State v. Schneider
| Decision Date | 24 December 2003 |
| Docket Number | No. 90,865, No. 90,866.,90,865, No. 90,866. |
| Citation | 80 P.3d 1184,32 Kan.App.2d 258 |
| Parties | STATE OF KANSAS, Appellant, v. ERIC SCHNEIDER, Appellee. |
| Court | Kansas Court of Appeals |
Ellen Mitchell, county attorney, Bobby J. Hiebert, Jr., assistant county attorney, and Phill Kline, attorney general, for appellant. Roger D. Struble and Jim Sweet, of Salina, for appellee.
Before GREENE, P.J., LEWIS and MALONE, JJ.
The State of Kansas filed this interlocutory appeal challenging the district court's order suppressing evidence resulting from a warrantless search incident to a traffic stop. The evidence resulted in the arrests of Eric Schneider and Zachary Ayers, who were charged with drug-related offenses. We affirm the district court.
On December 16, 2002, Investigator Gary Hanus of the I-135/I-70 Drug Task Force received a phone call from Richard Peppers, an in-store protection specialist at a Salina Target store. Peppers reported that he had observed two white males, later identified as defendants Eric Schneider and Zachary Ayers, talking in the cold pill aisle as they each picked up two packages of cold tablets containing pseudoephedrine. One of the males waited outside in a truck after he purchased two packages of cold tablets, while the second male walked around the store and purchased some toys, football cards, and shampoo in addition to the two packages of cold tablets. Peppers observed the second male get into the truck, and the two men left the parking lot together. Peppers advised Hanus of the truck's tag number.
Investigator Jeremy Watkins arrived at the Target store and followed the truck to see if the men were going to any other stores to purchase other ingredients to manufacture methamphetamine. Watkins followed them to a Kwik Shop where he apparently observed no suspicious conduct, and then he continued to follow the truck as it turned northbound on I-135. He observed that the driver of the truck did not use a turn signal in turning north onto I-135, and after communicating this to Investigators Hanus and Burr, the decision was made to call the Salina police department to have a marked vehicle stop the truck. Watkins had observed no other traffic infractions up to this point. Deputy James Fletcher eventually stopped the truck on westbound I-70 some 15 miles beyond Salina and considerably after the signal violation. Deputy Fletcher made contact with Schneider, the driver of the truck, while Trooper Derric Thompson made contact with Ayers, the passenger. Fletcher informed Schneider that drug task force investigators had observed him fail to use a turn signal, and Schneider and Ayers were both asked to come to the back of the truck to speak with the investigators. Deputy Fletcher did not request Schneider's driver's license, registration, or proof of insurance. When Ayers exited the vehicle, the passenger door remained open. Investigator Watkins testified that Ayers left the door open, while Ayers testified that Trooper Thompson held the door open as he exited the vehicle and prevented him from closing it.
After Schneider agreed to speak with him, Investigator Hanus informed him that he wished to discuss Schneider's purchase of the cold pills. Hanus did not inform Schneider of his Miranda rights at this time. Schneider admitted the traffic infraction but stated that he did not have any items associated with a methamphetamine lab. Hanus then asked Schneider for permission for Deputy Fletcher to search the truck for any drugs, drug paraphernalia, or methamphetamine lab-related materials. Schneider refused to give consent to the search.
Deputy Fletcher subsequently advised Investigator Hanus that he observed what appeared to be a gassing generator, an item used in manufacturing methamphetamine, in the pouch of the open passenger door of the truck. Schneider advised Deputy Fletcher that the item was in fact a methamphetamine smoking pipe. Investigator Hanus admitted that had the passenger door not been held open, the officers would not have been able to observe the pipe.
During this time, Ayers agreed to speak with Investigator Watkins, who questioned him about the purchase of the cold pills. Ayers stated that he would not have purchased two boxes of the cold pills if he had known it was illegal. Watkins informed Ayers that it was suspicious but not illegal, and requested consent to search Ayers' person for illegal drugs and weapons, which was given. In conducting the pat-down search, Watkins questioned Ayers about a large lump in Ayers' pocket. Ayers stated that it was money and agreed to let Watkins retrieve it. Watkins reached into the pocket and pulled out several wadded-up bills and a small baggie of marijuana.
Schneider and Ayers were taken into custody and a subsequent search of the truck yielded drug residue, various items of drug paraphernalia, and other items associated with the manufacture of methamphetamine. Schneider and Ayers were charged with one count each of possession of methamphetamine, contrary to K.S.A. 65-4160; possession of marijuana, contrary to K.S.A. 65-4162; and possession of drug paraphernalia, contrary to K.S.A. 65-4152. Schneider was charged with an additional count of failure to signal a turn, contrary to K.S.A. 8-1721.
Schneider and Ayers filed pretrial motions to suppress, alleging that the officers lacked reasonable suspicion to stop Schneider's truck and that the subsequent detention, search, and seizure were unlawful. At the suppression hearing, the State argued that the officers had sufficient reasonable suspicion to stop the defendants due to the nature of the items they purchased and the manner in which they purchased them. Alternatively, the State argued that even if the officers lacked reasonable suspicion, they conducted a valid traffic stop of the defendants based on the traffic infraction and observed the methamphetamine pipe in plain view.
After hearing evidence, the trial court found that the officers lacked reasonable suspicion to stop the truck based on the purchase of the cold pills. The court noted that even if the defendants were properly stopped for the traffic infraction, their detention was not related to the traffic stop and that without Trooper Thompson's actions, the methamphetamine pipe would not have been in plain view. The court held that the search of the truck was unlawful and suppressed everything found during the search of the truck and any statements made by the defendants as a result of the search. The court held that the marijuana found on Ayers would be admissible.
The State timely filed an interlocutory appeal.
On a motion to suppress evidence, this court reviews the facts underlying the district court's suppression decision by a substantial competent evidence standard and the ultimate legal conclusion drawn from those facts by a de novo standard. Although this court does not reweigh the evidence, the ultimate determination of the suppression of evidence is a legal question requiring the appellate court's independent determination. State v. Gray, 270 Kan. 793, 796, 18 P.3d 962 (2001).
The Traffic Stop, Even if Justified, Was Not Reasonably Related in Scope to the Justifying Circumstances.
K.S.A. 22-2402(1) provides that "[w]ithout making an arrest, a law enforcement officer may stop any person in a public place whom such officer reasonably suspects is committing, has committed or is about to commit a crime and may demand . . . the name [and] address of such suspect and an explanation of such suspect's actions." This statute is a codification of the Fourth Amendment search and seizure principles expressed in Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 20 L. Ed. 2d 889, 88 S. Ct. 1868 (1968). State v. Field, 252 Kan. 657, 659, 847 P.2d 1280 (1993). The stop of a moving vehicle always constitutes a seizure; thus, to make such a stop an officer must have articulable facts sufficient to constitute reasonable suspicion under K.S.A. 22-2402. State v. McKeown, 249 Kan. 506, 510, 819 P.2d 644 (1991). The scope and duration of a seizure must be strictly tied to and justified by the...
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