State v. Trane

• Decision Date: 17 September 2002
• Docket Number: No. 20010068.,20010068.
• Citation: 57 P.3d 1052,2002 UT 97
• Parties: STATE of Utah, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Jack James TRANE, Defendant and Petitioner.
• Court: Utah Supreme Court

57 P.3d 1052

2002 UT 97

STATE of Utah, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Jack James TRANE, Defendant and Petitioner.

No. 20010068.

Supreme Court of Utah.

September 17, 2002.

Mark L. Shurtleff, Att'y Gen., Marian Decker, Asst. Att'y Gen., Jennifer D. Barton, Salt Lake City, for plaintiff.

Kent R. Hart, Salt Lake City, for defendant.

On Certiorari to the Utah Court of Appeals

RUSSON, Justice:

¶ 1 On writ of certiorari, Jack Trane ("Trane") seeks review of the court of appeals' decision affirming Trane's conviction of possession of a controlled substance, in violation of Utah Code Ann. § 58-37-8(2)(a)(i) (2000), in which the court of appeals concluded that the trial court's denial of Trane's motion to suppress evidence was proper. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

¶ 2 At 4:15 a.m. on November 26, 1998, police dispatch sent out a call that a man was harassing customers at a Salt Lake City convenience store. Officer Walter Dobrowolski ("Dobrowolski") was initially assigned to the call, and Officer Randy Bushman ("Bushman") was assigned as back-up. Both officers were experienced with intoxicated individuals and had experienced situations where such individuals became violent.

¶ 3 Bushman arrived first in response to the call. He noticed Trane standing near the store at a bank of public telephones. As Bushman approached the store, the store clerk pointed at Trane, indicating that Trane was the focus of the complaint.

¶ 4 As Bushman approached Trane, he smelled alcohol emanating from Trane's person and breath. Bushman suspected that Trane was intoxicated and possibly disturbing the peace. Bushman observed that Trane "was a little loud considering the time[ and] location," was behaving in a "tumultuous-type" manner, was using profanity, and was using his hands to express himself. Trane "puffed his chest out [and] took a defensive posture similar to a boxer" toward Bushman. Bushman also noticed that Trane was exhibiting some anger and was uncooperative.

¶ 5 Bushman requested Trane's identification. Initially, Trane refused to comply, indicating that Bushman needed "to deal with" the store clerk instead of with him. Specifically, Trane told Bushman that he was angry at the store clerk for refusing to telephone a taxi for him. After Bushman explained that Trane was obligated to identify himself, Trane produced a Utah identification card. As Bushman attempted to take the card, Trane would not release his grip on it until Bushman ordered Trane to relinquish it.

¶ 6 About the time Bushman obtained the card, Dobrowolski arrived in his patrol car. Bushman asked Dobrowolski to watch Trane while Bushman returned to his patrol car to check for warrants. Concerned for Dobrowolski's safety, Bushman told Dobrowolski that Trane had been "less than cooperative" and was "trying to talk his way into jail." Bushman explained, "I didn't want Officer Dobrowolski to step into something without any information [that could protect] Dobrowolski's personal safety." Dobrowolski asked if Trane had been frisked, and Bushman responded negatively.

¶ 7 As Dobrowolski approached Trane, Trane maintained the "stand that he had with" Bushman. Dobrowolski noticed that Trane was swaying, Trane's speech was slurred, and Trane's "face had the appearance of one who was intoxicated." He also noticed that Trane "smelled of alcohol." Dobrowolski believed that Trane was disturbing the peace and intoxicated. Because Trane was intoxicated and Bushman had informed Dobrowolski that Trane was belligerent, Dobrowolski "thought that the two coupled made [Trane] a possible danger to" Dobrowolski and decided to frisk Trane to "ensure that he didn't have any weapons." Dobrowolski asked Trane to turn around, place his hands behind his head, interlock his fingers, and submit to a frisk.

¶ 8 In response to Dobrowolski's frisk request, Trane backed up a step, "held his arms away," and said, "That ain't happening." After refusing the initial request to submit to a frisk, Dobrowolski became "more concerned" that Trane "had something he didn't want [Dobrowolski] to find that could hurt" the officers. When Trane refused to comply with a second command to submit to a frisk, Dobrowolski informed Trane that if Trane continued to refuse then Dobrowolski would compel him to submit. Again Trane refused to comply with Dobrowolski's order. In response, Dobrowolski told Trane to put his hands behind his back because he was under arrest "for failure to comply with [Dobrowolski's] order." Trane forcibly resisted. Noticing Trane's physical resistance, Bushman returned to assist Dobrowolski. Dobrowolski took Trane's right arm and Bushman took Trane's left arm in an arrest control technique.

¶ 9 Trane continued to forcibly resist the officers' attempt to compel him to submit "with some struggle and some thrashing." As the struggle continued, the officers and Trane ended up in the eastbound lanes of 2700 South, ten to twelve feet from where the struggle commenced, where all three "went to the ground." The officers struck Trane on the left cheek and in the ribs a couple of times during the struggle to protect themselves. Eventually, Dobrowolski subdued Trane with pepper spray, enabling the officers to handcuff Trane.

¶ 10 The officers arrested Trane for disturbing the peace, public intoxication, and interfering with a peace officer. After medical treatment, Dobrowolski transported Trane to jail. At the jail, Trane resisted attempts to search him, but a "small bindle" of cocaine was discovered in his sock.

¶ 11 The State charged Trane with possession of a controlled substance, a third degree felony, in violation of Utah Code Ann. § 58-37-8(2)(a)(i) (1998); intoxication, a misdemeanor, in violation of Utah Code Ann. § 76-9-701(1) (1999); and interfering with a peace officer, a misdemeanor, in violation of Utah Code Ann. § 76-8-305(2) (1999). Trane moved to suppress the cocaine. In the motion to suppress, Trane argued that the police lacked a reasonable, articulable suspicion of criminal behavior to stop him and that therefore "any evidence obtained by exploitation of the illegal stop must be suppressed." In addition, Trane argued that the officers arrested him without probable cause and that therefore "the search-incident-to-arrest exception cannot justify the subsequent jailhouse search" where the cocaine was discovered.

¶ 12 The trial court concluded that the police had a reasonable, articulable suspicion to initially detain Trane. The court also concluded that the attempted frisk "was proper and supported by Officer Dobrowolski's reasonable concern for his safety." Finally, the trial court concluded that the police properly arrested Trane for disobeying a lawful command to submit to a frisk. The court alternatively concluded that the arrest was proper because the police had probable cause or "close to probable cause" to arrest Trane for intoxication. Accordingly, the trial court denied the motion to suppress, concluding, "The subsequent jailhouse search of the defendant is justified and proper as a search incident to [Trane's] arrest."

¶ 13 After the trial court denied Trane's motion to suppress, Trane conditionally pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful possession of a controlled substance pursuant to a plea agreement in exchange for the dismissal of the intoxication and interfering charges. As part of the agreement, Trane reserved the right to appeal the denial of his motion to suppress.

¶ 14 Trane appealed his conviction to the Utah Court of Appeals. The court of appeals ruled in an unpublished memorandum decision that the case of American Fork City v. Pena-Flores, 2000 UT App 323, 14 P.3d 698, controlled the outcome of this case. State v. Trane, 2000 UT App 360U, at 2, 2000 WL 33250537. In Pena-Flores, the court of appeals concluded that an individual can be convicted of interfering with an officer in violation of section 76-8-305 of the Utah Code if (1) the police act within the scope of their authority, and (2) the police order, detention, or arrest had the indicia of lawfulness. 2000 UT App 323 at ¶ 11, 14 P.3d 698. Relying on Pena-Flores, the court of appeals explained that "`a person can be guilty of interfering with a peace officer even when the arrest or detention is later determined to be unlawful,'" Trane, 2000 UT App 360U, at 2, 2000 WL 33250537 (quoting Pena-Flores, 2000 UT App 323 at ¶ 11, 14 P.3d 698), and held that "because the officers were acting within the scope of their authority and the arrest had the indicia of lawfulness," Trane was properly arrested under section 76-8-305, the interfering statute. Id. at 2-3. Accordingly, because the court of appeals held that the arrest was lawful, it affirmed the trial court's denial of the motion to suppress, holding that the search incident to arrest was valid. Id. at 1-3. Because the court of appeals affirmed the trial court on that ground, it did not reach the issue of whether Trane was properly arrested for intoxication. See id. at 3. Trane then petitioned this court for certiorari, which we granted.

¶ 15 Trane argues that the court of appeals erred by misconstruing the plain language of section 76-8-305 of the Utah Code because the term "lawful" in the statute "requires the police to have a reasonable suspicion for a search or probable cause for an arrest before they can arrest persons for interfering" and by applying Pena-Flores—which he asserts violates the constitutional ban against unreasonable searches and seizures—to this case. Trane also contends that the police lacked probable cause to arrest him for intoxication and thus any search incident to arrest would be unconstitutional. The State counters that the trial court held the attempted frisk was justified; however, even if its lawfulness is debatable, an individual has no right to resist an arrest or a police order, and therefore the police properly arrested Trane for violating section 76-8-305. The State also argues that the search at the jail was valid as a...