State v. Stubbs
| Decision Date | 30 March 1995 |
| Docket Number | No. 94-258,94-258 |
| Citation | 892 P.2d 547,270 Mont. 364,52 St.Rep. 232 |
| Parties | STATE of Montana, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. Steven Richard STUBBS, Defendant and Respondent. |
| Court | Montana Supreme Court |
Scott B. Spencer, County Atty., Libby, Joseph P. Mazurek, Atty. Gen., Cregg Coughlin, Asst. Atty. Gen., Helena, for appellant.
Kathleen Hufstetler, Lincoln County Public Defender, Libby, for respondent.
The State of Montana appeals from an order of the Nineteenth Judicial District Court, Lincoln County, suppressing evidence in a criminal case against Steven Richard Stubbs (Stubbs). We reverse.
The facts are essentially undisputed. Late on the night of July 3, 1993, Lincoln County Reserve Deputy Steven Boyer (Boyer) was patrolling east of Libby when he observed a car rapidly approaching him from behind. Boyer testified that he was traveling 45 miles per hour in an area with a 45 mile per hour speed limit when the car passed him. Boyer also observed the car weaving across the center line and fog line.
He attempted to pull the car over by activating his overhead lights, but the driver of the car would not pull over. Eventually, Boyer flashed his high beams, activated his siren, air horn, and spot light in attempts to get the car to pull over. Boyer testified that the car did not start to slow down until Boyer accelerated and pulled out alongside it. The car then turned off the highway onto a county road and stopped approximately 100 feet up the road. Boyer testified that the car travelled about three or four miles from the time he activated his overhead lights until the car finally stopped.
Boyer informed the dispatcher that he was pulling over a person possibly driving under the influence. After stopping, Boyer approached the car on foot. As he approached, Boyer noticed the driver fumbling around and looking towards the passenger seat. Boyer shined his flashlight into the vehicle where he could see that Stubbs, the driver, was the lone occupant. Boyer also saw handguns on the passenger side, several rounds of ammunition on the dash, and an empty pistol holster.
Boyer ordered Stubbs out of the car at gunpoint and handcuffed him. He then did a pat down search of Stubbs and retrieved several rounds of ammunition from his pants pocket and a small brass pipe from his coat pocket which Boyer seized as drug paraphernalia. Boyer testified that after handcuffing Stubbs and having him turn around, he smelled alcohol on Stubbs' breath, Stubbs' speech was slurred, his eyes were bloodshot, and he was having trouble standing erect. Boyer did not have Stubbs perform any field sobriety tests. Boyer arrested Stubbs for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and for possession of drug paraphernalia. After Stubbs was placed in custody, officers discovered a plastic bag containing marijuana which was not discovered at the roadside. Stubbs later submitted to a blood test to determine the amount of intoxicants in his system.
Stubbs was charged with the following misdemeanors: possession of dangerous drugs for the possession of .05 grams of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, and driving under the influence. On January 28, 1994, Stubbs was convicted on all charges after a bench trial in the Justice Court of Lincoln County. Stubbs appealed his conviction to the District Court for a trial de novo. Prior to his trial in District Court, Stubbs moved to suppress all the physical evidence Boyer seized, and all evidence procured after Boyer arrested Stubbs.
On May 12, 1994, the court conducted a hearing on Stubbs' motion to suppress. On May 17, 1994, the court issued its order suppressing evidence. The court concluded that the seizure of the brass pipe was unauthorized and that the pipe had some influence on Boyer's determination that Stubbs was driving under the influence. Accordingly, the court suppressed all evidence seized prior to, or as a result of Stubbs' arrest. The State appeals from this order.
The sole issue raised on appeal is whether the District Court erred in suppressing evidence gathered against Stubbs.
We review a district court's ruling on a motion to suppress to determine whether there is substantial credible evidence to support the court's findings of fact, and whether the court correctly applied the findings as a matter of law. State v. Rushton (1994), 264 Mont. 248, 254, 870 P.2d 1355, 1359. We have also stated that in reviewing a district court's ruling on a motion to suppress, we determine whether the court's interpretation and application of the law is correct. State v. Pastos (1994), --- Mont. ----, ----, 887 P.2d 199, 201, 51 St.Rep. 1441, 1442; citing State v. McCarthy (1993), 258 Mont. 51, 55, 852 P.2d 111, 113.
At the suppression hearing, both parties and the District Court analyzed this case as a "stop and frisk" case. On appeal, the parties continue to argue this case as a stop and frisk case. Therefore, we first discuss stop and frisk searches and seizures.
We note at the outset that warrantless searches are considered per se unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. McCarthy, 852 P.2d at 113; citing Katz v. United States (1967), 389 U.S. 347, 88 S.Ct. 507, 19 L.Ed.2d 576. However, both federal and state law recognize certain exceptions to the warrant requirement. McCarthy, 852 P.2d at 113; citing California v. Acevedo (1991), 500 U.S. 565, 111 S.Ct. 1982, 114 L.Ed.2d 619; and State v. Evjen (1988), 234 Mont. 516, 765 P.2d 708.
One recognized exception to the warrant requirement is the stop and frisk. Terry v. Ohio (1968), 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889. A Montana statute authorizes the use of a stop and frisk, and this Court has recognized stop and frisk searches as an exception to the warrant requirement. Section 46-5-402, MCA; State v. Gopher (1981), 193 Mont. 189, 192, 631 P.2d 293, 295; State v. Kills On Top (1990), 243 Mont. 56, 83, 793 P.2d 1273, 1291.
An officer may conduct a stop and frisk without having probable cause to arrest the suspect. Generally, the stop and frisk is performed in the interests of crime detection and in the interests of protecting the investigating officer. Terry, 392 U.S. at 22-23, 88 S.Ct. at 1880-81. The United States Supreme Court has stated that "in determining whether the [stop and frisk] seizure and search were 'unreasonable' our inquiry is a dual one--whether the officer's action was justified at its inception, and whether it was reasonably related in scope to the circumstances which justified the interference in the first place." Terry, 392 U.S. at 19-20, 88 S.Ct. at 1879.
The United States Supreme Court has had occasion to apply the Terry "stop and frisk" rationale to vehicle stops. In Michigan v. Long (1983), 463 U.S. 1032, 103 S.Ct. 3469, 77 L.Ed.2d 1201, the Court addressed a situation not unlike that in the present case. The hour was late and area rural. Long was driving his automobile at excessive speed, and his car swerved into a ditch. The officers had to repeat their questions to Long, who appeared to be under the influence of some intoxicant. The officers did not frisk Long until they noticed that there was a large knife in the interior of the car into which Long was about to reenter. Their subsequent search of the car was restricted to those areas to which Long would generally have immediate control, and that could contain a weapon. Citing Pennsylvania v. Mimms (1977), 434 U.S. 106, 98 S.Ct. 330, 54 L.Ed.2d 331, the Court noted that "investigative detentions involving suspects in vehicles are especially fraught with danger to police officers." Long, 463 U.S. at 1047, 103 S.Ct. at 3480. The Court went on to state:
Our past cases indicate then that protection of police and others can justify protective searches when police have a reasonable belief that the suspect poses a danger, that roadside encounters between police and suspects are especially hazardous, and that danger may arise from the possible presence of weapons in the area surrounding a suspect.
Long, 463 U.S. at 1049, 103 S.Ct. at 3480-81. The Court in Long held that, in order to protect themselves, the officers were entitled to conduct a Terry search of the area surrounding a suspect as well as the person of the suspect.
The concerns expressed by the United States Supreme Court in Long are particularly relevant in a situation such as this where the suspect was weaving and speeding down a rural highway late at night; where he refused to stop for a distance of some four miles and where he had numerous firearms within his immediate reach.
This Court has established that for a vehicle stop and frisk to be valid at its inception, the State must satisfy two criteria: 1) the officer had objective data from which an experienced officer can make certain inferences, and 2) the officer had a resulting suspicion that the occupant of a certain vehicle was or had been engaged in wrongdoing or was a witness to criminal activity. Gopher, 631 P.2d at 296.
Stubbs concedes that Boyer was justified in conducting a stop and frisk search but contends that Boyer went beyond the permissible scope of the search. In particular, Stubbs argues that Boyer's search was prompted by the fact that he saw an empty holster on Stubbs' passenger seat. Stubbs argues that although the pipe, which was about two and one-half inches long and three-quarters of an inch wide, could have been mistaken for a derringer or another dangerous weapon, it was much too small to have been mistaken for the large pistol missing from the empty holster. In its order granting Stubbs' motion to suppress, the District Court agreed with Stubbs' argument. After concluding that the empty holster gave rise to Boyer's concerns, the District Court stated that ...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
State v. Laster
...armed and dangerous. Terry , 392 U.S. at 19-22, 27, and 30-31, 88 S. Ct. at 1879-80 and 1883-85. See also State v. Stubbs , 270 Mont. 364, 369-73, 892 P.2d 547, 550-53 (1995) (upholding seizure of small brass drug pipe perceived by officer on Terry pat-down as a potential knife or derringer......
-
State v. Laster
... ... reasonable particularized suspicion based on objective facts ... and inference that the subject may be presently armed and ... dangerous. Terry, 392 U.S. at 19-22, 27, and 30-31, ... 88 S.Ct. at 1879-80 and 1883-85. See also State v ... Stubbs, 270 Mont. 364, 369-73, 892 P.2d 547, 550-53 ... (1995) (upholding seizure of small brass drug pipe perceived ... by officer on Terry pat-down as a potential knife or ... derringer), overruled on other grounds by Loh, 275 ... Mont, at 471-73, 914 P.2d at 599-600. Compare State v ... ...
-
State v. Scheetz
...and application of the law is correct. See State v. Graham (1995), 271 Mont. 510, 512, 898 P.2d 1206, 1207-08; State v. Stubbs (1995), 270 Mont. 364, 368, 892 P.2d 547, 550. The use of drug-detecting canines to inspect luggage is an issue of first impression in Montana. Although search and ......
-
Com. v. Gonsalves
...arrest warrant existed for driver, did not unlawfully detain passenger by directing him to remain in the vehicle). State v. Stubbs, 270 Mont. 364, 369, 892 P.2d 547 (1995) (reversing lower court's ruling that search exceeded the constitutionally permissible, quoting Mimms for the propositio......