State v. Fields

• Decision Date: 03 June 2003
• Docket Number: No. 20020269.,20020269.
• Parties: STATE of North Dakota, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. Christopher Ray FIELDS, Defendant and Appellee.
• Court: North Dakota Supreme Court

662 N.W.2d 242

2003 ND 81

STATE of North Dakota, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. Christopher Ray FIELDS, Defendant and Appellee.

No. 20020269.

Supreme Court of North Dakota.

June 3, 2003.

Ladd R. Erickson, Special Assistant State's Attorney, Washburn, ND, for plaintiff and appellant.

Steven M. Light (argued) and Lindsey D. Haugen (appeared), Larivee & Light, Grand Forks, ND, for defendant and appellee.

MARING, Justice.

[¶ 1] The State of North Dakota appeals from the Memorandum Opinion and Order granting Christopher Fields' Motion to Suppress. We affirm.

[¶ 2] At approximately 3:24 a.m. on May 28, 2002, a Morton County Sheriff's Deputy noticed Christopher Fields driving his vehicle on the 1000 block of 6th Avenue Northwest in Mandan. The officer initiated a traffic stop. Earlier that morning, the officer had been informed that the license tags on Fields' vehicle were expired. The officer was also told by another officer that the drug task force had information that Fields had received a shipment of drugs a few days earlier. The officer knew Fields from a previous arrest on drug charges and knew that, according to other officers and a confidential informant, Fields was continuing to deal drugs.

[¶ 3] During the stop, Fields was asked for his driver's license, registration, and proof of insurance. Fields provided his driver's license, but did not have his registration or proof of insurance. The officer testified that Fields was acting nervous during the stop. When asked why he was driving so late at night, Fields told the officer that he was on his way to a convenience store to buy milk and cereal.

[¶ 4] After the officer issued Fields a citation for the expired tags, he said goodbye, turned, and began to walk away. The officer then reapproached the vehicle and asked Fields if he had any drugs or weapons in the vehicle. Fields said that he did not. The officer next asked for Fields' consent to search the vehicle. Fields refused consent. At this point, the officer informed Fields he was calling for a drug detection dog to do a canine search of the outside of the vehicle. The officer asked Fields to exit his vehicle and stand next to him. It took approximately 30 minutes for the drug detection dog to arrive on the scene. When the dog arrived, it made a few passes and then gave positive indications on the vehicle. The vehicle was searched, revealing a loaded gun and illegal drugs.

[¶ 5] Fields filed a motion to suppress the evidence discovered during the vehicle search. He argued that the evidence found during the vehicle search should be excluded because the officer lacked a reasonable and articulable suspicion to continue the detention after the original purpose of the traffic stop had been completed and because the officer did not have probable cause to search the vehicle. The trial court granted Fields' Motion to Suppress. The State appeals.

I

[¶ 6] The trial court's disposition of a motion to suppress will be affirmed unless, after resolving conflicting evidence in favor of affirmance, there is insufficient competent evidence fairly capable of supporting the trial court's findings or the decision is contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence. See City of Fargo v. Ovind, 1998 ND 69, ¶ 6, 575 N.W.2d 901. This deferential standard of review recognizes the importance of the trial court's opportunity to assess the credibility of the witnesses. See id. "The ultimate conclusion of whether the facts support a reasonable and articulable suspicion is a fully reviewable question of law." Id.

II

[¶ 7] Neither party disputes the fact that the initial stop of Fields' vehicle was proper. As we have previously explained, "traffic violations, even if considered common or minor, constitute prohibited conduct and, therefore, provide officers with requisite suspicion for conducting investigatory stops." State v. Storbakken, 552 N.W.2d 78, 80-81 (N.D.1996). In this case, the officer had earlier been told that Fields' vehicle had expired tabs. When the officer saw the vehicle being driven and verified that the tabs were expired, he had probable cause to believe the law was being violated and, therefore, properly initiated a traffic stop. See Whren v. United States, 517 U.S. 806, 810, 116 S.Ct. 1769, 135 L.Ed.2d 89 (1996) ("As a general matter, the decision to stop an automobile is reasonable where the police have probable cause to believe that a traffic violation has occurred.").

[¶ 8] When conducting a traffic stop, an officer can temporarily detain the traffic violator at the scene of the violation. See State v. Mertz, 362 N.W.2d 410, 412 (N.D.1985) (citing N.D.C.C. §§ 39-07-07 and 39-07-09). The constitutionality of an investigative detention is judged under the framework established in Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 20, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968), requiring that an investigative detention be "reasonably related in scope to the circumstances which justified the interference in the first place." This Court has explained that for traffic stops, "[a] reasonable period of detention includes the amount of time necessary for the officer to complete his duties resulting from the traffic stop." Mertz, at 412. Those duties, according to the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, may include:

request[ing] the driver's license and registration, request[ing] that the driver step out of the vehicle, request[ing] that the driver wait in the patrol car, conduct[ing] computer inquiries to determine the validity of the license and registration, conduct[ing] computer searches to investigate the driver's criminal history and to determine if the driver has outstanding warrants, and mak[ing] inquiries as to the motorist's destination and purpose.

United States v. Jones, 269 F.3d 919, 924 (8th Cir.2001). The investigative detention may continue "as long as reasonably necessary to conduct these activities and to issue a warning or citation." Id. at 925; see also Mertz, at 412 ("[A] traffic violator is subject to the arresting officer's authority and restraint until the officer completes issuance of the traffic citation and expressly releases the violator.").

[¶ 9] In this case, the officer issued Fields a citation for the expired tabs and expressly released Fields by saying goodbye, turning around, and starting to walk back to his vehicle. After the officer issued the traffic citation, the legitimate investigative purposes of the traffic stop were completed. See Jones, 269 F.3d at 925 (stating that once the trooper had determined that the driver was not tired or intoxicated, had verified that the driver's license and registration were valid, and had checked for any outstanding arrest warrants, the legitimate investigative purposes of the traffic stop were completed).

III

[¶ 10] Once the purposes of the initial traffic stop are completed, a continued seizure of a traffic violator violates the Fourth Amendment unless the officer has a reasonable suspicion for believing that criminal activity is afoot. See Jones, 269 F.3d at 925. Therefore, the constitutional inquiry in this case is reduced to two determinations: whether Fields was "seized" within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment when he was held awaiting the arrival of the drug detection dog, and if so, whether there was a reasonable suspicion to support the seizure. See id.

A

[¶ 11] This Court has recognized that "a person has been `seized' within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment only if, in view of all of the circumstances surrounding the incident, a reasonable person would have believed that he was not free to leave." State v. Koskela, 329 N.W.2d 587, 589 (N.D.1983) (quoting United States v. Mendenhall, 446 U.S. 544, 554, 100 S.Ct. 1870, 64 L.Ed.2d 497 (1980)). In United States v. Beck, 140 F.3d 1129 (8th Cir. 1998), the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit was confronted with a situation similar to the one in this case. In Beck, the driver was stopped for following another vehicle too closely. The officer checked the driver's license, rental agreement, and criminal history before giving him a verbal warning and telling him he was free to go. The officer started walking away, but returned to ask the driver if he had any guns, drugs, or knives in the vehicle. The officer asked for consent to search the vehicle, but the driver did not give consent. The officer then radioed for a canine unit and told the driver that a drug sniff of the vehicle would be conducted. The officer instructed the driver to get out of the vehicle and to stand by the side of the car. When the canine unit arrived, the dog alerted to the passenger side rear door of the vehicle. A search was conducted and methamphetamine was discovered. In determining whether the driver had been "seized" for Fourth Amendment purposes, the court concluded:

[W]e do not believe a person in Beck's situation, who had been present when a canine unit had been summoned to the scene and was then told by [the officer] that he was going to have a canine unit conduct a drug sniff of Beck's car, would reasonably have felt free to leave.

Furthermore, any doubts that Beck had that he was free to drive away were extinguished when, after refusing consent to a search of his automobile, [the officer] ordered Beck to get out of his automobile and to stand on the side of the road. At that point, having been ordered out of his vehicle in order to permit a drug dog sniff, a reasonable person in Beck's situation would not have felt free to leave.

Beck, 140 F.3d at 1135-36.

[¶ 12] In this case, after Fields refused to consent to a search of his vehicle, he was told that the drug detection dog would be called and that a drug sniff of his vehicle would be conducted. The officer asked Fields to get out of his car and to stand by him. It is reasonable to believe that a person in Fields' position would not have felt free to leave the scene. We conclude that Fields was seized within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment ...