUR WHEN A MOTORIST'S DETENTION AT A VALID TRAFFIC STOP IS BRIEFLY EXTENDED FOR A CANINE SNIFF OF THE VEHICLE'S EXTERIOR, WHERE THE OFFICER HAS THE DRUG CANINE AT HIS IMMEDIATE DISPOSAL.

[¶ 7.] The Fourth Amendment protects citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures by government officials. US Const. amend. IV. Police officers are generally required to have a warrant issued by a judicial officer based on probable cause in order to seize an individual of his or her property. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 20, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 1879, 20 L.Ed.2d 889, 905 (1968) (additional citations omitted). However, in Terry, 392 U.S. at 23,88 S.Ct. at 1881, 20 L.Ed.2d at 906-7, the United States Supreme Court has recognized the need to allow police officers to safely and effectively perform their functions. The Terry line of cases establishes that when a person is subject to an "investigative detention" rather than a full-blown custodial arrest, the officer need only have reasonable suspicion for the detention rather than the probable cause typically required. Id. at 30, 88 S.Ct. at 1884-85. An investigatory stop satisfies the Fourth Amendment if the officer's action is supported by reasonable suspicion to believe that criminal activity "may be afoot." Terry, 392 U.S. at 30,88 S.Ct. at 1884,20 L.Ed.2d at 911.¹

[¶ 8.] There is no dispute that Trooper Marquardt was within constitutional bounds when he initially stopped De La Rosa. State v. Vento, 1999 SD 158, ¶ 8, 604 N.W.2d 468, 470 (citing State v. Cuny, 534 N.W.2d 52, 53 (S.D.1995)) (holding that an officer must have "specific and articulable suspicion of a violation" for a traffic stop to be permissible). The State concedes, however, that at the time the sniff test was conducted on the exterior of De La Rosa's vehicle, the initial traffic stop was complete, and Trooper Marquardt had no particularized suspicion there were illegal drugs in the Defendant's vehicle.

[¶ 9.] The Fourth Amendment to the constitution only prohibits unreasonable "search and seizures." When this "constitutional standard" of reasonableness is measured by the totality of the circumstances, "we should not be governed by artificial distinctions." Currency, 182 F.3d at 649. The touchstone of Fourth Amendment constitutional analysis is "the reasonableness in all the circumstances of the particular governmental invasion of a citizen's personal security." Pennsylvania v. Mimms, 434 U.S. 106, 108-109, 98 S.Ct. 330, 332, 54 L.Ed.2d 331, 333 (1977) (quoting Terry, 392 U.S. at 19, 88 S.Ct. at 1878, 20 L.Ed.2d at 906); State v. Lamont, 2001 SD 92, ¶ 38, 631 N.W.2d 603, 616. Reasonableness depends "on a balance between the public interest and the individual's right to personal security free from arbitrary interference by law officers." Mimms, 434 U.S. at 109, 98 S.Ct. at 332, 54 L.Ed.2d at 333 (citations omitted). The public interest in the suppression of illegal drugs and their devastating effect on our citizens is obvious.

Few problems affecting the health and welfare of our population, particularly our young, cause greater concern than the escalating use of controlled substances... [a]nd many drugs ... may be easily concealed. As a result, the obstacles to detection of illegal conduct may be unmatched in any other area of law enforcement.

United States v. Mendenhall, 446 U.S. 544, 561-62, 100 S.Ct. 1870, 1881, 64 L.Ed.2d 497 (1980). (Powell, J., concurring.)

[¶ 10.] There is no question the initial stop of the Defendant's vehicle was valid based upon the Trooper's eyewitness observation that a traffic violation had occurred. SDCL ch 32-26 (motor vehicle rules of the road). For purposes of analysis of the issue before us, this also satisfied the constitutional standard of reasonable suspicion for that stop. Vento, 1999 SD 158, ¶ 8, 604 N.W.2d at 470. From that point, the Defendants invite this Court to dissect the facts into two distinct events, those involving the normal checks of a driver's license and proof of insurance and second, the use of the drug dog to sniff around the exterior of the Defendant's vehicle. The Defendants argue the dog sniffing of the vehicle is constitutionally unreasonable based on an analysis of lack of reasonable suspicion.²

[¶ 11.] The lack of reasonable suspicion, however, does not automatically equate with unconstitutional conduct on the part of the officer.³ Here, the officer had the dog at hand in his vehicle, and the Defendants concede the sniffing activity was of a short duration. Had there been no "hits," the delay to the motorists would have been a matter of seconds. We cannot accept the premise that while the State's interest in drug interdiction is compelling, a few seconds delay for non-entry sniffing the exterior of a vehicle by a dog already on the scene is constitutionally unreasonable.⁴ [¶ 12.] Our analysis is guided by a two-fold test: [1] "whether the officer's action was justified at its inception" and [2] "whether it was reasonably related in scope to the circumstances which justified the interference in the first place." Terry, 392 U.S. at 19-20,88 S.Ct. at 1879,20 L.Ed.2d at 906. Concerning the disputed second prong, it is hardly constitutionally consistent to hold that what the officer did in first checking the Defendant's papers and then doing the sniff test to be constitutionally impermissible, yet conclude in the alternative that Trooper Marquardt would have been constitutionally justified in the sniff test had he done it before the traffic stop was finished. Constitutional rights should be...