State v. Teague

• Decision Date: 06 September 2022
• Docket Number: COA21-10
• Citation: 2022 NCCOA 600
• Parties: STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA v. JOSEPH EDWARDS TEAGUE, III
• Court: North Carolina Court of Appeals

2022-NCCOA-600

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA v. JOSEPH EDWARDS TEAGUE, III

No. COA21-10

Court of Appeals of North Carolina

September 6, 2022

Heard in the Court of Appeals 1 December 2021.

Appeal by defendant from judgments entered 31 January 2020 by Judge Thomas H. Lock in Wake County Superior Court Nos. 18 CRS 205570-71, 205588.

Attorney General Joshua H. Stein, by Assistant Attorney General Kristin J. Uicker, for the State.

Hynson Law, PLLC, by Warren D. Hynson, for defendant-appellant.

ZACHARY, JUDGE.

¶ 1 Defendant Joseph Edwards Teague, III, appeals from judgments entered upon a jury's verdicts finding him guilty of conspiracy to traffic marijuana by transportation possession with intent to sell or deliver marijuana, felony possession of marijuana, felony keeping or maintaining a storage unit for keeping or selling controlled substances felony keeping or maintaining a dwelling for keeping or selling controlled substances, and possession with intent to sell or deliver delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol ("THC"). After careful review, we affirm the trial court's denial of Defendant's motion to suppress, and conclude that Defendant received a trial free from prejudicial error.

I. Background

¶ 2 On 21 March 2018, Investigator Selburn Menzie of the Wake County Sheriff's Office High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas ("HIDTA") Task Force was working at a FedEx facility as part of his routine parcel interdiction duty. On the conveyor belt, he observed a package (the "target package") with "all the seams . . . taped," which he later testified was "one of many indicators" that a parcel may contain illegal drugs. The target package named "Marcus Rawls" as its sender and "Joe Teague" as its intended recipient. The shipping label indicated that the target package had been shipped from California and listed "(888) 888 8888" as the telephone number for the addressee, "Joe Teague" in Raleigh, North Carolina. In his experience and training as a member of the HIDTA Task Force, Investigator Menzie recognized these as additional indicators of possible drug smuggling.

¶ 3 Investigator Menzie removed the target package from the belt and ran the sender and recipient information from the shipping label through two law enforcement databases. From these databases, Investigator Menzie determined that the phone number given for the target package's sender "Marcus Rawls" did not match the phone number for the listed shipping address, and he confirmed that the "(888) 888 8888" phone number provided for its recipient "Joe Teague" did not exist. Investigator Menzie also noticed that the target package had been sent from a different location than its listed shipping address. Investigator Menzie then placed the target package in a line with "four or five" other similar parcels. His partner, Officer James Smith, was already on the scene with his certified narcotics detector dog, Hydro. At Officer Smith's command, Hydro conducted a drug sniff of the packages. Hydro alerted to the target package.

¶ 4 Investigator Menzie removed the target package from the FedEx facility and obtained a search warrant for it. Investigator Menzie, Officer Smith, and other law enforcement officers then opened the target package at the interdiction unit office. Inside the target package, the officers found approximately 15 yellow envelopes, each containing vacuum-sealed bags of a green, leafy substance that they recognized as marijuana; inside one of the bags, they also discovered what appeared to be a GPS tracking device. After weighing and photographing the contents of each bag, the officers determined that the target package contained approximately 15 pounds of the green, leafy substance that they recognized as marijuana.

¶ 5 Investigator Menzie then drove to the address listed on the target package's shipping label, where he saw people (including one later identified as Defendant) in the driveway. While surveilling the recipient's address, Investigator Menzie observed that there was a self-storage facility approximately two miles away. He later testified that the proximity of this facility was noteworthy to him "[b]ecause a storage unit is commonly used by individuals who [are] dealing with large amounts of illegal substance to store away sometimes from their residence, sometimes just to disassociate themselves from the residence that they're actually living in."

¶ 6 Later that day, a FedEx employee informed Investigator Menzie that a man identifying himself as "Marcus" had called FedEx to inquire about the status of the target package, and that he left a phone number at which to contact him with further information. Investigator Menzie called Marcus, who confirmed the tracking number of the target package, its shipping address, and the name of its intended recipient. At that point, Investigator Menzie identified himself as a law enforcement officer; Marcus reacted with surprise, cussed, and abruptly ended the call.

¶ 7 The next day, on 22 March 2018, Investigator Menzie, Officer Smith, and Sergeant Daniel Wright investigated the self-storage facility near the intended recipient's address. Officer Smith took Hydro to a row of storage units that were "out of sight[,]" and Hydro alerted to a particular unit. Investigator Menzie left to obtain a search warrant for the unit. Before Investigator Menzie returned, Defendant arrived and approached the unit with a bag in his hand. Sergeant Wright intercepted Defendant and patted him down.

¶ 8 When Defendant placed the bag on the back of his car, Sergeant Wright observed a substance inside of the bag that he recognized, from his training and experience, as "marijuana wax." Sergeant Wright handcuffed Defendant, and they waited for Investigator Menzie to return with the search warrant. After Investigator Menzie returned and read the search warrant to Defendant, the officers opened the storage unit with the use of a key provided by Defendant. Inside, the officers found a box containing more vacuum-sealed bags of what appeared to be the same green, leafy substance that they recognized as marijuana, and a suitcase containing several clear jars of a brown substance that Sergeant Wright later testified was "commonly referred to as shatter . . . . [I]t's cooked-down marijuana. It's highly concentrated THC."

¶ 9 Investigator Menzie then obtained a document search warrant for Defendant's residence, which matched the address for the intended recipient of the target package. Law enforcement officers executed the search warrant that same day and discovered items that they believed to be drugs and drug paraphernalia. At that point, the officers temporarily halted the search until they obtained a drug search warrant; then, the search resumed. Inside a padlocked bedroom, officers discovered empty vacuum-sealed bags in a dresser drawer; a butane gas canister used to manufacture marijuana wax; a digital scale hidden behind a television; a bong; an e-cigarette with cartridges containing a brown liquid; and glass jars similar to those found in the search of Defendant's storage unit.

¶ 10 On 5 June 2018, a Wake County grand jury returned indictments charging Defendant with two counts of conspiracy to traffic marijuana (one charge by transportation and one by possession); two counts of possession with intent to sell or deliver marijuana; one count of possession with intent to sell or deliver THC; two counts of possession of marijuana; one count of maintaining a storage unit for purposes of keeping or selling controlled substances; and one count of maintaining a dwelling for purposes of keeping or selling controlled substances.

¶ 11 On 19 November 2018, Defendant moved to suppress "evidence obtained as the result of an unconstitutional seizure of the [target package] addressed to . . . Defendant, the unconstitutional search, seizure, and interrogation of [Defendant], and the unconstitutional search and seizure of [Defendant]'s storage locker and residence." On 27 January 2020, Defendant's motion came on for hearing in Wake County Superior Court. After considering the motion and arguments of counsel, the trial court denied Defendant's motion from the bench. No written order was entered.

¶ 12 At the close of the State's evidence, Defendant moved to dismiss all charges against him, which the trial court denied. Defendant renewed his motion to dismiss at the close of all evidence, which the trial court again denied. The State then voluntarily dismissed the charge of conspiracy to traffic marijuana by possession. During the charge conference, the trial court sua sponte dismissed one count of possession with intent to sell or deliver marijuana and one count of felony possession of marijuana.

¶ 13 On 31 January 2020, the jury returned its verdicts finding Defendant guilty of the remaining charges. The trial court sentenced Defendant to an active term of 25- 39 months in the custody of the North Carolina Division of Adult Correction for conspiracy to traffic marijuana by transportation. The trial court then consolidated the remaining convictions into three judgments, sentenced Defendant to three consecutive terms of 5-15 months in the custody of the North Carolina Division of Adult Correction, then suspended these sentences and ordered that Defendant be placed on supervised probation for a period of 24 months following his release from incarceration. Defendant gave oral notice of appeal in open court.

II. Discussion

¶ 14 On appeal, Defendant raises several constitutional issues concerning the investigation of the target package. Defendant argues that the trial court erred by denying his motion to suppress because law enforcement officers lacked either probable cause or reasonable suspicion to support (1) the initial removal of the...