State v. Parkinson

• Decision Date: 18 December 2000
• Docket Number: No. 25854.,25854.
• Citation: 17 P.3d 301,135 Idaho 357
• Parties: STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Doris Ann PARKINSON, Defendant-Respondent.
• Court: Idaho Court of Appeals

17 P.3d 301

135 Idaho 357

STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Doris Ann PARKINSON, Defendant-Respondent.

No. 25854.

Court of Appeals of Idaho.

December 18, 2000.

Hon. Alan G. Lance, Attorney General; Kenneth K. Jorgensen, Deputy Attorney General, Boise, for appellant. Kenneth K. Jorgensen argued.

Douglas D. Phelps, Spokane, WA, for respondent.

SCHWARTZMAN, Judge.

The state appeals from the district court's order granting Doris Ann Parkinson's motion to suppress evidence resulting from a search subsequent to a drug dog sniff conducted during a routine traffic stop. The state argues that the district court erred in concluding that police questioning about drugs and weapons and the dog sniff were not reasonably related to the traffic stop, thus exceeding its scope. We reverse.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On January 25, 1999, at about 2:45 p.m., Ponderay City Police Officer David McClelland observed a red Dodge truck with an "extremely cracked windshield" and a small amount of sawdust coming out of the truck bed. McClelland paced the truck at fifty miles per hour in a forty-five mile-per-hour zone.¹

McClelland conducted a traffic stop, contacting the driver, Doris Ann Parkinson, and obtaining her driver's license and registration. Parkinson initially could not locate proof of insurance. However, before McClelland began to write out a citation for no proof of insurance, a violation of I.C. § 49-1232, Parkinson gave McClelland a document purporting to show proof of insurance—an SR22 insurance form issued on December 2, 1998 with no expiration date. McClelland informed Parkinson that he would still be issuing her a citation for no proof of insurance because the SR22 form had no expiration date. McClelland advised Parkinson that failure to carry proof of insurance was dismissible upon proof of insurance. McClelland then returned to his vehicle, contacted dispatch to run a driver's check and began to write out the citation for no proof of insurance.

About that time, Idaho State Patrol Corporal Terry Ford arrived at the scene with Rosie, his drug dog. With McClelland's approval, Ford contacted Parkinson and asked her a series of questions about whether she had any open containers of alcohol, various drugs or weapons in the truck. Based upon Parkinson's "Ah, no," responses to his questions about marijuana and methamphetamine, Ford told Parkinson he would like to run his dog around the outside of her vehicle. Ford explained that Rosie would alert if there were drugs in the vehicle. Ford walked Rosie around the truck and she alerted on the driver's side door.

McClelland noticed Rosie alerting, re-approached Parkinson's truck and had her exit the truck and stand by the tailgate. Ford told Parkinson that Rosie had alerted on the side of the truck. When Ford asked Parkinson, "Where are they at," she indicated her purse. Ford placed Rosie inside the cab of the truck and Rosie alerted on a black leather purse. While Rosie was inside the truck cab, McClelland patted Parkinson down. During the frisk, McClelland felt several objects in her coat pocket that, upon removal, he recognized as drug paraphernalia—a pipe commonly used to smoke marijuana, a metal tin and a snort tube containing powdery residue. Ford searched Parkinson's purse and found several small containers with powdery residue and a metal container filled with a leafy, green substance believed to be marijuana. Parkinson was arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance, methamphetamine, a felony pursuant to I.C. § 37-2732(c)(1).

Following the preliminary hearing, Parkinson filed a motion to suppress asserting, among other allegations, that the questioning and use of the drug dog were not reasonably related to the scope of the traffic stop. At the hearing on the motion to suppress, McClelland, Ford and Parkinson all testified. Thereafter the district court issued its findings of fact mirroring those set forth above. The court also found that Ford arrived about four minutes after McClelland initiated the traffic stop and that the entire incident, ending with Parkinson's arrest, lasted approximately ten to fifteen minutes, a period no greater than the duration of a normal traffic stop. The district court then explained that the fact that the duration of the stop did not exceed that of a routine traffic stop was not dispositive. Rather, the officer's questioning and use of the drug detection dog, for purposes unrelated to the initial purpose of the stop and in the absence of reasonable suspicion, violated Parkinson's Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. The district court then granted Parkinson's motion to suppress. The state appeals.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

In evaluating a ruling on a motion to suppress, we defer to factual findings of the trial court unless they are clearly erroneous, but we freely review the trial court's determination as to whether constitutional standards have been satisfied in light of the facts found. State v. Morris, 131 Idaho 562, 565, 961 P.2d 653, 656 (Ct.App.1998); State v. Pick, 124 Idaho 601, 603, 861 P.2d 1266, 1268 (Ct.App.1993); State v. Heinen, 114 Idaho 656, 658, 759 P.2d 947, 949 (Ct.App.1988). The district court's findings of fact are unchallenged. Although the court did not consider whether Ford's questioning and use of the drug detection dog caused the detention to be more intrusive than necessary to effectuate the purposes of a routine traffic stop, the degree of such an intrusion is a question of reasonableness under the Fourth Amendment. The reasonableness of a given search or seizure is a question of law requiring our independent review. Morris, 131 Idaho at 565, 961 P.2d at 656; State v. McIntee, 124 Idaho 803, 804, 864 P.2d 641, 642 (Ct.App. 1993); Heinen, 114 Idaho at 658, 759 P.2d at 949. Accordingly, we exercise free review. See State v. Reese, 132 Idaho 652, 653, 978 P.2d 212, 213 (1999)

.

III. POLICE QUESTIONING WHICH ICREASES THE SCOPE OR DURATION OF DETENTION DURING A TERRY STOP MAY RESULT IN A FOURTH AMENDMENT VIOLATION

A. The District Court's Reasoning

This case presents a narrow question of law regarding a brief and discrete period of time during a traffic stop—whether Ford's inquiry into the presence of drugs, firearms and open containers of alcohol, and then his use of a drug detection dog to sniff the exterior of Parkinson's truck, violated her Fourth Amendment rights. On this question, the district court explained that while the duration of the seizure was brief and the intensity of the investigation was not excessive, Ford's questioning was clearly directed towards Parkinson's involvement in crimes unrelated to the traffic stop. Citing two federal cases, the court reasoned that to allow police officers the unfettered discretion during a routine traffic stop to inquire into criminal acts for which there is no reasonable suspicion would undermine the privacy interests protected by the Fourth Amendment.² The district court then ruled that Ford's questioning about the presence of drugs or alcohol and his use of the drug detection dog exceeded the scope of the traffic stop, and on that basis granted Parkinson's motion to suppress. In light of this ruling, the court specifically declined to address other issues, such as whether Parkinson was in custody for Miranda purposes after the drug dog alerted.

The state argues that the district court erred as a matter of law by granting Parkinson's motion to suppress because the duration of the traffic stop initiated by McClelland was not increased by Ford's questioning of Parkinson or his use of the drug detection dog on the exterior of Parkinson's truck. In this case, we agree.

B. Applicable Law

As stated in Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 20-21, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 1879-80, 20 L.Ed.2d 889, 904-08 (1968), the determination of whether an investigative detention is reasonable requires a dual inquiry — (1) "whether the officer's action was justified at its inception" and (2) "whether it was reasonably related in scope to the circumstances which justified the interference in the first place."³ Here, Parkinson does not contest the basis for the stop. Thus, we address only the second prong of this inquiry, whether Ford's questioning and use of the drug detection dog were reasonably related in scope to the circumstances which justified the traffic stop.

The Fourth Amendment's prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures has always been interpreted to prevent a search that is not limited to the particularly described "place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized," even where the search is made pursuant to a warrant issued upon probable cause. Florida v. Royer, 460 U.S. 491, 499-500, 103 S.Ct. 1319, 1324-26, 75 L.Ed.2d 229, 236-39 (1983). The reasonableness requirement of the Fourth Amendment requires no less when the police action is a seizure based upon reasonable suspicion such as the brief seizure permitted under Terry. Royer, 460 U.S. at 500,

103 S.Ct. at 1325,

75 L.Ed.2d at 237. Where a person is detained, the scope of detention "must be carefully tailored to its underlying justification." Id.

An examination of Royer leads us to conclude that the United States Supreme Court's focus was on the intensity, as well as the duration, of the detention.

The scope of the intrusion permitted will vary to some extent with the particular facts and circumstances of each case. This much, however, is clear: an investigative detention must be temporary and last no longer than is necessary to effectuate the purpose of the stop. Similarly, the investigative methods employed should be the least intrusive means reasonably available to verify or dispel the officer's suspicion in a short period of time. See, e. g., United States v. Brignoni Ponce, [422 U.S. 873, 881-882, 95 S.Ct. 2574, 2580-81, 45 L.Ed.2d 607, 616 (1975)

]; Adams v. Williams, [407 U.S. 143, 146, 92 S.Ct. 1921, 1923, 32...