State v. Gulick

• Decision Date: 06 October 2000
• Citation: 759 A.2d 1085,2000 ME 170
• Parties: STATE of Maine v. Tanner GULICK.
• Court: Maine Supreme Court

759 A.2d 1085

2000 ME 170

STATE of Maine v. Tanner GULICK.

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

Argued: September 5, 2000.

Decided: October 6, 2000.

R. Christopher Almy, D.A., C. Daniel Wood, Esq., A.D.A. (orally), Bangor, for the State.

Jeffrey Silverstein, Esq. (orally), Billings & Silverstein, Bangor, for the defendant.

Panel: WATHEN, C.J., and CLIFFORD, RUDMAN, DANA, SAUFLEY, ALEXANDER, and CALKINS, JJ.

SAUFLEY, J.

[¶ 1] The State appeals from the judgment of the Superior Court (Penobscot County, Mead, C.J.) vacating the judgment of the District Court (Bangor, Gunther, J.) which denied Gulick's motion to suppress evidence that he was operating after suspension. Because we conclude that the District Court did not err, we vacate the judgment of the Superior Court and remand for entry of a judgment of conviction.

I. BACKGROUND

[¶ 2] We are called upon once again to determine whether a brief detention of a motor vehicle operator was "reasonable" for purposes of the Fourth Amendment.

[¶ 3] The facts at issue are undisputed. At 2:53 A.M., on August 17, 1998, Orono Police Officer William Sheehan watched a car drive into the Med Now parking lot and stop. Med Now is an emergency care medical facility that only operates during the day. Sheehan was concerned that the occupants of the car might be looking for emergency medical treatment. He followed the car into the lot, and parked about ten feet behind it. He did not activate his blue lights or his siren and did not block the vehicle's exit from the parking lot.

[¶ 4] Upon approaching the car, Sheehan spoke briefly with the driver and asked if everything was okay. The driver, Tanner Gulick, responded that everything was fine and asked how far it was to Portland. Sheehan informed Gulick that the trip would take approximately two hours. He then asked to see Gulick's driver's license. Sheehan testified that, at the point that he requested Gulick's license, he was no longer concerned that Gulick or his passenger had a medical emergency.

[¶ 5] Gulick did not have his license with him. Suspicious of Gulick's explanation for the missing license,¹ Sheehan obtained Gulick's name and date of birth and checked on the status of Gulick's license to operate in Maine. Upon learning that Gulick's license was suspended, Sheehan issued him a summons for operating after suspension.

[¶ 6] Gulick moved to suppress all evidence resulting from Sheehan's request for his license, pursuant to M.R.Crim. P. 41A, claiming that Sheehan lacked a reasonable articulable suspicion to justify detaining Gulick. The District Court declined to suppress the evidence. Gulick entered a conditional guilty plea, pursuant to M.R.Crim. P. 11(a)(2), and appealed the District Court's order. The Superior Court vacated the judgment of conviction and remanded the case to the District Court for entry of judgment of acquittal. The State filed this appeal pursuant to 15 M.R.S.A. § 2115-A (1980 & Supp.1999) and M.R.Crim. P. 37B.

II. DISCUSSION

[¶ 7] Because the Superior Court acted as an intermediate appellate court, we review directly the decision of the District Court. See State v. Wilder, 2000 ME 32, ¶ 19, 748 A.2d 444, 449. When the facts are not disputed, we review the District Court's conclusions for error of law. See State v. Brown, 675 A.2d 504, 505 (Me.1996).

[¶ 8] The resolution of this matter requires us to determine whether Sheehan's request for Gulick's license was "reasonable" for purposes of compliance with the Fourth Amendment.²

[¶ 9] The Fourth Amendment provides:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated ....

U.S. CONST. amend. IV.³

[¶ 10] An encounter between a member of law enforcement and a citizen will implicate the protections of the Fourth Amendment only if the encounter constitutes a seizure of the citizen. See State v. Moulton, 1997 ME 228, ¶ 7, 704 A.2d 361, 363 (citing State v. Laplante, 534 A.2d 959, 962 (Me.1987)). A seizure occurs when the citizen's liberty is restrained by a law enforcement official such that the citizen "`is not free to walk away.'" State v. Preble, 430 A.2d 553, 555 (Me.1981) (quoting United States v. Viegas, 639 F.2d 42, 44 (1st Cir.1981)), quoted in State v. Cilley, 1998 ME 34, ¶ 7, 707 A.2d 79, 82. See also United States v. Mendenhall, 446 U.S. 544, 554, 100 S.Ct. 1870, 64 L.Ed.2d 497 (1980).⁴ [¶ 11] Here, Sheehan did not seize Gulick merely by approaching the car and inquiring of its occupants. See State v. Brewer, 1999 ME 58, ¶ 12, 727 A.2d 352, 355; Moulton, 1997 ME 228, ¶¶ 8-13,704 A.2d at 363-65; Laplante, 534 A.2d at 962.⁵ The State concedes, however, that the totality of Sheehan's actions following his approach to the car—asking for the license, following up with a request for identifying information, and having Gulick wait while he ran a check on the status of Gulick's right to operate a vehicle—constituted a detention, or seizure, for Fourth Amendment purposes.⁶

[¶ 12] An officer may detain a citizen only when "`specific and articulable facts which, taken together with rational inferences from those facts, reasonably warrant that intrusion.'" State v. Dulac, 600 A.2d 1121, 1122 (Me.1992) (quoting Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 21, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968)). Using that standard, we examine the circumstances surrounding Sheehan's detention of Gulick to determine if that police action was reasonable. See Brewer, 1999 ME 58, ¶ 12, 727 A.2d at 355; Moulton, 1997 ME 228, ¶ 9, 704 A.2d at 363-64.

[¶ 13] Brief intrusions based upon reasonable and articulable (1) safety concerns, see State v. Pinkham, 565 A.2d 318, 319 (Me.1989); (2) suspicion that the defendant has committed a crime, see Terry, 392 U.S. at 21, 88 S.Ct. 1868; State v. Mehuren, 594 A.2d 1073, 1075 (Me.1991); or (3) suspicion that the defendant has committed a traffic infraction, see State v. Hill, 606 A.2d 793, 795 (Me.1992), are "reasonable" and are, therefore, not in violation of the Fourth Amendment.

[¶ 14] When Sheehan approached the vehicle he had a clearly articulated and objectively reasonable concern for the occupants' safety. "[S]afety reasons alone can be sufficient" to allow the detention of a driver if they are based on "specific and articulable facts." Pinkham, 565 A.2d at 319. In Pinkham, we concluded that "[i]f we were to insist upon suspicion of activity amounting to a criminal or civil infraction to meet the Terry/Griffin standard, we would be overlooking the police officer's legitimate role as a public servant to assist those in distress and to maintain and foster public safety." Id. Thus, Sheehan's concern for the safety of the car's occupants was sufficient to justify a brief detention of those occupants.

[¶ 15] After an officer stops a vehicle, he may request verification of the operator's right to drive, even when the original reason for a stop has disappeared, or evaporated, before the request is made. See Hill, 606 A.2d at 795; State v. Huether, 2000 ME 59, ¶¶ 6-7, 748 A.2d 993, 995. For instance, in Hill, the defendant's vehicle was stopped because the officer believed it did not have a visible license plate, in violation of 29 M.R.S.A. § 381 (1964), repealed by P.L.1993, ch. 683, § A-1 (effective Jan. 1, 1995). See Hill, 606 A.2d at 794. As the officer approached the defendant's truck, however, he observed an unilluminated license plate in the car's rear window. See id. at 794-95. The officer nevertheless approached the driver to request his license and registration. See id. at 794. After making the request, the officer observed that Hill appeared to be intoxicated. See id. at 795. We concluded that the officer's request to see the defendant's license was a "minimal further intrusion," and rejected the defendant's argument that the request itself must be supported independently by a reasonable articulable suspicion. See id. Because Hill had been validly stopped as a result of the officer's belief that the vehicle had no license plate, we concluded that the subsequent police action, although not independently supported by reasonable articulable suspicion, was justified. See id.

[¶ 16] In a more recent opinion, in which the original reason for the stop had evaporated before the officer ran a check on the operator's license, we set out the analysis that is necessary in these circumstances: "We first determine whether the initial stop was justified; if it was, then we look to what actions were taken during the stop to determine whether those actions were `reasonably related in scope to the circumstances which justified the interference in the first place.'" Huether, 2000 ME 59, ¶ 6, 748 A.2d at 995 (quoting Hill, 606 A.2d at 795).

[¶ 17] The only meaningful distinction between the facts before us and the facts in Hill or Huether is Sheehan's choice to approach Gulick's car without turning on his blue lights or otherwise effecting a show of force. There can be no question, however, that Sheehan was justified in approaching the lone vehicle parked in the darkened lot of a closed emergency medical care facility at almost three o'clock in the morning. Sheehan would have been justified in engaging in a seizure, or a "stop" on these facts. That he chose not to engage in an unnecessary show of force does not change the analysis.⁷

[¶ 18] Accordingly, except for the officer's decision not to turn on his vehicle's blue lights, and thereby immediately "detain" the operator, the analysis in Hill and Huether is applicable.⁸ Because the officer did, in fact, articulate facts sufficient to engage in a brief Terry-like detention, the distinction between approaching Gulick's car with or without the show of force necessary to effect an immediate detention is a distinction without a difference for the purpose of this analysis. The key question is whether the officer's initial contact with the driver was justified on the basis of reasonable articulable...