State v. Shoulderblade

• Decision Date: 25 October 1995
• Docket Number: No. 930518,930518
• Citation: 905 P.2d 289
• Parties: STATE of Utah, Plaintiff and Petitioner, v. Dennis SHOULDERBLADE, Defendant and Respondent.
• Court: Utah Supreme Court

Page 289

905 P.2d 289

STATE of Utah, Plaintiff and Petitioner, v. Dennis SHOULDERBLADE, Defendant and Respondent.

No. 930518.

Supreme Court of Utah.

Oct. 25, 1995.

Jan Graham, Att'y Gen., Marian Decker, Todd A. Utzinger, Asst. Att'ys Gen., Salt Lake City, for plaintiff.

Stephen R. McCaughey, G. Fred Metos, Salt Lake City, for defendant.

ON CERTIORARI TO THE UTAH COURT OF APPEALS

PER CURIAM:

For the second time, we have granted certiorari to review a Utah Court of Appeals decision concerning Dennis Shoulderblade. State v. Shoulderblade, 858 P.2d 1049 (Utah Ct.App.1993), cert. granted, 870 P.2d 957 (Utah 1994). Previously, we reversed and remanded a court of appeals decision that affirmed Shoulderblade's conviction. We directed the court of appeals to decide whether a voluntary consent to search was sufficiently attenuated from an illegal roadblock so as to preclude the application of the Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule. State v. Shoulderblade, No. 920239 (Utah Jan. 5, 1993) (order granting motion for summary disposition). This attenuation analysis evaluates whether the police exploited their prior misconduct to obtain consent to search. If so, the evidence discovered in the search must be excluded. On remand, the court of appeals applied its own attenuation analysis from State v. Small, 829 P.2d 129 (Utah Ct.App.), cert. denied, 843 P.2d 1042 (Utah 1992), and ruled that because close temporal proximity precluded attenuation, the exclusionary rule applied. Shoulderblade, 858 P.2d at 1052-53. Accordingly, it reversed Shoulderblade's conviction and remanded to the trial court. Id. at 1053.

The State appeals, arguing that close temporal proximity does not dispositively preclude attenuation and that the roadblock was merely a technical violation to which the exclusionary rule should not apply. We agree that temporal proximity alone is not dispositive but do not reverse because application of the exclusionary rule is appropriate.

I. FACTS

The facts are not disputed. On September 29, 1988, the police conducted an illegal roadblock in Millard County, Utah, on a section of Interstate 15. Approximately fifteen officers from the Utah Highway Patrol and the Millard County Sheriff's office were assigned to operate the roadblock. They were instructed to check driver's licenses and vehicle registrations and to look for any criminal activity.

A car driven by Dennis Shoulderblade stopped at the roadblock. Leaning in the car window, an officer requested the car's registration and valid identification from Shoulderblade and his passenger, Lemuel Small. Both produced identification, but the car was not registered to either occupant. Small explained that the car belonged to his friend. The officer radioed dispatch to confirm the vehicle's registration and to check the occupants' driver's licenses. While waiting for confirmation, the officer interrogated Shoulderblade and Small. Their answers that they had been to Las Vegas and were returning to Montana seemed plausible to the officer. He also asked if they had any alcohol, firearms, or drugs in the car, and they both replied in the negative. According to the officer, what Shoulderblade and Small were doing was "entirely lawful." Nevertheless, the officer asked if he could look in the vehicle. Small consented. Both Shoulderblade and Small were arrested after substantial quantities of drugs, drug paraphernalia, firearms, and cash were found.

Shoulderblade and Small were both criminally charged with possession of a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute in violation of Utah Code Ann. § 58-37-8(2)(a)(i) and (1)(a)(iv). Prior to their joint trial, both Shoulderblade and Small moved to suppress the evidence obtained in the search. The trial court denied the motions, and the jury found Shoulderblade and Small guilty.

Shoulderblade and Small appealed their decisions separately. In his appeal, Small raised the issue of attenuation. The court of appeals reversed his conviction and held that on remand the evidence seized from the vehicle should be suppressed because "Small's consent to have the vehicle searched was not sufficiently attenuated to dissipate the taint of the illegal roadblock." Small, 829 P.2d at 132.

Shoulderblade did not raise the issue of attenuation in his appeal. The court of appeals affirmed Shoulderblade's conviction on the ground that voluntary consent was given for the search. State v. Shoulderblade, No. 900288, slip op. at 3-4 (Utah Ct.App. Mar. 12, 1992). With new counsel, Shoulderblade petitioned this court for certiorari, arguing that his original appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to raise the attenuation issue. The State agreed, and we reversed and remanded for the court of appeals to decide the issue of attenuation. State v. Shoulderblade, No. 920239 (Utah Jan. 5, 1993) (order granting motion for summary disposition). Two days later, this court issued its opinion in State v. Thurman, 846 P.2d 1256 (Utah 1993), setting forth the framework for a correct attenuation analysis.

On remand, the court of appeals ruled that stare decisis applies to a multi-panel appellate court and therefore it was bound to apply its attenuation analysis from Small, because Shoulderblade's appeal "is identical in both law and fact to that presented in Small." Shoulderblade, 858 P.2d at 1052. In so doing, it did not consider the attenuation analysis from Thurman.

The State raises two issues. First, under the doctrine of stare decisis did the court of appeals err by applying the attenuation analysis from Small instead of that from Thurman? Second, does a correct attenuation analysis require reversing the court of appeals and affirming the trial court?

II. STARE DECISIS

The court of appeals ruled that this court's holding on stare decisis in Thurman bound it to apply the attenuation analysis it had applied in Small. Shoulderblade, 858 P.2d at 1052. Under the doctrine of stare decisis, once a point of law is decided, that ruling should be followed by a court of the same or a lower rank in subsequent cases confronting the same legal issue. 20 Am.Jur.2d Courts § 183 (1965). Once the court of last resort makes a legal ruling, decisions on the same issue by courts of a lower rank are superseded. See Consolidation Coal Co. v. Utah Div. of State Lands & Forestry, 886 P.2d 514, 524 n. 14 (Utah 1994). Stare decisis forges certainty, stability, and predictability in the law. It also reinforces confidence in judicial integrity and lays a foundation of order upon which individuals and organizations in our society can conduct themselves. State v. Menzies, 889 P.2d 393, 398-99 (Utah 1994); Thurman, 846 P.2d at 1269; see also Payne v. Tennessee, 501 U.S. 808, 827, 111 S.Ct. 2597, 2609, 115 L.Ed.2d 720 (1991); Vasquez v. Hillery, 474 U.S. 254, 265-66, 106 S.Ct. 617, 624-25, 88 L.Ed.2d 598 (1986). Thus, stare decisis results in adherence to a single rule of law throughout a jurisdiction. See, e.g., Consolidation Coal, 886 P.2d at 524; Menzies, 889 P.2d at 398-99; Thurman, 846 P.2d at 1269.

In Thurman, this court held that "stare decisis has equal application when one panel of a multi-panel appellate court is faced with a prior decision of a different panel." 846 P.2d at 1269. However, Thurman dealt only with the application of the doctrine of stare decisis to rulings by various panels of the court of appeals. It did not consider the impact of rulings by a court of higher rank on lower court rulings. Id. No doubt the court of appeals misread our decision in Thurman to mean that it should apply its ruling in the companion case of Small to the facts of this case. That, however, was not the purpose of our remand.

III. ATTENUATION OF CONSENT FROM AN ILLEGAL SEIZURE

The purpose of an attenuation analysis is found in the basic truth that the government must use lawful means to achieve its objectives. This includes not seizing a citizen to unearth wrongdoing except under well-defined circumstances. See State v. Ramirez, 817 P.2d 774, 785-86 (Utah 1991); State v. Arroyo, 796 P.2d 684, 687-88 (Utah 1990). The incentive for engaging in unconstitutional conduct generally can be removed by excluding evidence obtained from illegal seizures. Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 655, 81 S.Ct. 1684, 1691-92, 6 L.Ed.2d 1081 (1961); Ramirez, 817 P.2d at 786. Excluding such evidence prevents the courts from becoming a party to wrongdoing and maintains public confidence in the integrity of governmental action. Arroyo, 796 P.2d at 689 (citing Elkins v. United States, 364 U.S. 206, 217, 80 S.Ct. 1437, 4 L.Ed.2d 1669 (1960); Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 13, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 1875-76, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968)). The attenuation analysis evaluates the relationship between official misconduct and subsequently discovered evidence to determine if excluding the evidence will effectively deter future illegalities. Thurman, 846 P.2d at 1263-64; see also Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 488, 83 S.Ct. 407, 417-18, 9 L.Ed.2d 441 (1963).

The attenuation analysis was first required in Arroyo. The police illegality in Arroyo was a pretextual traffic stop. In question was whether the defendant subsequently consented to a vehicular search that uncovered drugs. This court defined the parameters for resolving the consent issue and remanded for an evidentiary hearing. Arroyo, 796 P.2d at 688-92. In so doing, we held that when a consensual search is preceded by a Fourth Amendment violation, the evidence obtained from the search must be excluded unless the state proves that the consent was voluntary and that it was not obtained by exploiting the violation. Id. at 688; see also Sims v. Collection Div. of Utah State Tax Comm'n, 841 P.2d 6, 9 n. 8 (Utah 1992) (plurality opinion). We rejected the position that voluntary consent, by itself, is an intervening act free of exploitation because the "[p]olice should not be permitted to ratify their own illegal conduct by merely...