State v. Fleenor

• Decision Date: 14 October 1999
• Docket Number: No. 24796.,24796.
• Citation: 133 Idaho 552,989 P.2d 784
• Parties: STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Wyatt Scott FLEENOR, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Idaho Court of Appeals

989 P.2d 784

133 Idaho 552

STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Wyatt Scott FLEENOR, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 24796.

Court of Appeals of Idaho.

October 14, 1999.

Sallaz Law Offices, Chtd., Boise, for appellant. Paul E. Riggins argued.

Hon. Alan G. Lance, Attorney General; T. Paul Krueger, II, Deputy Attorney General, Boise, for respondent. T. Paul Krueger, II, argued.

PERRY, Chief Judge.

Wyatt Scott Fleenor appeals from the district court's denial of his motion to suppress evidence. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

On December 29, 1997, probation officer Mesler, with the assistance of Boise City police officers Doney and Burch, conducted a home visit at a residence. Mesler was visiting the last known address of a felony probationer.

Mesler and officer Doney, who was not in uniform, approached the residence. Mesler knocked on the door and announced his name and his status as a probation officer. Officer Burch, in uniform, remained approximately forty feet from the door. Eventually, Fleenor's roommate, who was not the probationer, opened the door to the residence. While speaking with the roommate, Mesler observed a pipe that he recognized as drug paraphernalia protruding from the roommate's shirt pocket. In response to Mesler's questions, the roommate removed the pipe from his pocket. Mesler then asked the roommate to step outside the residence, and the roommate complied. Officer Doney seized the pipe and asked the roommate if they could step inside the residence. The roommate responded "yes." Both officers and Mesler followed the roommate into the residence.

Upon entering the residence, officer Doney saw a large fixed-blade knife sitting on top of some boxes located by the door. Thereafter, he observed Fleenor, who was also not the probationer, standing near the kitchen area toward the back of the living room. Officer Doney noticed that Fleenor had a knife sheath on his belt. Officer Doney approached Fleenor and explained that, for officer safety reasons, he was going to remove the knife from the sheath and secure it until they were finished conducting their investigation. Fleenor became very uncooperative. At one point, officer Doney was forced to restrain Fleenor when he attempted to walk away.

Eventually, officer Doney was able to conduct a weapons frisk. The first item officer Doney removed from Fleenor was the knife from the sheath on his waistband. Officer Doney also felt a hard object in Fleenor's left front pants pocket. As officer Doney described in his testimony, what he felt was a hard rectangular object, one and one-half to two inches in length. Officer Doney testified that he believed the object felt like a small pocketknife. After reaching in and removing the object, officer Doney, based on his training and experience, immediately recognized the object as drug paraphernalia. Fleenor was then arrested. Officer Doney searched Fleenor incident to the arrest and discovered narcotics.

Fleenor was charged with possession of a controlled substance, I.C. § 37-2732(c), and possession of drug paraphernalia, I.C. § 37-2734A. Fleenor moved to suppress the evidence seized. At the start of the hearing on Fleenor's motion, the state requested that the district court take judicial notice of the testimony elicited at the roommate's preliminary hearing regarding the initial consent to enter the residence. Without objection, the district court took such judicial notice, considered additional evidence presented at the motion hearing, and denied the motion. Fleenor entered an I.C.R. 11(a)(2) plea of guilty, reserving the right to appeal the denial of the suppression motion. Fleenor appeals.

II. ANALYSIS

The standard of review of a suppression motion is bifurcated. When a decision on a motion to suppress is challenged, we accept the trial court's findings of fact which were supported by substantial evidence, but we freely review the application of constitutional principles to the facts as found. State v. Atkinson, 128 Idaho 559, 561, 916 P.2d 1284, 1286 (Ct.App.1996).

A. Initial Entry

Fleenor asserts that both the United States Constitution and the Idaho Constitution were violated by the officers' warrantless entry into the residence.¹ He contends that, because there was conflicting testimony as to whether consent to enter the residence was given, the state failed to meet its burden during the hearing on the suppression motion. Moreover, Fleenor argues that the state failed to demonstrate that, if consent was given, it was given freely and voluntarily.

Although a warrantless entry or search of a residence is generally illegal and violative of the Fourth Amendment, such an entry or search may be rendered reasonable by an individual's consent. State v. Johnson, 110 Idaho 516, 522, 716 P.2d 1288, 1294 (1986); State v. Abeyta, 131 Idaho 704, 707, 963 P.2d 387, 390 (Ct.App.1998). In such instances, the state has the burden of demonstrating consent by a preponderance of the evidence. State v. Kilby, 130 Idaho 747, 749, 947 P.2d 420, 422 (Ct.App.1997). The state must show that consent was not the result of duress or coercion, either direct or implied. Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218, 248, 93 S.Ct. 2041, 2058, 36 L.Ed.2d 854, 875 (1973); State v. Whiteley, 124 Idaho 261, 264, 858 P.2d 800, 803 (Ct. App.1993). The voluntariness of an individual's consent is evaluated in light of all the circumstances. Whiteley, 124 Idaho at 264, 858 P.2d at 803. Consent to search may be in the form of words, gestures, or conduct. State v. Knapp, 120 Idaho 343, 348, 815 P.2d 1083, 1088 (Ct.App.1991).

Fleenor relies on the testimony of his roommate at the suppression hearing, wherein the roommate denied giving the officers permission to enter the residence. However, at the start of the hearing on Fleenor's suppression motion, and without objection, the district court took judicial notice of the roommate's preliminary hearing transcript. At that preliminary hearing, officer Doney testified that, after Fleenor's roommate had stepped outside at Mesler's request, officer Doney asked the roommate if the officers could go inside the house and speak with him. According to officer Doney, the roommate said "yes." Officer Doney was questioned regarding his actions while asking the roommate for permission to enter the residence. When asked whether he had his hand on his pistol, or whether he threatened the roommate, officer Doney answered "no."

This Court will not substitute its view for that of the trier of fact as to the credibility of the witnesses, the weight to be given to the testimony, and the reasonable inferences to be drawn from the evidence. State v. Flowers, 131 Idaho 205, 207, 953 P.2d 645, 647 (Ct.App.1998). The district court found that the officers were in the residence based the roommate's consent. The district court's determination is supported by substantial testimony; therefore, this Court cannot conclude that it was error. Thus, we uphold the initial entry into the residence based on the roommate's consent.

B. Frisk

Fleenor challenges officer Doney's weapons frisk. The reasonableness of such an investigative frisk under Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968), is a question of law. State v. Burgess, 104 Idaho 559, 561, 661 P.2d 344, 346 (Ct. App.1983). While the trial court's conclusions should not be lightly disregarded, it is this Court's responsibility to measure the facts as found by the district court against the constitutional standard of reasonableness. Id. A frisk for weapons would be permissible if officer Doney had a reasonable belief that Fleenor posed a danger and had immediate control of a weapon.² See State v. Muir, 116 Idaho 565, 567, 777 P.2d 1238, 1240 (Ct.App.1989)

. In our analysis of a frisk, we look to the facts known to the officers on the scene and the inferences of risk of danger reasonably drawn from the totality of those specific circumstances. Id. As described in Sibron v. New York, 392 U.S. 40, 88 S.Ct. 1889, 20 L.Ed.2d 917 (1968), an officer carrying out a weapons frisk "must be able to point to particular facts from which he reasonably inferred that the individual was armed and dangerous." Id. at 64, 88 S.Ct. at 1903, 20 L.Ed.2d at 935.

If an officer can point to specific and articulable facts which, taken together with rational inferences therefrom, reasonably warrant a frisk for weapons, then such a frisk will not violate the Fourth Amendment. Terry, 392 U.S. at 21, 88 S.Ct. at 1879, 20 L.Ed.2d at 905. In Terry, the United States Supreme Court held that a when analyzing such a frisk, a court must decide "whether the officer's action was justified at its inception, and whether it was reasonably related in scope to the circumstances which justified the interference in the first place." Id. at 20, 88 S.Ct. at 1879, 20 L.Ed.2d at 905. As explained by the Terry Court, where a police officer reasonably concludes, based on his or her observations, that people with whom the officer is dealing may be armed and presently dangerous, and where nothing in the initial stages of the encounter serve to dispel the officer's reasonable fear for his or her or other's safety, the officer is entitled to conduct a carefully limited search of the outer clothing in an attempt to discover weapons which might be used to assault the officer. Id. at 30-31, 88 S.Ct. at 1884-1885, 20 L.Ed.2d at 911-912. Fleenor argues that because officer Doney did not suspect him of criminal activity, an element that Fleenor asserts "is required under Terry," the frisk for weapons violated the constitution. In Ybarra v. Illinois, 444 U.S. 85, 100 S.Ct. 338, 62 L.Ed.2d 238 (1979), a case wherein the police had no reason to believe Ybarra was involved in criminal activity, the Supreme Court held that the narrow scope of the Terry exception "does not permit a frisk for weapons on less than reasonable belief or suspicion directed at the person to be frisked." Id....