State v. Rubio

• Decision Date: 13 March 2006
• Docket Number: No. 25,310.,25,310.
• Citation: 136 P.3d 1022,2006 NMCA 067
• Parties: STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Gregario RUBIO, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: Court of Appeals of New Mexico

136 P.3d 1022

2006 NMCA 067

STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Gregario RUBIO, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 25,310.

Court of Appeals of New Mexico.

March 13, 2006.

Certiorari Denied, No. 29,746, June 9, 2006.

Corrected June 19, 2006.

Patricia A. Madrid, Attorney General, Arthur W. Pepin, Assistant Attorney General, Santa Fe, NM for Appellant.

Freedman, Boyd, Daniels, Hollander & Goldberg, P.A., Zachary A. Ives, Albuquerque, NM for Appellee.

OPINION

SUTIN, Judge.

{1} We have withdrawn our opinion filed on February 1, 2006, and we substitute the present opinion in its stead.

{2} In this routine traffic stop case, we address the constitutionality of (1) an officer asking for and obtaining identification from the owner of the vehicle who was a passenger, and (2) the officer running a computer check using the identification obtained. The driver, unable to produce evidence of registration and insurance, indicated that one of his passengers was the owner of the vehicle. The police officer requested the owner-passenger's identification and then ran a "persons" computer check on the owner-passenger. After learning of an outstanding misdemeanor warrant on the owner-passenger and arresting him, the officer searched the vehicle and seized unlawful drugs. The district court suppressed the evidence obtained from the search as the fruit of an unlawful seizure and search. The State contends that the request for identification and computer check were lawful and therefore the search was lawful. We agree. We hold that the officer's request for identification from the owner-passenger and the subsequent computer check based on that identification were lawful; thus, the evidence from the search after the owner-passenger's arrest was not the fruit of an unlawful seizure or search.

BACKGROUND

{3} Officer Dudewicz observed two vehicles traveling alongside each other moving at a speed of approximately ten miles per hour in a thirty-five mile per hour zone and obstructing two lanes of traffic. Defendant Gregario Rubio, who was a front-seat passenger in the vehicle traveling in the left lane, was engaged in conversation with the driver of the vehicle in the right lane. Noticing that the driver of the vehicle in the left lane was not wearing a seatbelt, the officer engaged her emergency equipment and pulled the vehicle over.

{4} The officer asked the driver for his driver's license, registration, and insurance. The driver had a difficult time presenting the paperwork, and when the officer asked if he had insurance for the vehicle, the driver "looked rather confused." The officer then asked the driver who owned the vehicle. The driver pointed to Defendant, who stated that "he owned the vehicle or that it was registered to him." The officer then asked Defendant for his identification. The officer noticed that the passenger in the back seat also was not wearing a seatbelt and asked for his identification too. The officer then "ran a persons check on all three of them." The check on Defendant showed that he was the subject of an outstanding misdemeanor warrant, for which the officer arrested Defendant. The officer made arrangements to tow the vehicle and did an inventory search. The officer's search of Defendant's vehicle produced marijuana and crack cocaine.

{5} At the suppression hearing, the district court asked Officer Dudewicz to explain why she asked for Defendant's identification. The officer stated that the driver indicated that Defendant was the registered owner of the vehicle and the driver did not have the paperwork for the vehicle. The court asked the officer why she ran a warrants check on Defendant's identification and she responded that it was standard that she would usually run a warrants check on any person that she came across. The State asked the officer, "If a driver gives you information and indicates the owner is in the car, do you ask for that — do you investigate that other person, typically?" The officer responded, "To insure that that [person], in fact, is the registered owner, yes."

{6} The district court determined that the initial encounter between the officer and Defendant was consensual and that the officer had a legitimate basis for confirming the ownership of the vehicle. However, the court also determined that the officer needed Defendant's further consent to conduct a warrants check. The court held that there were less intrusive ways to confirm Defendant's ownership. In deciding to suppress the evidence, the court stated from the bench:

I'm going to grant the motion to suppress the evidence based on the following rationale: The Court finds that, in fact, this was a consensual encounter by the police officer with the defendant and that the officer testified that she had in so many words a legitimate reason for asking the information from the defendant, and that was for the purposes of confirming that he was, in fact, the owner of the vehicle. However, the Court finds that there [were] less intrusive ways to confirm that the defendant, given the information on his ID, was the actual owner of the vehicle by simply checking the ID with the information on the vehicle registration. The officer did not — in order to have continued with her consensual encounter, the Court finds that she should have asked the defendant if, in fact, she could conduct a warrants check, which she did not do.

By continuing with the warrants check, the Court finds that this encounter went from a consensual encounter to a seizure and the police officer did not in any way articulate any facts indicating a reasonable suspicion that the defendant had been or was involved in criminal activity or that her additional seizure and investigation was warranted for safety concerns.

{7} On appeal, the State argues that Defendant was not seized and consented to the officer's actions. The State also argues that even if obtaining Defendant's identification constituted a detention, the officer was justified in running a computer check to determine whether the driver was entitled to drive the vehicle and to confirm that the vehicle was properly registered and insured.

{8} We first discuss the relevant New Mexico law on routine traffic stops. We then discuss whether, under the circumstances in this case, the officer could lawfully obtain Defendant's identification and proceed to do a computer "persons" or warrants check on Defendant. We conclude that because the officer had a legitimate reason to determine whether Defendant was a registered owner of the vehicle and properly insured the vehicle, the warrants check was also a de minimis continuing detention of Defendant.

DISCUSSION

Standard of Review

{9} Review of a motion to suppress evidence involves mixed questions of law and fact, and this Court applies a substantial evidence standard to a review of the facts and reviews de novo the district court's application of the law to those facts. State v. Reynolds, 119 N.M. 383, 384, 890 P.2d 1315, 1316 (1995); State v. Lowe, 2004-NMCA-054, ¶ 8, 135 N.M. 520, 90 P.3d 539. Because the facts are undisputed, our review is solely de novo.

Relevant Traffic Stop Law

{10} The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution states: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated[.]" U.S. Const. amend. IV. The New Mexico Constitution states: "The people shall be secure in their persons, papers, homes and effects, from unreasonable searches and seizures[.]" N.M. Const. art. II, § 10.

{11} A traffic stop constitutes a seizure of the vehicle and its occupants. State v. Duran, 2005-NMSC-034, ¶ 22, 138 N.M. 414, 120 P.3d 836. In this regard, we disagree with the State's contention that the interaction with Defendant, even after the officer asked for identification, was consensual. See State v. Affsprung, 2004-NMCA-038, ¶¶ 16-17, 135 N.M. 306, 87 P.3d 1088 (rejecting the notion that a passenger in a stopped car, particularly after being asked to identify himself, would feel free to leave). Such seizures are analyzed in two parts: first, whether the officer made a valid investigatory stop; and second, whether the officer's actions during the investigatory detention were reasonably related in scope to the circumstances that initially justified the stop. Duran, 2005-NMSC-034, ¶ 23, 138 N.M. 414, 120 P.3d 836. As we discuss later in this opinion, circumstances presented here easily pass both parts of this test.

{12} When an officer stops a vehicle for a traffic violation, the officer can lawfully request and inspect the driver's license, vehicle registration, and proof of insurance, in order to verify that the driver is licensed and driving a vehicle that is registered and insured. Reynolds, 119 N.M. at 386-88, 890 P.2d at 1318-20; State v. Romero, 2002-NMCA-064, ¶ 9, 132 N.M. 364, 48 P.3d 102. The request for these documents is not a "search" because a driver has no expectation of privacy in these documents when requested by a police officer. Reynolds, 119 N.M. at 386, 890 P.2d at 1318. When a vehicle is lawfully stopped, the operator of the vehicle must be in immediate possession of a driver's license and must show the license when asked to do so by a peace officer. See NMSA 1978, § 66-5-16 (1985); see also NMSA 1978, § 66-5-2 (1989) (providing that all drivers must be licensed). In addition, every owner is required to register any motor vehicle that is driven or moved upon a highway and that registration "shall be exhibited upon demand of any police officer." NMSA 1978, § 66-3-1(A) (2001); NMSA 1978, § 66-3-13 (1978). Finally, all motor vehicles driven on our streets and highways must be insured or the owner of the vehicle must show evidence of financial responsibility; otherwise, the vehicle's operation is prohibited. See NMSA 1978, § 66-5-205 (1998).

{13} Although not a search, the request for documents in connection with a traffic stop...