State v. Schooler

• Decision Date: 22 June 2018
• Docket Number: No. 116,636,116,636
• Parties: STATE of Kansas, Appellant, v. Shaun Lee SCHOOLER, Appellee.
• Court: Kansas Supreme Court

419 P.3d 1164

STATE of Kansas, Appellant,

v.Shaun Lee SCHOOLER, Appellee.

No. 116,636

Supreme Court of Kansas.

Opinion filed June 22, 2018.

Tony R. Cruz, assistant county attorney, argued the cause, and Derek Schmidt, attorney general, was on the briefs for appellant.

Michael P. Whalen, of Law Office of Michael P. Whalen, of Wichita, argued the cause and was on the brief for appellee.

The opinion of the court was delivered by Biles, J.:

The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution requires that traffic stops not be measurably extended beyond the time necessary to process the infraction prompting the stop—unless there is consent, or a reasonable suspicion of or probable cause to believe there is other criminal activity. Rodriguez v. United States , 575 U.S. ––––, 135 S.Ct. 1609, 1615, 191 L.Ed. 2d 492 (2015). In the current case, the State seeks interlocutory review of a district court decision suppressing from evidence 38 pounds of marijuana seized after a traffic stop along I-70. The court found the stop was impermissibly extended. A Court of Appeals panel affirmed. State v. Schooler , No. 116,636, 2017 WL 2212102, at *6 (Kan. App. 2017) (unpublished opinion). We granted review and now reverse.

The issue is whether the lower courts correctly concluded the stop was unconstitutionally extended. The analysis is complicated by the timing and other details attendant to the stop, including the deputy's questions and the driver's responses. See State v. Jimenez , (No. 116,250 this date decided), ––– Kan. ––––, ––––, ––– P.3d ––––, slip op. at 19, 2018 WL 3077771 (noting circumstances dictate how a court views an officer's progressive questioning during a traffic stop). As opposed to the lower courts, we determine that (1) discrepancies between the driver's statements and the vehicle-related documents justified the deputy's questioning; (2) the questioning occurred simultaneously with the deputy's appropriate steps in processing the traffic stop; and (3) the circumstances provided reasonable suspicion to extend the detention for a drug dog sniff. We remand the case to the district court for further proceedings.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The facts are undisputed and supported by an audio/video recording. We must detail what happened because "[a]ssessing whether an officer unreasonably prolonged a stop involves ‘highly fact-specific inquiries.’ " United States v. Hill , 849 F.3d 195, 201 (4th Cir. 2017) ; see also Jimenez , slip op. at 20, ––– Kan. at ––––, ––– P.3d –––– (Caselaw "requires careful case-by-case evaluation to determine how the officer conducted or ordered the activities associated with the traffic stop.").

In February 2016, Shaun Schooler was driving a rented 2016 Dodge pickup eastbound on I-70 when Geary County Sheriff's Deputy Justin Stopper noticed snow obstructing the license tag's lower half. The deputy initiated a traffic stop. He approached Schooler's vehicle from the passenger side, explained the reason for the stop, and asked for his driver's license and vehicle registration, which in this instance was a rental agreement.

As Schooler complied, the deputy immediately asked where he was coming from. He responded Denver, Colorado, heading to Kansas City to fly back home to California. He told Stopper he had flown in to Kansas City before traveling to Denver. The rental agreement, however, stated the vehicle was rented in California a few days earlier and was due back at the same location a couple of days after the stop. The deputy later testified the rental location and dates were peculiar to him because of Schooler's explanations about his travel itinerary. Stopper asked why Schooler was in Denver. He said he was skiing with friends and had dropped off a 16-foot trailer. Stopper asked why he did not fly out of Denver. Schooler explained "it was just cheaper to do it that way." Stopper asked Schooler to confirm he flew into Kansas City, and Schooler volunteered: "The car rental is from San Diego. I totally know that it is. It's just how they did it with the trailer and stuff, sir." When Stopper suggested "normally" a "different rental place" is not listed on a rental agreement, Schooler said "it's not all me." Schooler offered to produce airline tickets and began searching for them inside the vehicle.

While Schooler looked for his tickets, Stopper asked what kind of trailer he dropped off and expressed disbelief the truck could accommodate that trailer type. Stopper asked where he picked up the trailer. Schooler said in Kansas City from a friend. Stopper asked how that "work[ed] out[.]" While Schooler continued to search for his airline tickets, Stopper commented on a "giant duffel bag" the officer saw in the truck's back seat.

Schooler could not locate his airline tickets and believed they were in another backpack, which he asked to get from the back seat. Because it was cold, Stopper suggested they sit in his patrol vehicle. Schooler agreed. The deputy later testified he suspected criminal activity as he left the truck's passenger side to return to his own vehicle. He said his suspicions at this point were based on detecting the odor of air fresheners from the rental vehicle; observing multiple cell phones, the large duffle bag, other items, and debris in the passenger compartment; and noting the peculiarities with Schooler's explanations about his travels and the vehicle rental arrangement. The deputy texted for a drug dog. At this point, about three minutes had passed from the stop.

Inside the patrol car, the deputy continued questioning while reviewing Schooler's driver's license and rental documents and entering information into his vehicle's mobile data terminal. He asked when Schooler got to Kansas City. He responded "they rented it" on Friday, he "got into Kansas City on Saturday, [and] skied Sunday, Monday." He reiterated, "[T]hey did rent [the vehicle] out of San Diego," and he "just picked it up in Kansas City." He explained he had a truck stolen and "Geico Insurance rented it, in [his] name, and [he] picked it up in Kansas City." He said either Geico or Enterprise "took [the truck] out" to Kansas City. During this time, Schooler searched a backpack he brought into the patrol vehicle for airline tickets. He never found them.

Stopper continued prodding, saying he had "never heard of anything like this happening." Schooler said he took the trailer to Colorado to help out some friends. When Stopper asked their names, Schooler said, "Oh. Alright." Then, after a pause, he asked if he was "in some kind of trouble ...." Stopper responded, "Well, your story's a little odd. I'm just trying to make sure everything's on the up-and-up and legit here." The encounter had lasted five minutes and 45 seconds at this point.

About six minutes into the stop, the deputy received responses on his mobile data terminal advising him that Schooler was on federal supervised release. Stopper learned there were no outstanding warrants and the vehicle registration checked out properly. Schooler denied being "on probation or anything," but said he had been arrested "for a few things ...." Schooler soon admitted his supervised release status but denied being on probation. When asked why he was on federal supervised release, Schooler sighed and said "that was," paused, sighed, and then told Stopper he was not "up to [unintelligible] no good" and was "just trying to get home."

About seven minutes and 30 seconds into the stop, Stopper radioed his dispatch with Schooler's driver's license number and date of birth. He explained at the suppression hearing he did this to get additional information and verify what Schooler was telling him because the mobile data terminal could not access the appropriate databases. While waiting, the deputy returned to questioning about "pretrial status and stuff" because he knew "most times" a person on pretrial supervision is not supposed to leave the state. The deputy asked what Schooler got in trouble for, and Schooler said it was for controlled substances. Stopper asked how much and Schooler said "very little." Stopper asked why it was federal supervision, and Schooler said "it was on a base" in 2005. Stopper expressed disbelief Schooler was still on probation in 2016, and Schooler said that status would last another five years. The deputy asked what kind of controlled substance and Schooler said "a little bit of cocaine ...." Stopper later testified he believed the probation term Schooler described meant the conviction was "probably [for] more than just a little bit of cocaine." Stopper resumed questioning about the trailer and trip to Colorado. Schooler said he picked it up from a friend's friend.

At about nine minutes and 40 seconds into the stop, the deputy asked Schooler if he was "being truthful" because he had "never heard anything like this." Schooler said there was nothing for him to lie about. Schooler offered to make a phone call. The deputy declined but persisted in asking why the friends did not move their own trailer and commenting it was a long way out of the way. Schooler could not recall from whom he picked up the trailer. Stopper then asked how much Schooler's baggage fees were because the large duffel bag was probably expensive to take on a plane. He also noted Schooler had other large items in the truck, which Schooler said mostly came from the duffel bag, although that bag appeared full.

At about 11 minutes and 45 seconds into the stop, the deputy explained to Schooler he was continuing to wait for record check verifications. Stopper asked Schooler to verify his address again, asked him to explain his supervised release, and inquired about prior arrests. The deputy asked Schooler if he was "actually supposed to be out of the state." Stopper again asked when Schooler flew into Kansas City.

At about 13 minutes into the stop, the deputy radioed to dispatch variations in the vehicle license tag numbers, noting the snow was obscuring some letters and numbers and some...