State v. Hill

• Decision Date: 06 November 1998
• Docket Number: No. 97-KK-2551.,97-KK-2551.
• Citation: State v. Hill, 725 So.2d 1282 (La. 1998)
• Parties: STATE of Louisiana v. Timmie HILL.
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court

725 So.2d 1282

STATE of Louisiana v. Timmie HILL.

No. 97-KK-2551.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

November 6, 1998.

Richard P. Ieyoub, Atty. Gen., Harry F. Connick, Dist. Atty., Charles E. Heuer, New Orleans, for Applicant.

Donald Ray Pryor, New Orleans, for Respondent.

KIMBALL, Justice.¹

We granted the State's writ to consider whether, after determining that the initial Terry stop of the defendant was unlawful, the lower courts properly suppressed evidence subsequently seized from the defendant in a search incident to his arrest on outstanding warrants. For the reasons that follow, we conclude that the lower courts erred in suppressing the evidence because even assuming that the Terry stop was unlawful, the discovery of outstanding arrest warrants constitutes an intervening circumstance which dissipates the taint of such initial police misconduct. We therefore reverse and remand to the trial court.

FACTS

At approximately 5:15 p.m. on October 19, 1996, New Orleans Police Officers John Elsensohn and Travis McCabe were on "pro-active" patrol in the area of Port and Marais Streets, an area in which the department had received a general tip of narcotics activity. Observing two unknown men in front of an abandoned building at that intersection, the officers exited their vehicles and approached the men. The defendant and his companion began to walk away from the officers in opposite directions. At some point the officers initiated a conversation with the men and subsequently frisked them for weapons, finding nothing. While conducting the interview, a computer search returned two outstanding arrest warrants on the defendant, Timmie Hill. The officers then placed Hill under formal arrest. In a search incident to that arrest, the officers discovered a crack pipe in the defendant's rear pant pocket that later tested positive for cocaine residue.

By bill of information, the State charged Timmie Hill with one count of possession of cocaine in violation of La. R.S. 40:967(C)(2). The defendant filed a motion to suppress the crack pipe gained in the search incident to his arrest. The trial court granted the defendant's motion to suppress.² The State sought supervisory writs to the fourth circuit court of appeal which denied relief because it found that the trial court did not err in suppressing the crack pipe. State v. Hill, 97-1012, p. 4 (La.App. 4 Cir. 9/17/97), 700 So.2d 551, 553. The fourth circuit stated "in order for the arrest to be valid, the initial stop of Mr. Hill must be valid." State v. Hill, 97-1012 at p. 2, 700 So.2d at 552. Like the trial court, the appellate court found that the officers lacked reasonable suspicion to support the initial stop of the defendant and his companion. State v. Hill, 97-1012 at p. 4, 700 So.2d at 553. The fourth circuit held that because the detention was "not lawful," and the officers only learned of the outstanding warrants after the initial detention and frisk of the defendant, the resultant discovery of the outstanding arrest warrants was also unlawful. Id. Because the arrest was made pursuant to illegally obtained warrant information, the court found that the arrest was unlawful. Therefore, the subsequent seizure of the crack pipe incident to the unlawful arrest was an unlawful seizure and the crack pipe was properly suppressed. Id. The State sought writs to this court which we granted to decide whether the lower courts properly suppressed the crack pipe as the fruit of an illegal detention. State v. Hill, 97-2551, (La.4/3/97), 717 So.2d 223.

DISCUSSION

The primary purpose of the exclusionary rule is to deter future impermissible police conduct. The rule, which requires the exclusion of evidence gained through impermissible official conduct, is designed to deter unconstitutional methods of law enforcement. Louisiana has codified this jurisprudential doctrine in Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 703(A) which provides that a defendant, adversely affected by unconstitutional police misconduct, may move to suppress any evidence on the grounds that it was unconstitutionally obtained.³ However, there are several well-settled judicial doctrines that supply exceptions to the exclusionary rule. If one of these doctrines is applicable, evidence seized following official misconduct may not require suppression. These three jurisprudentially created doctrines which prevent the suppression of evidence are: (1) the independent source doctrine, (2) the inevitable discovery doctrine, and (3) the attenuation doctrine.⁴Wong Sun v. U.S., 371 U.S. 471, 487, 83 S.Ct. 407, 417, 9 L.Ed.2d 441, 455 (1963); U.S. v. Crews, 445 U.S. 463, 100 S.Ct. 1244, 63 L.Ed.2d 537 (1980); State v. Welch, 449 So.2d 468 (La. 1984); State v. Guy, 575 So.2d 429 (La.App. 4 Cir.1991), writ denied 578 So.2d 930 (La. 1991). Because we find that the attenuation doctrine provides an exception to the exclusionary rule in this case, we need not address the other doctrines.

In Brown v. Illinois, 422 U.S. 590, 603, 95 S.Ct. 2254, 2261, 45 L.Ed.2d 416, 427 (1975), the United States Supreme Court enunciated the multi-factor test presently used to consider whether evidence impermissibly seized should be suppressed. The primary considerations under Brown are: (1) the temporal proximity of the illegality and the acquisition of the evidence to which instant objection is made; (2) the presence of intervening circumstances; and (3) the purpose and flagrancy of the official misconduct. Brown, 422 U.S. at 603, 95 S.Ct. at 2262, 45 L.Ed.2d at 427; State v. Scott, 389 So.2d at 1288.⁵ Additionally, in considering whether the evidence should be suppressed, Brown requires us to weigh each consideration in light of the policies behind the Fourth Amendment.

Applying the Brown factors to the case before us, we note that the record from the suppression hearing provides little detail upon which to rest an analysis of the first of the Brown considerations, i.e., the temporal proximity of the Terry stop to the ultimate discovery of the crack pipe. However, it is clear that the initial Terry stop and frisk unearthed no evidence. It was only after the officers acquired the defendant's identification, discovered the outstanding arrest warrants, and arrested him that they conducted the second search which produced the evidence. Because nothing in the record indicates that any significant time lapse occurred between the initial stop and the subsequent search incident to the arrest, we will assume any time lapse was negligible. It appears that this fact weighs against finding attenuation. Yet, the Brown Court stated that "no single fact is dispositive" in determining whether or not evidence should be suppressed. Brown, 422 U.S. at 603,95 S.Ct. at 2261,45 L.Ed.2d at 427. "[T]he time span between the police misconduct and the [search] is not dispositive on the question of taint." United States v. Green, 111 F.3d 515, 521 (7th Cir.1997) citing United States v. Fazio, 914 F.2d 950, 958 (7th Cir.1990)(internal quotations omitted). Thus, we must weigh this factor against the others dictated by Brown.

We now turn to the second factor from Brown, the existence of intervening circumstances which is particularly significant in this case. After the stop and frisk, the computer check returned two outstanding arrest warrants for Timmie Hill. Under the Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure, this information provided the officers with probable cause to arrest the defendant. La. C.Cr.P. art. 213.⁶ This probable cause provided by the outstanding arrest warrants constituted an intervening circumstance under Brown which dissipates the taint of an initial impermissible encounter.

Other courts around the nation have also held that outstanding arrest warrants supply probable cause to arrest, and thereby, provide an intervening circumstance under Brown which dissipates the taint of an initial illegal encounter. United States v. Green, 111 F.3d 515 (7th Cir.1997); People v. Hillyard, 197 Colo. 83, 589 P.2d 939 (Co.1979); State of Nebraska v. Kenneth Thompson, 231 Neb. 771, 438 N.W.2d 131 (Neb.1989); Reed v. State of Texas, 809 S.W.2d 940 (Tex.App. 1991); State v. Rothenberger, 73 Wash.2d 596, 440 P.2d 184 (Wash.1968). For example, in United States v. Green, 111 F.3d at 523, the Seventh Circuit held that an outstanding arrest warrant dissipated the taint of an impermissible detention. In that case, Illinois officers on patrol noticed a blue Chevrolet driving in front of them which they knew had been parked in front of the residence of a man named Williams who was wanted on a federal warrant. The officers intended to stop the car to investigate the whereabouts of Williams. The officers followed the car, and when the suspect car stopped in a driveway the officers pulled their patrol car across the driveway, blocking it in. One officer halted the driver who was walking toward the house, while the other officer approached the passenger who was still in the car. The officers acquired identification from the men who turned out to be brothers, David and Avery Green, with no relationship to Williams. The officers then returned to the patrol car and ran a computer check on the Greens. Within five minutes the computer revealed an outstanding warrant for Avery. The officers then arrested Avery, and in a search incident to the arrest, the officers seized crack cocaine and a gun found in the car. The Green court applied Brown v. Illinois, finding that the outstanding warrant constituted an intervening circumstance. "The intervening circumstances of this case, because they are not outweighed by flagrant official misconduct, dissipate any taint caused by the illegal stop of the Greens." Green, 111 F.3d at 521. Thus, the outstanding warrant created an intervening circumstance which was sufficient to attenuate the taint of the officer's initial misconduct in continuing to detain the Greens without the requisite level of reasonable suspicion. Green, 111 F.3d at 521.

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