State v. Grassrope

• Decision Date: 09 February 2022
• Docket Number: #29485
• Citation: 970 N.W.2d 558
• Parties: STATE of South Dakota, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. Daniel James GRASSROPE, Defendant and Appellee.
• Court: South Dakota Supreme Court

970 N.W.2d 558

STATE of South Dakota, Plaintiff and Appellant,

v.Daniel James GRASSROPE, Defendant and Appellee.

#29485

Supreme Court of South Dakota.

ARGUED OCTOBER 5, 2021

OPINION FILED February 9, 2022

DANIEL HAGGAR, DREW DEGROOT, NICHOLAUS MICHELS, Minnehaha County Deputy State's Attorneys, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Attorneys for plaintiff and appellant.

CHRISTOPHER MILES of Minnehaha County Public Defender's Office, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Attorneys for defendant and appellee.

DEVANEY, Justice

[¶1.] The State appeals the magistrate court's decision granting Daniel Grassrope's motion to suppress, asserting that the magistrate court erred in determining that the community caretaker exception to the Fourth Amendment did not apply.

Factual and Procedural Background

[¶2.] In the early morning of March 7, 2020, Sioux Falls dispatch received a call from a six-year-old boy. In the initial call, the child gave the phone to his mother, and when dispatch asked the mother if there was an emergency, she hung up the phone. When dispatch called back, the child answered and said that "daddy was being mean to mom." The child also informed dispatch that his dad was leaving to go to his car. Dispatch relayed the information shortly thereafter to Officer Conley at 2:46 a.m.

[¶3.] Officer Conley, believing a domestic dispute might be occurring, responded to the apartment building from which the call had been placed. On his way to the apartment, dispatch further advised that according to the child, "dad was talking back and mom didn't like it." Officer Conley arrived at the apartment building at 2:48 a.m. and saw a tan Chevy Malibu leaving the parking lot. At this time, he had not yet received information describing the father's car. Officer Conley testified that he decided to follow the Malibu because he had very limited information and was not sure if the driver was a victim or the suspect, or if someone had been hurt.

[¶4.] Shortly thereafter, dispatch provided an update stating that the father's automobile was silver. Officer Conley initiated a traffic stop at 2:49 a.m., and Daniel Grassrope was the only person in the automobile. Officer Conley testified that while speaking to Grassrope, he immediately detected a strong odor of intoxicants. After further investigation, he placed Grassrope under arrest for driving under the influence (DUI) and driving with a suspended license.

[¶5.] Before trial, Grassrope filed a motion to suppress all evidence obtained during the stop. Grassrope claimed that Officer Conley violated his Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure by stopping his automobile without probable cause or a reasonable and articulable suspicion. In response, the State asserted that Officer Conley had an objectively reasonable suspicion that Grassrope had engaged in criminal activity, but the State primarily argued that Officer Conley's actions were lawful under the community caretaker doctrine.

[¶6.] The magistrate court issued findings of fact and conclusions of law granting Grassrope's motion to suppress. The magistrate court found that Officer Conley did not observe any traffic violations and that his decision to stop Grassrope's vehicle was based solely on the information provided by dispatch regarding a family dispute. The court further found that the information from dispatch did not indicate that a crime had been committed, there had been no request for help, and there was no indication that the mother or child had left the apartment. Instead, the child reported that the father had left. The magistrate court therefore concluded that the community caretaker exception did not apply.¹ The State appeals the magistrate court's order granting Grassrope's motion to suppress, alleging the court erred in determining that the community caretaker exception did not apply to the circumstances surrounding Officer Conley's stop.

Standard of Review

[¶7.] "We review the [magistrate] court's grant or denial of a motion to suppress involving an alleged violation of a constitutionally protected right under the de novo standard of review." State v. Short Bull , 2019 S.D. 28, ¶ 10, 928 N.W.2d 473, 476 (quoting State v. Kleven , 2016 S.D. 80, ¶ 7, 887 N.W.2d 740, 742 ). "The court's findings of fact are reviewed under the clearly erroneous standard, but we give no deference to the court's conclusions of law." State v. Fischer , 2016 S.D. 12, ¶ 10, 875 N.W.2d 40, 44 (quoting State v. Fierro , 2014 S.D. 62, ¶ 12, 853 N.W.2d 235, 239 ). "[O]nce those facts have been determined, ‘the application of a legal standard to those facts is a question of law reviewed de novo.’ " State v. Heney , 2013 S.D. 77, ¶ 8, 839 N.W.2d 558, 561–62 (quoting State v. Hess , 2004 S.D. 60, ¶ 9, 680 N.W.2d 314, 319 ). "A finding is clearly erroneous when although there is evidence to support it, the reviewing court on the entire evidence is left with the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed." United States v. U.S. Gypsum Co. , 333 U.S. 364, 395, 68 S. Ct. 525, 542, 92 L. Ed. 746 (1948) (internal quotation marks omitted).

Analysis and Decision

[¶8.] The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article VI, section 11, of the South Dakota Constitution guarantee a person's right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. "[T]he Fourth Amendment's textual reference to the issuance of ‘[w]arrants’ has been interpreted to state a general principle that police officers ‘must, whenever practicable, obtain advance judicial approval of searches and seizures through the warrant procedure[.]’ " State v. Schumacher , 2021 S.D. 16, ¶ 20, 956 N.W.2d 427, 432 (quoting Short Bull , 2019 S.D. 28, ¶ 11, 928 N.W.2d at 476 ). However, courts have long recognized certain exceptions to the warrant requirement. "[A] warrant is not required to effect a temporary seizure of a vehicle by means of a traffic stop." Short Bull , 2019 S.D. 28, ¶ 12, 928 N.W.2d at 476 (citing State v. Bowers , 2018 S.D. 50, ¶ 10, 915 N.W.2d 161, 164 ). A police officer need only have "a reasonable suspicion to stop a vehicle." Id. (quoting State v. Chavez , 2003 S.D. 93, ¶ 15, 668 N.W.2d 89, 95 ). "While the stop may not be the product of mere whim, caprice or idle curiosity, it is enough that the stop is based upon ‘specific and articulable facts, which taken together with rational inferences from those facts, reasonably warrant [the] intrusion.’ " Id. (quoting Chavez , 2003 S.D. 93, ¶ 16, 668 N.W.2d at 95 ). The State carries the burden to prove that the search or seizure falls within an exception to the warrant requirement. State v. Edwards , 2014 S.D. 63, ¶ 12, 853 N.W.2d 246, 251 (citing Hess , 2004 S.D. 60, ¶ 23, 680 N.W.2d at 324 ).

[¶9.] We have recognized that the "specific and articulable facts standard ... has not been exclusively connected with the detection of criminal activity." Short Bull , 2019 S.D. 28, ¶ 13, 928 N.W.2d at 476. We have likewise applied this standard when police officers act as community caretakers, noting that "[f]rom first responders to the sick and injured, to interveners in domestic disputes, and myriad instances too numerous to list, police officers fulfill a vital role where no other government official can." Id. ¶ 14, 928 N.W.2d at 477 (quoting State v. Deneui , 2009 S.D. 99, ¶ 49, 775 N.W.2d 221, 242 ). Our prior cases applying what came to be known as the "community caretaker exception" stem from the United States Supreme Court's recognition that local law enforcement officers often "engage in what, for want of a better term, may be described as community caretaking functions, totally divorced from the detection, investigation, or acquisition of evidence relating to the violation of a criminal statute." Cady v. Dombrowski , 413 U.S. 433, 441, 93 S. Ct. 2523, 2528, 37 L. Ed. 2d 706 (1973) (determining that a warrantless search for a firearm believed to be in a disabled vehicle that had been towed from a public highway after an accident did not violate the Fourth Amendment).

[¶10.] We first applied the community caretaker exception in State v. Rinehart and acknowledged that law enforcement officers, under appropriate circumstances, "may be justified in stopping a vehicle to provide assistance, without needing any reasonable basis to suspect criminal activity." 2000 S.D. 135, ¶ 7, 617 N.W.2d 842, 843 (citation omitted). However, we recognized that the exception should be applied "cautiously and narrowly" to avoid the risk of abuse or the use of the exception "as a pretext for conducting an investigatory search for criminal evidence." Id. ¶ 10, 617 N.W.2d at 844 (quoting Commonwealth v. Waters , 20 Va.App. 285, 456 S.E.2d 527, 530 (1995) ). Thus far, we have applied the community caretaker exception in three instances involving the warrantless search or temporary seizure of an automobile.

[¶11.] In Rinehart , we held that a law enforcement officer, acting in his role as a community caretaker, was authorized to stop an automobile after he observed the vehicle traveling at an "excessively slow speed" and believed it was being driven by someone experiencing either a "medical emergency or automotive malfunction[.]" Id. ¶¶ 8–9, 617 N.W.2d at 844. We concluded, based on the circumstances of the case, that the officer was justified "in stopping Rinehart to make sure everything was all right." Id. ¶ 11, 617 N.W.2d at 844.

[¶12.] We have also held a police officer's actions were justified under the community caretaker exception when the officer knocked on the driver's window of an automobile that had been parked at the same location with the engine running for an extended period of time during the early morning hours and the driver appeared to either be sleeping or passed out. Kleven , 2016 S.D. 80, ¶ 12, 887 N.W.2d 740, 743. We determined that the officer had "sufficient reasons to act" under the circumstances. Id.

[¶13.] Finally, in Short Bull , we concluded an officer had reasonable facts to initiate a stop of a...