State v. Ross

• Citation: 254 S.W.3d 267
• Decision Date: 03 June 2008
• Docket Number: No. ED 90375.,ED 90375.
• Parties: STATE of Missouri, Appellant, v. Luconios L. ROSS, Defendant/Respondent.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Missouri (US)

254 S.W.3d 267

STATE of Missouri, Appellant, v. Luconios L. ROSS, Defendant/Respondent.

No. ED 90375.

Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District, Division Two.

June 3, 2008.

Robert E. Parks, Union, MO, for appellant.

Frank K. Carlson, Union, MO, for respondent.

LAWRENCE E. MOONEY, Presiding Judge.

Today we confront an issue that is hardly novel, but nevertheless merits a published opinion. We publish this opinion neither to establish new legal precepts nor to expand their reach, but rather to recount settled legal principles that obviously require repetition. Although we do not discourage law enforcement's admirable efforts to interdict the transportation of illegal drugs, we remind them of the constitutional mandates that govern their conduct.

The State appeals from the trial court's order sustaining Luconios L. Ross's motion to suppress evidence seized in a search of a rental vehicle driven by Mr. Ross after he was detained for a traffic offense. The State contends the trial court erred in sustaining the motion because Mr. Ross lacked standing to challenge the search of the rental vehicle and because the search was not a product of an unlawful detention of Mr. Ross. However, this Court holds that Mr. Ross was unlawfully detained after the completion of the traffic stop. And because the evidence was discovered as a direct result of the illegal detention, it must be excluded as fruit of the improper detention. Accordingly, we affirm the trial court's order.

Factual Background

During the morning of April 18, 2003, Missouri State Highway Patrol Corporal Russell Seaton was on routine patrol on Interstate Highway 44. As he was traveling eastbound, Corporal Seaton observed a Dodge Intrepid approaching his car from behind. The corporal believed the Dodge was traveling in excess of the 70 mile-an-hour speed limit because the Dodge was closing in on his patrol vehicle, which was traveling at the speed limit. The trooper activated his radar, which indicated the Dodge was traveling at 73 miles-per-hour, above the legal limit. Corporal Seaton then turned on his emergency lights and siren, and pulled the Dodge over for speeding. The traffic stop took place along eastbound Highway 44 near the 249-mile marker in Franklin County.

Corporal Seaton approached the stopped Dodge, which had Michigan license plates, and asked the driver for his driver's license and proof of insurance. The driver was Mr. Ross, whose later motion to suppress is the subject of this appeal. Mr. Ross produced a driver's license; Mr. Malcolm Agnew, the passenger sitting in the front passenger seat, produced rental documents for the vehicle. But neither Mr. Agnew nor Mr. Ross was listed on the documents as the renter of the Dodge. Instead, the rental agreement recorded a "Jennifer Agnew" as the renter. Further, the documents revealed that no one other than "Jennifer Agnew" was authorized to drive the rental vehicle.

Corporal Seaton asked Mr. Ross to step back to the patrol car. Mr. Ross complied and sat in the patrol car as Corporal Seaton ran a routine operator and license check and reviewed the rental documents. Approximately fifteen minutes into this traffic stop, while Corporal Seaton and Mr. Ross were still seated in the patrol car, a second Highway Patrolman, Corporal Bartel, arrived on the scene. Corporal Bartel exited his vehicle and got into Corporal Seaton's vehicle, taking the right rear passenger's seat.

During the course of the records check, Corporal Seaton and Mr. Ross engaged in general conversation. Mr. Ross stated he and Mr. Agnew had been on a road trip together for several days, traveling from Michigan to Arkansas, Tennessee, and Oklahoma, and that they were headed back to Michigan. According to Corporal Seaton, Mr. Ross appeared extremely nervous. Corporal Seaton testified that Mr. Ross kept looking out the window and would never make eye contact with him. Corporal Seaton noticed that Mr. Ross was trembling and seemed out of breath; he even observed the pulsations of Mr. Ross's carotid artery. According to Corporal Seaton, the longer Mr. Ross sat in the patrol car, the more nervous he became. After speaking with Mr. Ross, Corporal Seaton exited his patrol car and went to speak with Mr. Agnew, who was still seated in the stopped Dodge. Mr. Agnew also gave an accounting of the road trip, which somewhat varied from Mr. Ross's version of events.

Corporal Seaton returned to his patrol car, and ultimately received a clear criminal history check on Mr. Ross and radio confirmation of the validity of Mr. Ross's license. Corporal Seaton gave Mr. Ross a written warning, returned his driver's license and the rental documents to Mr. Ross, and told Mr. Ross that "he was free to go." Mr. Ross then exited the patrol car.

But as Mr. Ross was walking in front of the patrol car, on his way back to the rented Dodge, he allegedly turned around. According to Corporal Seaton, it appeared as if Mr. Ross wanted to ask him a question. Corporal Seaton exited his patrol car and verbally re-engaged Mr. Ross, by calling out Mr. Ross's name in the form of a question. In response, Mr. Ross asked if Mr. Agnew should drive. Corporal Seaton stated that would probably be best. Corporal Seaton then asked Mr. Ross if he could ask him a few more questions, to which Mr. Ross replied, "No problem."

Corporal Seaton then proceeded to ask Mr. Ross a series of questions about drugs and drug trafficking. He first asked Mr. Ross if he was aware of the drug problem in the United States, and if he was aware that people of all ages, sex, races, and religions transported narcotics across the country, every day, in all types of vehicles. Mr. Ross stated that he was aware of this. Corporal Seaton then asked Mr. Ross what he thought should happen to those people — if he thought they should go to prison or get treatment instead. Mr. Ross, who during the course of the conversation had stated he was a corrections officer for the Michigan Department of Corrections, stated, "Well, we don't rehabilitate." Corporal Seaton then inquired if Mr. Ross had anything illegal, such as drugs and weapons, in the rented Dodge. Corporal Seaton also asked Mr. Ross for consent to search the vehicle. Mr. Ross stated he did not have anything illegal in the vehicle and that he did not mind if Corporal Seaton searched the car. Corporal Seaton prepared a written consent form for Mr. Ross to read and sign. But after reading the form, Mr. Ross withdrew his consent, stating that Corporal Seaton would first have to obtain Mr. Agnew's consent to search the vehicle. At this point, Corporal Seaton told Mr. Ross to "wait right there."

Corporal Seaton prepared a second consent form and then approached Mr. Agnew. Corporal Seaton asked basically the same litany of questions regarding drugs and drug trafficking of Mr. Agnew that he had previously asked of Mr. Ross. Corporal Seaton then presented Mr. Agnew with the consent form, informing him that he had the right to refuse consent. Mr. Agnew, whose hands were visibly shaking, took the form, read it, and then refused to consent to a search of the vehicle. At this point, Corporal Seaton returned to his patrol car and informed Corporal Bartel that Mr. Ross and Mr. Agnew were refusing to consent to a search of their car. Corporal Bartel exited the patrol car and took Mr. Agnew back to sit in his patrol car. Corporal Seaton called and requested that the canine officer, Corporal Swartz, come to the scene.

Corporal Swartz arrived on the scene, approximately nine minutes later, nearly fifty-five minutes after Corporal Seaton had initially stopped Mr. Ross and Mr. Agnew. Corporal Swartz, along with his dog, Yote, conducted a canine sniff around the exterior of the rental vehicle. Yote apparently sensed the odor of narcotics and scratched at the trunk seam. Corporal Swartz opened the trunk and discovered several bundles of what he believed to be marijuana, wrapped in aluminum foil underneath the spare tire. Mr. Ross and Mr. Agnew were both arrested.

A Franklin County grand jury returned an indictment against Mr. Ross, charging him with the class B felony of Possession of a Controlled Substance With Intent to Distribute or Deliver or Sell, in violation of Section 195.211 RSMo. Mr. Ross filed a motion to suppress evidence. The parties submitted Mr. Ross's motion to the trial court for determination based upon evidence adduced at a hearing on Mr. Agnew's motions to suppress evidence and statements, filed in the case of State of Missouri v. Malcolm D. Agnew, stemming from the same traffic stop.

The trial court initially denied Mr. Ross's motion, but Mr. Ross filed a motion to reconsider. Upon its reconsideration, the trial court sustained Mr. Ross's motion and entered its order suppressing the evidence, "based upon the rationale of State v. Granado and Brendlin v. California."¹ The State now appeals.²

Standard of Review

This Court's review of a trial court's ruling on a motion to suppress is limited to determining whether the decision is supported by substantial evidence. State v. Johnson, 207 S.W.3d 24, 44 (Mo. banc 2006); State v. Watkins, 73 S.W.3d 881, 883 (Mo.App. E.D.2002). In reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence, we consider all evidence and all reasonable inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to the trial court's ruling. Id. Additionally, we defer to the trial court's factual findings and credibility determinations. State v. Sund, 215 S.W.3d 719, 723 (Mo. banc 2007); State v. Dixon, 218 S.W.3d 14, 18 (Mo.App. W.D.2007). We will reverse a trial court's ruling on a motion to suppress only if it is clearly erroneous; that is, only if we are left with a definite and firm impression that a mistake has been made. Id. Whether conduct violates the Fourth Amendment is an issue of law that this Court reviews de novo. Sund, 215 S.W.3d at 723.

Discussion

The State advances two arguments as to why the trial court erred in sustaining Mr. Ross's motion...