State v. Goodro

• Decision Date: 01 April 2022
• Docket Number: 121,944
• Citation: 506 P.3d 918
• Parties: STATE of Kansas, Appellee, v. Jennifer L. GOODRO, Appellant.
• Court: Kansas Supreme Court

506 P.3d 918

STATE of Kansas, Appellee,

v.Jennifer L. GOODRO, Appellant.

No. 121,944

Supreme Court of Kansas.

Opinion filed April 1, 2022.

Corrine E. Gunning, of Kansas Appellate Defender Office, argued the cause and was on the briefs for appellant.

Andrew Davidson, senior assistant district attorney, argued the cause, and Kimberly A. Rodebaugh, senior assistant district attorney, Thomas Stanton, district attorney, and Derek Schmidt, attorney general, were with him on the brief for appellee.

The opinion of the court was delivered by Standridge, J.:

The district court convicted Jennifer Lynn Goodro of felony possession of methamphetamine, misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia with intent to use, and misdemeanor theft after an inventory search following her arrest for the theft. Goodro argues the district court should have suppressed the drug evidence because the officer illegally arrested her rather than issuing her a notice to appear. But K.S.A. 22-2401(c)(2)(A) provides that an officer may arrest an individual for a misdemeanor offense if the officer has probable cause to believe the suspect committed the offense and the suspect will not later be apprehended unless immediately arrested. Here, the totality of circumstances existing at the time of the arrest establishes the officer had probable cause to believe Goodro committed misdemeanor theft and Goodro would not be apprehended. We therefore affirm Goodro's convictions.

FACTS

An asset protection employee at the Walmart in Hutchinson, Kansas, detained Goodro for trying to leave the store without paying for merchandise worth several hundred dollars. Goodro identified herself as Jennifer Zorn but did not provide identification. Walmart policy directs security personnel to contact law enforcement if the dollar amount of the theft exceeds $25 and the suspect does not provide identification. So the Walmart employee called law enforcement and advised dispatch he was holding an individual named Jennifer Zorn in the store office based on suspicion of theft.

Dispatch notified Hutchinson police officers Raven Boettger and Stephen Schaffer and asked them to respond. The name Jennifer Zorn was added to the dispatch database. Officer Schaffer arrived on the scene first with Officer Boettger arriving a few minutes later.

When Officer Boettger arrived, the Walmart employee recounted the facts underlying the theft allegation. Officer Boettger asked Goodro a series of identification questions. Officer Boettger asked if Goodro had a driver's license, and Goodro responded that she did, but it recently was stolen. Officer Boettger asked Goodro's name, and Goodro said her name was Jennifer Lynn Zorn. Goodro provided a date of birth, an address in Lyons, Kansas (a town in a different county about 20 minutes away from Hutchinson), and a phone number.

Officer Boettger read Goodro her Miranda rights and questioned her for about 30 minutes. Officer Boettger asked Goodro about the theft. Goodro eventually admitted she took the items out of the store without paying for them and intended to go back to Lyons with the friend who drove her to the Hutchinson Walmart that day. Goodro asked if the officer planned to arrest her. Officer Boettger said yes. When Goodro asked why, Officer Boettger explained Goodro had a prior failure to appear, which suggested a history of "not showing up to court." Goodro said she did not remember ever being arrested for a failure to appear and asked for more details. Officer Boettger explained she did not have details; she only knew Goodro had a failure to appear. Goodro worried about going to jail without her medications and asked whether she could have her friend retrieve them from the car. Officer Boettger agreed. Officer Boettger handcuffed Goodro and escorted her to the patrol car. Officer Boettger then accompanied the friend to her car to retrieve Goodro's medications. The friend handed Goodro's backpack to Officer Boettger. After searching the bag, Officer Boettger found Goodro's medication and driver's license, which reflected her legal name, Jennifer L. Goodro.

After they arrived at the jail, a booking deputy conducted an inventory search of Goodro's medications. The deputy discovered four small circular tablets in a plastic baggie. The pills did not have a corresponding prescription bottle. Officer Boettger asked Goodro what the pills were. Goodro did not provide a clear answer. Officer Boettger and the deputy later discovered these pills were clonazepam

. Following the clonazepam discovery, the deputy told Goodro she needed to do a strip search of Goodro's person. Goodro complied. The deputy found a small plastic baggie containing a substance later found to be methamphetamine.

The State charged Goodro with possession of methamphetamine, a felony; possession of drug paraphernalia, a misdemeanor; and misdemeanor theft. Goodro moved to suppress the drugs and paraphernalia based on an illegal misdemeanor arrest. Goodro relied on K.S.A. 22-2401(c)(2)(A), which limits a law enforcement officer's authority to make an arrest for a misdemeanor offense to situations in which the officer has probable cause to believe the suspect will not be apprehended.

At the suppression hearing, Officer Boettger testified she arrested Goodro rather than issuing a notice to appear because Goodro provided an inaccurate last name, lived in a different city and had made statements about not being able to have transportation in order to make it back to Hutchinson, and previously failed to appear in court when required. The district court issued a written order denying Goodro's motion to suppress. The court found Officer Boettger had probable cause to arrest Goodro under K.S.A. 22-2401(c)(2)(A) because at the time of Goodro's arrest, the officer had the following information: "The Defendant had not given her legal last name. The Defendant lived in another city and had transportation problems. The Defendant had a prior theft conviction and a prior failure to appear."

After a bench trial based on stipulated facts, the district court found Goodro guilty of the methamphetamine charge, the paraphernalia charge, and the theft charge. The State agreed to dismiss the clonazepam charge. Goodro appealed and a panel of the Court of Appeals affirmed. State v. Goodro , No. 121,944, 2021 WL 2387722, at *4 (Kan. App. 2021) (unpublished opinion). Goodro petitioned for review of the panel's decision.

ANALYSIS

When a defendant moves to suppress evidence, the State bears the burden of proving that the search and seizure were lawful. K.S.A. 22-3216(2). An appellate court reviews a district court's decision on a motion to suppress in two steps. First, the appellate court reviews the district court's factual findings to determine whether they are supported by substantial competent evidence, which is legal and relevant evidence that a reasonable person would find sufficient to support a conclusion. Second, the appellate court examines the district court's ultimate legal conclusions de novo, without reweighing evidence, assessing the credibility of witnesses, or resolving conflicts in the evidence. State v. Guein , 309 Kan. 1245, 1251-52, 444 P.3d 340 (2019).

We begin our analysis with the applicable statute, which permits a law enforcement officer to arrest a person if

• the officer has probable cause to believe that the person is committing or has committed a misdemeanor, and

• the officer has probable cause to believe that the person will be apprehended only if the person is immediately arrested. K.S.A. 22-2401(c)(2)(A).

Goodro agrees that Officer Boettger had probable cause to believe she committed misdemeanor theft but disagrees that Boettger had probable cause to believe she would be apprehended only if Boettger immediately arrested her.

The district court found Officer Boettger had probable cause to believe Goodro would not be apprehended unless arrested under K.S.A. 22-2401(c)(2)(A). At the time of Goodro's arrest, Officer Boettger knew Goodro had not given her legal name, Goodro lived in another city and had transportation problems, and Goodro had a prior theft conviction and a prior failure to appear. In affirming the district court's decision, the Court of Appeals panel focused on two facts: Goodro provided a misleading name and had no photo identification. Goodro , 2021 WL 2387722, at *3. The panel held these two facts provided the basis for the probable cause determination because Officer Boettger's concerns "track[ ] with the assessment an objectively reasonable law enforcement officer would make of the circumstances." 2021 WL 2387722, at *3. The panel reasoned:

"Here, Officer Boettger confronted a female shoplifter without any photo identification who had presented herself to store security agents as Jennifer Zorn. She offered that misleading name to Officer Boettger. A law enforcement database linked the name as a likely alias for Jennifer Goodro. But even with that information, an objectively reasonable law enforcement officer would have had no way of confirming that the suspect detained at the store was in fact either Jennifer Zorn or Jennifer Goodro. The suspect may have (mis)appropriated those names and possibly other personal information, such as an address or birthday, of the real Jennifer Goodro precisely to stymie store personnel or law enforcement officers in the event of her detention for shoplifting.

"Without some valid form of identification from the suspect, our hypothetical law enforcement officer would have had no reason, let alone probable cause, to believe issuing a notice to appear in the name of Jennifer Goodro would have been correct. The officer would have had only the suspect's word as to her true name. And that's not good enough. So the officer would recognize that the suspect probably could not be later apprehended if she were not actually Jennifer Goodro. Accordingly, viewed objectively, Officer Boettger had sufficient reason to arrest Goodro and have her booked on the

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