State v. Van Dang

• Decision Date: 31 August 2005
• Docket Number: No. 28,634.,28,634.
• Citation: 2005 NMSC 033,120 P.3d 830
• Parties: STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Petitioner, v. Jeuang VAN DANG, Defendant-Respondent.
• Court: New Mexico Supreme Court

120 P.3d 830

2005 NMSC 033

STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Petitioner, v. Jeuang VAN DANG, Defendant-Respondent.

No. 28,634.

Supreme Court of New Mexico.

August 31, 2005.

Patricia A. Madrid, Attorney General, Ann M. Harvey, Assistant Attorney General, Santa Fe, NM, for Petitioner.

John Bigelow, Chief Public Defender, Trace L. Rabern, Assistant Appellate Defender, Santa Fe, NM, for Respondent.

OPINION

CHÁVEZ, Justice.

{1} Jeuang Van Dang (Defendant) was stopped on Interstate 40 by a New Mexico State Police Officer for driving eighty-four miles per hour, nine miles per hour over the speed limit. When asked for his driver's license, proof of insurance and registration, Defendant produced his California driver's license and a vehicle rental contract. Although the rental contract is not part of the record, it is undisputed that the rental contract did not list Defendant as the renter or as an authorized driver. For approximately twenty-five minutes following the stop, the officer reviewed the rental contract, questioned Defendant and his passenger regarding their travel plans, contacted dispatch for a wants and warrants check, issued a speeding citation and had dispatch make efforts to contact the rental company to investigate whether the vehicle was stolen. Before hearing back from dispatch that they were unable to make contact with the rental company, the officer asked Defendant and the passenger specific questions about whether they were in possession of any drugs. After both denied being in possession of drugs, the officer asked them if he could search the vehicle. Both consented and Defendant opened the trunk compartment with a remote key. The officer searched luggage located in the trunk, then pulled back the carpeting on the side of the trunk and found an estimated 20,000 small pills later identified as ecstasy.

{2} Defendant was charged with possession of a methamphetamine substance with intent to distribute, contrary to NMSA 1978, Section 30-31-22(A)(2) (1990), and with conspiracy, contrary to NMSA 1978, Section 30-28-2 (1979). Defendant filed a motion to suppress the evidence, arguing that the search was unconstitutional because the scope and duration of his detention were unlawful and that his consent was tainted by this illegality. At the evidentiary hearing, the officer testified Defendant told him that Defendant's uncle had rented the vehicle and knew Defendant was driving the vehicle. On direct examination, Defendant was asked whether he believed he had a legitimate right to be driving the rental vehicle and he answered yes. Defendant also responded yes when asked if he felt like he had a right to privacy in the car and its contents. However, Defendant did not explain why he held such a belief, nor did he testify that his uncle had rented the vehicle and gave him permission to drive the vehicle. Defendant did not produce his uncle to testify regarding the rental of the vehicle and the circumstances of Defendant's alleged permissive use. No other evidence was presented verifying the story Defendant gave to the officer at the scene of the stop.

{3} The district court judge denied the motion to suppress for two reasons. One, the judge found Defendant did not have standing to challenge the search of the vehicle because Defendant failed to prove he had authority to be in possession of the vehicle he was driving at the time of the search. Two, the judge found the length of detention prior to the search of the vehicle was reasonable given the officer's attempt to contact the rental car agency. A plea and disposition agreement was filed in which Defendant conditionally plead guilty to possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine) with intent to distribute and reserved his right to appeal the district court's order denying his motion to suppress.

{4} On appeal, the Court of Appeals acknowledged that Defendant may have lacked standing to contest the search of the vehicle because he may not have had a possessory or property interest in the vehicle, but concluded that he had standing to seek suppression of the drugs seized if the seizure was the fruit of an unlawful detention. State v. Dang, 2004-NMCA-067, ¶ 16, 135 N.M. 719, 93 P.3d 1. The Court of Appeals held that Defendant's detention became unconstitutional as soon as the officer could no longer articulate a suspicion of criminal activity, and that the resulting search of the car grew out of the impermissible detention. Id.

{5} We granted the State's Petition for Certiorari and reverse. By failing to demonstrate that he had permission from either the rental car agency or the renter to use the vehicle, Defendant failed to establish standing to challenge the search of the rental vehicle. While Defendant has standing to challenge the constitutionality of his own detention, we conclude that the twenty-five-minute detention was lawful because the officer had the right to detain Defendant pending his reasonable investigation of the circumstances surrounding what appeared to be an unauthorized use of a rental vehicle. The officer's questioning about drugs was based on specific, articulable facts giving rise to a reasonable suspicion that Defendant may have been transporting drugs. Consequently, the duration and scope of Defendant's detention were reasonable under the circumstances. We hold the district court properly denied Defendant's motion to suppress.

Defendant Lacks Standing to Challenge the Constitutionality of the Search

{6} The standard for reviewing the denial of a motion to suppress is "whether the law was correctly applied to the facts, viewing them in a manner most favorable to the prevailing party." State v. Eli L., 1997-NMCA-109, ¶ 6, 124 N.M. 205, 947 P.2d 162 (quotation marks and quoted authority omitted). A district court's denial of a motion to suppress will not be reversed if it is supported by substantial evidence, the only exception being if the ruling was incorrectly applied to the facts. State v. Soto, 2001-NMCA-098, ¶ 6, 131 N.M. 299, 35 P.3d 304.

{7} The threshold question raised by the State is whether Defendant has standing to challenge the constitutionality of the vehicle search. To establish standing, Defendant must demonstrate that he had a subjective expectation of privacy that society will recognize as reasonable. Id. ¶ 7. We must examine the entire record surrounding the arrest, search and seizure to determine whether Defendant proved a legitimate expectation of privacy. State v. Leyba, 1997-NMCA-023, ¶ 10, 123 N.M. 159, 935 P.2d 1171 (internal citation omitted). Generally, one who owns, controls, or lawfully possesses property has a legitimate expectation of privacy. State v. Esguerra, 113 N.M. 310, 313, 825 P.2d 243, 246 (Ct.App.1991); see Rakas v. Illinois, 439 U.S. 128, 148, 99 S.Ct. 421, 58 L.Ed.2d 387 (1978) (holding that where occupants of a vehicle asserted neither a property nor a possessory interest in the automobile, nor an interest in the property seized, they were not entitled to suppression of seized items in their subsequent robbery prosecution).

{8} Defendant cites to Leyba and Soto as cases exemplifying when a person who is not the owner of the vehicle has standing to challenge the constitutionality of a search of the vehicle. In Leyba, after receiving several tips that the defendant and two other individuals, Michael Lucero and Alex Trujillo, were selling heroin out of a motel room, the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Department set up a surveillance of the motel room, which included listening to the defendant's conversations. 1997-NMCA-023, ¶ 2, 123 N.M. 159, 935 P.2d 1171. As a result of the information gathered, the Sheriff's Department obtained a warrant to search the motel room and a Buick Regal owned by Lucero that was parked outside the motel. Id. The defendant introduced the affidavit of one of the surveillance officers stating that both the defendant and Lucero used the Buick and that defendant told Lucero that he should "`not mess with that stuff'" in the Buick or she would have to re-weigh it. Id. ¶ 14. The Court of Appeals held that this evidence supported the notion that the defendant was an on-going, permissive user of the vehicle, and that through her relationship with Lucero she exerted control over the contents of the Buick owned by Lucero. Id.

{9} In Soto, after the Carlsbad police located an Oldsmobile that matched the description of one observed in the vicinity around the time of a burglary, officers went to the workplace of the Oldsmobile's owner, Vera Rodriguez, to seek her consent to search the vehicle. 2001-NMCA-098, ¶¶ 2-4, 131 N.M. 299, 35 P.3d 304. Rodriguez, who was dating and living with the defendant, consented to a warrantless search of the vehicle, at which time the officers discovered items they believed had been stolen. Id. ¶ 4. While the parties disputed whether the ensuing search or searches exceeded the scope of Rodriguez's consent, relevant to our analysis is the court's holding that defendant had standing to challenge the search in light of the fact that he and Rodriguez lived together, their property was mingled together, the Oldsmobile was their only vehicle and they both used it on a daily basis. Id. ¶ 8. The court held that the defendant had a subjective expectation of privacy in the vehicle because he was a regular, permissive user of the vehicle, and "through his ongoing relationship with Rodriguez, he exerted control over the car and its contents." Id.

{10} In both Leyba and Soto, the defendants were found to have standing to challenge the constitutionality of the search because the evidence adduced at the hearings demonstrated the defendants were regular, permissive users of the vehicles and exerted control over those vehicles and their contents. However, neither case involved a rental vehicle driven by an individual who was neither the renter nor listed on the rental contract as authorized to drive the vehicle. Perhaps more relevant to our...