State v. Stoebe
| Decision Date | 27 August 2013 |
| Docket Number | No. WD 76106.,WD 76106. |
| Citation | 406 S.W.3d 509 |
| Parties | STATE of Missouri, Appellant, v. Tara A. STOEBE, Respondent. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Jennifer Rodewald, Jefferson City, MO, for appellant.
Ellen H. Flottman, Columbia, MO, for respondent.
Before Division Three: LISA WHITE HARDWICK, Presiding Judge, MARK D. PFEIFFER, Judge and CYNTHIA L. MARTIN, Judge.
This is an interlocutory appeal by the State, pursuant to section 547.200.1(3),1 from the trial court's order sustaining Tara Stoebe's (“Stoebe”) motion to suppress evidence in a criminal case where Stoebe is charged with possession of a controlled substance. The State contends that the trial court erred because (1) Stoebe was not illegally seized in violation of the Fourth Amendment and gave consent to search her purse during the reasonable investigation of a traffic stop; and (2) regardless of the lawfulness of her seizure, the search of Stoebe's purse did not violate the Fourth Amendment because Stoebe voluntarily consented to the search. Because the State failed to meet its burden to demonstrate that its warrantless search of Stoebe's purse was lawful, we affirm.
Following a traffic stop for a poorly illuminated/dirty license plate, Stoebe's purse was searched, leading to the discovery of Oxycodone prescribed to another person. Stoebe was charged with one count of possession of a controlled substance. The felony complaint charging Stoebe referenced an attached “probable cause statement” signed by Moberly Police Officer Beau Ryun (“Officer Ryun”).
Stoebe filed a motion to suppress (“Motion to Suppress”) the evidence seized from her purse and statements she made to the police after her arrest as fruits of an illegal search and seizure. The State called Officer Ryun as its sole witness during the suppression hearing.
Officer Ryun testified that on January 25, 2012, he initiated a traffic stop of Stoebe's vehicle because the rear license plate light “was failing to illuminate the registration at a distance of fifty feet or more ... [a]nd the registration was also covered by dirt, which was making it obstructed to where I couldn't view it.” Officer Ryun advised Stoebe and Tonya Kitchen (“Kitchen”), Stoebe's passenger, of the reason for the stop and requested their information. Stoebe admitted that there was dirt covering her plate.
Officer Ryun testified that it is his “general practice” to have someone who is acting nervous sit in his patrol car while he checks their information through “MULES” 2 for outstanding warrants. Officer Ryun asked Stoebe to sit in his patrol car because he felt Stoebe was acting nervous. Officer Ryun testified that Stoebe's nervousness made him suspicious. Officer Ryun believed Stoebe's nervousness was not “regular nervousness.” Officer Ryun testified that his on-the-job experience had enabled him to:
[D]etect if someone—just if they're nervous because it's the first time that they've been pulled over by a police officer, or if there's something more to the story. Ms. Stoebe's demeanor, I could tell that there was obviously something illegal in the vehicle, because later I looked and something illegal was in the vehicle.... I could tell there was more to her nervousness than just, I'm being pulled over by the police for the first time in my life, and I don't know where my insurance card is.
(Emphasis added).
Stoebe complied with Officer Ryun's request to sit in the patrol car. Officer Ryun testified that “[t]hrough conversation, I asked [Stoebe] if there was anything illegal in the vehicle and she stated there shouldn't be.” Officer Ryun then testified that:
I asked [Stoebe] [for] consent to search the vehicle, and she granted consent to search her purse. But whenever I asked for the vehicle, she wouldn't answer the question directly; she just stated I could search her purse.
Officer Ryun could not recall how many times he asked Stoebe for consent to search her vehicle, but acknowledged Officer Ryun was not asked when his questioning of Stoebe occurred in relation to running her information through MULES.
Officer Ryun testified that after receiving Stoebe's consent to search the purse (which was still in the vehicle), he “exited [his] patrol car and [ ] made contact with [Kitchen].” Officer Ryun asked Stoebe to stand outside his patrol car during this time. Officer Ryun made contact with Kitchen because “I don't search vehicles, or I don't go into vehicles to get items with other people being in the vehicle.” Officer Ryun claimed he told Kitchen that he “was going to get [Stoebe's] purse,” then noticed that there were two, unmarked open cups in the vehicle. Officer Ryun had no recollection of seeing open containers in the vehicle until he approached Kitchen.
After seeing the open containers, Officer Ryun testified he then obtained Kitchen's consent to search her purse. The search of Kitchen's purse yielded marijuana and methamphetamine smoking pipes. Officer Ryun placed Kitchen under arrest for violation of the Moberly city ordinance banning open containers, and for “possession of methamphetamine, and possession of marijuana.”
After arresting Kitchen, Officer Ryun located and searched Stoebe's purse. Officer Ryun found an Oxycodone prescription bottle prescribed to Glenn Kitchen in Stoebe's purse. Officer Ryun placed Stoebe “under arrest for being in possession of [Oxycodone].” There is no indication that Stoebe was cited for her poorly illuminated/dirty license plate.
At the police station, Officer Ryun questioned Stoebe about the Oxycodone found in her purse after she was Mirandized.3 Stoebe told Officer Ryun that the Oxycodone belonged to a family member and that she knew it was illegal to possess another person's prescription pills.
The State introduced no other evidence during the suppression hearing. The State did not introduce Officer Ryun's “probable cause statement” into evidence. In her post-hearing brief, Stoebe argued that the stop of her vehicle became an unreasonable seizure once Officer Ryun completed his investigation of the traffic violation, ran Stoebe's license and registration, and stepped back out of his patrol car; that Officer Ryun lied about obtaining Stoebe's consent to search her purse; 4 and that Officer Ryun lacked probable cause to search Stoebe's vehicle.
On January 29, 2013, the trial court entered its order granting Stoebe's Motion to Suppress. The trial court found, in pertinent part:
The facts developed during the suppression hearing were that, on January 25, 2012, Officer Ryun ... performed a traffic stop on a motor vehicle operated by [Stoebe.] The purported reasons for the stop were a dirty license plate and a defective license plate lamp.
Once the traffic stop was made, Officer Ryun requested [Stoebe] to have a seat in his patrol car while her license and registration were checked. Officer Ryun testified that [Stoebe] was visibly nervous and, among other observations, observed her “carotid artery pulsating in her neck.” 5 [Officer] Ryun inquired of [Stoebe] if she had any contraband in the vehicle and subsequently requested consent to search. According [to Officer] Ryun, consent was given by [Stoebe] to search her purse, but she evaded or failed to answer whether consent was given for the vehicle. [Officer] Ryun then requested [Stoebe] locate to outside the front of her vehicle. When Officer Ryun was entering the vehicle to retrieve her purse, he noticed reasonable suspicion of the crime of open container. Subsequent investigation, arrests, and finally a search of the vehicle and [Stoebe's] purse ensued. Inside [Stoebe's] purse was Oxycodone, a controlled substance....
A search or seizure conducted without a warrant is unreasonable unless it falls within an exception. The burden falls on the State to justify a warrantless search or seizure. It is well established that a traffic stop based on a violation is a justifiable seizure. Police are allowed to detain persons for a traffic violation, but only for as long as necessary to complete the investigation and stop. During the traffic stop, police may question a driver about contraband, crimes, and weapons—so long as it does not prolong the stop. The only way further detention/seizure is warranted, is if the officer develops a reasonable articulable suspicion that the driver is involved in criminal activity. Once that occurs, an officer has a sufficient basis for escalating the detention/search. The investigation is then refocused towards the new crime.
In this case, at the moment [Stoebe] was seized and in Officer Ryun's patrol car, she was asked about contraband. Officer Ryun noted her carotid artery pulsing.6 None of the testimony established any relevant basis for this observation. The testimony of [Stoebe's] nervousness, without additional factors, is also fairly irrelevant. This is because Officer Ryun failed to establish that THIS Defendant was more nervous than she should have been for the stop. People react to being stopped by law enforcement differently. For all we know, she could have had a thyroid issue causing her carotid artery to pulse. That is not to say it would never be an indicator, however, it is not likely it would be under these or similar facts. The evidence of criminal activity of open container could have permitted continued seizure and further investigation. However, the time and effort expended during this traffic stop for a dirty unlit license plate was excessive. Further seizure became unreasonable. Further justification became irrelevant.
On the other hand, consent usually negates a warrant requirement. Officer Ryun testified he had consent to search [Stoebe's] purse. However, he could not articulate if [Stoebe] provided or withheld consent of the vehicle search. Assuming that the Court were to believe that consent was given...
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