State v. Jason L.

• Decision Date: 23 May 2000
• Docket Number: No. 25,806.,25,806.
• Citation: 129 N.M. 119,2 P.3d 856,2000 NMSC 18
• Parties: STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. JASON L., a child, Defendant-Petitioner.
• Court: New Mexico Supreme Court

2 P.3d 856

129 N.M. 119

2000 NMSC 18

STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. JASON L., a child, Defendant-Petitioner.

No. 25,806.

Supreme Court of New Mexico.

May 23, 2000.

Phyllis H. Subin, Chief Public Defender, Nancy M. Hewitt, Assistant Appellate Defender, Santa Fe, for Petitioner.

Patricia A. Madrid, Attorney General, Ralph E. Trujillo, Assistant Attorney General, Santa Fe, for Respondent.

OPINION

MINZNER, Chief Justice.

{1} Defendant Jason L., a minor, appeals from a decision of the New Mexico Court of Appeals reversing a district court's order suppressing a concealed weapon. See In re Jason L., 1999-NMCA-095, 127 N.M. 642, 985 P.2d 1222. We granted Defendant's petition for certiorari because his appeal raised two important issues: (1) when was he seized for purposes of his constitutional protections, see U.S. Const. amend. IV; N.M. Const. art. II, § 10, and (2) was his seizure justified? The Court of Appeals apparently assumed that Defendant's Fourth Amendment rights were not implicated until he was searched and that reasonable suspicion supported that search. See Jason L., 1999-NMCA-095, ¶ 18, 127 N.M. 642,985 P.2d 1222. On this record, however, we believe the district court found Defendant had been detained prior to the search and concluded that he was detained without justification, contrary to his Fourth Amendment rights. We hold that the Court of Appeals erred in overturning the district court's determinations. We therefore reverse the Court of Appeals and affirm the district court's order.

I.

{2} Defendant was arrested and charged with unlawful possession of a handgun contrary to NMSA 1978, § 30-7-2.2 (1994). At the suppression hearing, the State presented the testimony of the two arresting officers, Officer McDaniel and Officer Jordan. McDaniel testified first and as follows.

{3} At approximately 10:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 17, 1997, the officers were returning from an unrelated call when they noticed two boys walking eastbound on 13th Street toward Washington in Roswell. No relevant activity had been reported in the area that evening. The officers proceeded past Defendant and his companion, Filemon M., and observed them. McDaniel believed their actions were suspicious. He stated that "they kept looking back over their shoulders to see where I was at or if I was gonna' turn." "Both boys looked at [us] ... [however] the one who kept looking at [me] was [Filemon M.]." McDaniel admitted that his police report only noted that Filemon M. was looking back at him. The boys never stopped walking; instead they continued forward, looking back over their shoulders. McDaniel noticed Filemon M. "messing with the left side of his waistband [as] if he was adjusting something or messing with something underneath his big, heavy coat." Next, McDaniel turned off his headlights, parked behind a wall, and positioned himself behind a fence where he was not visible. McDaniel was suspicious because the boys had not traveled as far as he expected they would have had they continued walking at their previous speed.

{4} Based on these observations, McDaniel decided to approach the two boys. He returned to his vehicle and stopped them on the street without engaging emergency equipment. After approaching the boys, McDaniel believed they continued to act suspiciously. He based this belief on the fact that Filemon M. continued to fuss with his waistband and appeared to be trying to keep himself separated from the officers by positioning Defendant between them. McDaniel testified that he did not observe any criminal activity. Upon contact, McDaniel asked the boys what they were doing. The boys responded they were "just walking," and McDaniel thought this was a good answer. Filemon M. continued to fuss with the left side of his waistband, which led McDaniel to ask an additional question. He asked the boys whether they had any knives or weapons on them. At first the boys did not respond; after McDaniel repeated the question, the boys eventually answered, "No."

{5} McDaniel then asked Filemon M. to open his jacket. At this point, McDaniel described Filemon M.'s jacket as a big, baggy coat. McDaniel did not tell Filemon M. that he did not have to unzip his jacket. Nothing was visible when Filemon M. unzipped his jacket. McDaniel proceeded to pat down Filemon M. and felt a firearm in his waistband. The firearm was identified as a .22 caliber pistol. After McDaniel secured the weapon, Filemon M. stated he had another weapon. McDaniel searched Filemon M. and found another gun located on the right side of his belt. The officers then searched Defendant and found a .22 caliber firearm located in the front waistband of his pants under his coat.

{6} Jordan testified as follows. Filemon M. kept looking back at the police officers. He wore a "big, white jacket." Jordan thought it was peculiar that Filemon M. was wearing a jacket in the middle of July and reaching for his side as he walked but commented, however, that maybe it was cold or "it could have been cooler than I thought it was." He also noted that the boys were walking very slowly.

{7} The two officers pulled up behind the boys and McDaniel either said, "Can we talk to you for a minute?" or, "Come here." Filemon M. was acting very nervous. He kept trying to move behind Defendant, who appeared to be more willing to talk with the officers. Jordan did not remember McDaniel asking the boys if they had weapons or guns. When asked if the conversation occurred, Jordan answered that it might have occurred after McDaniel asked Filemon M. to open his jacket. McDaniel asked Filemon M. to open his jacket and Filemon M. reacted by reaching for his waistband. At that point, McDaniel grabbed Filemon M.'s hand and again asked him to open his jacket. Both officers saw the weapon in plain view in Filemon M.'s waistband and both yelled, "Gun!" pursuant to their training. After the officers saw the gun, they handcuffed Filemon M. and secured the weapon. Jordan searched Filemon M. to see if he was carrying any other weapons. During the search of Filemon M., Defendant was standing in front of the patrol car "like Officer McDaniel asked him to do." After two guns were found on Filemon M., McDaniel searched Defendant. At no point did Jordan observe any suspicious conduct by Defendant.

{8} The State charged Defendant and Filemon M. with unlawful possession of a handgun. At the conclusion of the hearing, the district court granted Defendant's motion to suppress stating:

[T]he most recent case dealing with this, [State v. Eli L., 1997-NMCA-109, 124 N.M. 205, 947 P.2d 162].... [held] that we will not dispense with the requirement of individualized particularized suspicion. In this particular case, both the officers testified that ... there was no criminal activity that was taking place. They were still within the permissible curfew time. In light of what our appellate courts have held, that there must be individualized, particularized suspicion, I can't find, based on the testimony, that there was any reasonable suspicion relating to [Defendant].

The Court of Appeals held that once the search of Filemon M. revealed he was carrying two guns, reasonable suspicion existed to search Defendant. See Jason L., 1999-NMCA-095, ¶ 18, 127 N.M. 642, 985 P.2d 1222.

{9} Defendant has not argued on appeal that the New Mexico Constitution affords him greater protection than that afforded under the United States Constitution. Cf. State v. Gomez, 1997-NMSC-006, ¶¶ 22-23, 122 N.M. 777, 932 P.2d 1 (discussing requirements for preserving state constitutional claims for appellate review). We therefore review his claim, as did the Court of Appeals, only under the Fourth Amendment.

II.

{10} The standard of review for suppression rulings is "whether the law was correctly applied to the facts, viewing them in a manner most favorable to the prevailing party." State v. Werner, 117 N.M. 315, 317, 871 P.2d 971, 973 (1994) (quoting State v. Boeglin, 100 N.M. 127, 132, 666 P.2d 1274, 1279 (Ct.App.1983)). The appellate court must defer to the district court with respect to findings of historical fact so long as they are supported by substantial evidence. See State v. Attaway, 117 N.M. 141, 144, 870 P.2d 103, 106 (1994). "Factfinding frequently involves selecting which inferences to draw." State v. Lopez, 109 N.M. 169, 171, 783 P.2d 479, 481 (Ct.App.1989). "[A]ll reasonable inferences in support of the [district] court's decision will be indulged in, and all inferences or evidence to the contrary will be disregarded." Werner, 117 N.M. at 317, 871 P.2d at 973 (quoting Boeglin, 100 N.M. at 132, 666 P.2d at 1279). The fact that another district court could have drawn different inferences on the same facts does not mean this district court's findings were not supported by substantial evidence. See Lopez, 109 N.M. at 171, 783 P.2d at 481. Conflicts in the evidence, even within the testimony of a witness, are to be resolved by the fact finder at trial. See State v. Bloom, 90 N.M. 192, 194, 561 P.2d 465, 467 (1977).

{11} In this case, we have no findings of fact from the district court. "This is a regular occurrence when we review decisions on motions to suppress evidence in criminal cases." State v. Gonzales, 1999-NMCA-027, ¶ 11, 126 N.M. 742, 975 P.2d 355,cert. denied, 126 N.M. 533, 972 P.2d 352 (1999). In circumstances such as this, "our practice has been to ... employ presumptions [and as] a general rule, we will indulge in all reasonable presumptions in support of the district court's ruling." Id. ¶ 15. One constraint upon that practice is that without an indication on the record that the district court rejected the uncontradicted evidence, we presume the court believed all uncontradicted evidence. See id. ¶ 16. When the evidence conflicts, we consider the evidence that supports the district court's ruling; and we will draw all inferences and indulge all presumptions in favor of the district court's ruling.

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