State v. Page

• Decision Date: 15 December 2004
• Docket Number: No. 29735.,29735.
• Parties: STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Arnold W. PAGE, Defendant-Respondent.
• Court: Idaho Supreme Court

103 P.3d 454

140 Idaho 841

STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Arnold W. PAGE, Defendant-Respondent.

No. 29735.

Supreme Court of Idaho, Lewiston, October 2004 Term.

December 15, 2004.

Hon. Lawrence G. Wasden, Attorney General, Boise, for appellant; Kenneth K. Jorgensen argued.

John M. Adams, Kootenai County Public Defender, Coeur d'Alene, for respondent; J. Bradford Chapman argued.

TROUT, Justice.

The State of Idaho, appeals from an order granting the defendant Arnold W. Page's motion to suppress evidence. Page was arrested on an outstanding arrest warrant after a late-night encounter with a police officer. A search incident to his arrest yielded illegal drugs and drug paraphernalia. Page was charged with multiple drug-related offenses and filed a motion to suppress, claiming the evidence against him was obtained pursuant to an illegal detention. The district court agreed and suppressed the evidence. This Court holds that discovery of an outstanding warrant for Page's arrest constituted an intervening event, dissipating any possible taint of unlawful law enforcement conduct and the district court's order granting the motion to suppress is reversed.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

At approximately 2:00 a.m. on March 1, 2003, Post Falls City police officer David Marshall was on patrol when he observed the defendant Arnold Page walking down the middle of a roadway carrying some bags. There were no vehicles on the roadway and the street was located in a residential area that lacked sidewalks. Without activating his overhead lights, Officer Marshall stopped his marked patrol vehicle behind Page, exited the vehicle and approached Page to speak with him on the side of the road. Officer Marshall asked Page if he could talk to him for a moment and Page replied, "[S]ure." After inquiring about Page's well-being, Officer Marshall asked Page for some identification and was handed an Idaho driver's license in the name of Arnold Page. Officer Marshall then took the license back to his vehicle, telling Page he was going to check his name with the station to let them know who he had stopped.

Officer Marshall was then told by dispatch that Page had an outstanding warrant for his arrest. Page was placed under arrest and during a search incident to that arrest, methamphetamine, marijuana and drug paraphernalia were found in a black case located in Page's coat pocket. Page was charged with possession of methamphetamine, misdemeanor possession of marijuana and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. He filed a motion to suppress, arguing the evidence against him was obtained pursuant to an unconstitutional detention made without a reasonable articulable suspicion. After a hearing on the matter, the district judge determined Officer Marshall was acting lawfully within the scope of his community care-taking function when he initially contacted Page. The judge ruled, however, that the detention of Page for the purposes of retrieving his driver's license and running his name through dispatch exceeded the permissible scope of the officer's community care-taking function and constituted an unlawful seizure. The district judge granted Page's motion to suppress from which the State timely filed this appeal.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

The standard of review of a suppression motion is bifurcated. When a decision on a motion to suppress is challenged, the Court accepts the trial court's findings of fact that are supported by substantial evidence, but freely reviews the application of constitutional principles to the facts as found. State v. Holland, 135 Idaho 159, 15 P.3d 1167 (2000).

III. ANALYSIS

The principal issue before this Court is whether the district judge erred in granting the motion to suppress. This issue primarily implicates two areas of analysis. First, we must decide whether the initial encounter was lawful, including whether the officer's action in taking Page's driver's license back to the patrol vehicle to run a records check constituted an unlawful seizure. Second, we analyze whether the discovery of a valid warrant for Page's arrest dissipated any possible taint of unlawful police conduct.

A. The Lawfulness of the Initial Police Encounter

The State maintains that the application of correct legal principles to the facts presented to the district court demonstrate that the initial encounter between Page and the police was consensual and did not implicate Page's Fourth Amendment rights. Although the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures by government officials, not every police/citizen encounter triggers Fourth Amendment scrutiny. This Court has held that "[a] seizure under the meaning of the Fourth Amendment occurs only `when the officer, by means of physical force or show of authority, has in some way restrained the liberty of a citizen.'" State v. Nickel, 134 Idaho 610, 612-13, 7 P.3d 219, 221-22 (2000) (quoting Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 19 n. 16, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 1878 n. 16, 20 L.Ed.2d 889, 905 n. 16 (1968)).

"When a defendant seeks to suppress evidence allegedly obtained as a result of an illegal seizure, the burden of proving that a seizure occurred is on the defendant." State v. Reese, 132 Idaho 652, 654, 978 P.2d 212, 214 (1999). Therefore, the proper inquiry in determining whether a seizure occurred is "whether, under all the circumstances surrounding an encounter, a reasonable person would have felt free to leave or otherwise decline the officer's requests and terminate the encounter." Id. at 653, 978 P.2d at 213. This rule has been otherwise stated that "`[s]o long as a reasonable person would feel free to disregard the police and go about his business,' an encounter between police and an individual is consensual." Nickel, 134 Idaho at 613,7 P.3d at 222 (quoting Florida v. Bostick, 501 U.S. 429, 434, 111 S.Ct. 2382, 2386, 115 L.Ed.2d 389, 398 (1991)).

In granting Page's motion to suppress, the district judge did not make any explicit factual findings, other than to determine that the initial encounter, including the initial questioning of Page, was accomplished pursuant to the officer's community caretaker function. This finding is supported by substantial evidence. The community caretaker function arises from the duty of police officers to help citizens in need of assistance. State v. Wixom, 130 Idaho 752, 754, 947 P.2d 1000, 1002 (1997). The officer clearly had reason under his community caretaker function to approach Page and make sure everything was alright when he noticed Page walking down the middle of a public street late at night. The record indicates the officer did not activate his overhead lights, nor did the circumstances of the encounter suggest that the officer was effectuating an investigatory stop based upon a reasonable suspicion that Page may have been involved in illegal activity.

In fact, the record is devoid of evidence that the officer officially "stopped" Page or otherwise restrained his liberty, either by physical force or show of authority at this time. Officer Marshall simply approached Page on a public street to ask a few questions and examine his identification. Page complied with these requests without objection. This Court has previously held that "[i]nterrogating a person concerning his identification or requesting identification does not, without more, constitute a seizure." Nickel, 134 Idaho at 613, 7 P.3d at 222. Further, no seizure has occurred when an officer simply approaches an individual on the street or other public place, by asking him if he is willing to answer some questions, or by putting questions to him if he is willing to listen. Florida v. Bostick, 501 U.S. 429, 111 S.Ct. 2382, 115 L.Ed.2d 389 (1991). There is no indication that the officer threatened or touched Page, displayed his weapon, or exhibited other intimidating behavior that would indicate Page was not free to simply discontinue the encounter and walk away. See, e.g., State v. Reese, 132 Idaho 652, 653, 978 P.2d 212, 213 (1999). Therefore, the officer's initial contact with Page is clearly the sort of consensual encounter that does not implicate any Fourth Amendment rights.

However, the district judge granted Page's motion to suppress on the basis that Page was unlawfully seized at the point in time when Officer Marshall secured his driver's license and ran his name through dispatch to check for outstanding warrants. This Court has previously held that a limited detention does occur when an officer retains a driver's license or other paperwork of value. State v. Godwin, 121 Idaho 491, 493, 826 P.2d 452, 454 (1992); See also State v. Martinez, 136 Idaho 436, 439, 34 P.3d 1119, 1122 (Ct.App.2001). In determining whether a particular community caretaker-related contact justifies a detention, Idaho courts must analyze "whether the intrusive action of the police was reasonable in view of all the surrounding circumstances." Wixom, 130 Idaho at 754, 947 P.2d at 1002 (quoting State v. Waldie, 126 Idaho 864, 867, 893 P.2d 811, 814 (Ct.App.1995)).

There must be a sufficient public interest furthered by the detention to outweigh the degree and nature of the intrusion upon the privacy of the detained citizen. U.S. v. Brignoni-Ponce, 422 U.S. 873, 880-81, 95 S.Ct. 2574, 2579-80, 45 L.Ed.2d 607, 615-16 (1975); See also Godwin, 121 Idaho at 495-96,826 P.2d at 455-56. There must also be some genuine and warranted concern by the officer to justify the detention of a citizen and not simply the officer's curiosity or an unsubstantiated suspicion of criminal activity. See, e.g., Wixom, 130 Idaho at 754,947 P.2d at 1002 (community caretaking did not justify the stop of a motorist passing by an accident scene long after the accident so the officer could inquire whether the occupants had any information about the accident); State v. Schmidt, 137 Idaho 301, 47 P.3d 1271 (2002) (community caretaking was not a justification for the...