State v. Waddell

• Decision Date: 30 January 2003
• Docket Number: No. C4-01-1330.,C4-01-1330.
• Citation: 655 N.W.2d 803
• Parties: STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Raymond Maurice WADDELL, Appellant.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

655 N.W.2d 803

STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Raymond Maurice WADDELL, Appellant.

No. C4-01-1330.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

January 30, 2003.

Mark S. Wernick, Minneapolis, MN, for Appellant.

Susan Gaertner, Ramsey County Attorney, Darrell C. Hill, Assistant County Attorney, Saint Paul, MN, for Respondent.

Heard, considered, and decided by the court en banc.

OPINION

BLATZ, Chief Justice.

Appellant Raymond Waddell was convicted of one count of murder in the first degree, Minn.Stat. § 609.185 (2000). In this direct appeal, Waddell contends that the vehicle stop that resulted in his arrest and eventual conviction was improper. Additionally, Waddell asserts that he was held in violation of the "prompt appearance" rule, Minn. R.Crim. P. 4.02, subd. 5, and that such a violation warrants suppression of his statements made while in custody. We affirm.

On the evening of December 7, 2000, Vickie Mollenhoff was working as a cashier at the Minni-Market, located in Saint Paul's East Side. The owner, Daniel Su, was also present in the store. Waddell, Anthony Williams, and Jerry Carroll, who had recently failed in their efforts to sell purported methamphetamine, decided to rob the Minni-Market. Waddell placed a gun in the pocket of a light-colored hooded sweatshirt and entered the market with Williams.

Waddell and Williams picked up some candy and went to the register. Mollenhoff rang up the items. As she did so, Waddell pulled out the gun, pointed it at Mollenhoff, and demanded money. When she was unable to open the register, Waddell shot Mollenhoff in the face, killing her. Meanwhile, another Minni Market customer had hidden herself in the restroom and contacted the Saint Paul Police Department with a cellular phone to report the shooting. The first police officers on the scene obtained a description of the suspects from that customer. A surveillance video of the store was also available to the officers.

Immediately prior to the shooting, Steven Mudek had driven through the parking lot of the Minni-Market en route to his mother's home. He saw two or three black males sitting outside next to a station wagon. When Mudek left his mother's home a few minutes later, he saw the police at the Minni-Market. He then stopped and told police about the men he had seen and described their vehicle as a dark 1985-1989 General Motors J-model station wagon.

Police dispatches from the evening of December 7 informed officers that there was a shooting at the Minni-Market, and that two suspects were involved. One suspect was described as approximately 6 feet tall, 200 pounds, wearing a black ski mask and a black sweatshirt. The other was described as thin, wearing low-cut baggy corduroys. Later dispatched updates included a description of the vehicle: a dark blue or black station wagon—possibly a Chevrolet Celebrity—with three black males inside. The suspect descriptions were also updated. Police were now told that the suspects were two black males, armed and dangerous, both in their 20s, and that the smaller one was 5 feet, 2 inches tall, with a "scraggly beard."

Two-and-one-half hours after the shooting, approximately 6-8 miles from the Minni-Market, Officer David Strecker was on patrol in the Frogtown area of Saint Paul when he saw a "darker colored real dirty station wagon similar to a Chevy Celebrity." The vehicle contained four black males in their 20s. Strecker, after discussion with his partner, believed it to be the vehicle involved in the Minni-Market shooting, activated his lights and stopped the vehicle. The vehicle stopped was a 1987 Pontiac 6000 station wagon, which has a body type similar to a Chevrolet Celebrity. News of the stop was broadcasted immediately, and other squad cars arrived at the scene. Officers approached the vehicle with guns drawn, but at their side. Waddell, who was sitting in the passenger seat, and the other three occupants were removed from the vehicle, frisked for weapons, and placed in separate squad cars. No weapons were found on any of the occupants.

While the occupants were being frisked by police officers, Officer Tracy Henry searched the vehicle for weapons. Reaching between the passenger seat and the center console, she felt a hard object with something soft covering it. The hard object turned out to be the seat rails, covered with a black neoprene ski mask. The officer removed the ski mask and left it on the passenger seat.

While the vehicle search was taking place, Officer Peter Semenkewitz telephoned Sergeant Richard Munoz, a homicide investigator working on the case, and gave him a description of the vehicle occupants. Semenkewitz also described the ski mask, and Munoz, who had seen the surveillance video of the robbery, realized that the description matched the exact type of ski mask worn by the suspects. In the meantime, other officers at the scene had decided to release the occupants of the vehicle, including Waddell. Waddell returned to the stopped vehicle and again sat in the passenger seat.

Sergeant Munoz then instructed Officer Semenkewitz to remove Waddell and locate the ski mask. When Waddell exited the vehicle, the ski mask was no longer on the passenger seat. Waddell was searched again, but the ski mask was not located on him. The mask was finally found in the center console, hidden under some papers. Via telephone, Munoz told Semenkewitz that all the occupants should be brought to the police station. A large hooded sweatshirt, matching the description of the clothing worn by the larger suspect, was found in the vehicle.

Waddell was brought to the police station late on Thursday, December 7, 2000, where he was held until brought to court for his first appearance on Tuesday, December 12, 2000. He was interviewed four times prior to being formally charged. The first interview occurred a few hours after the arrest. Waddell was given Miranda warnings, and he agreed to speak with the officers. During the interview, Waddell stated he was at his sister's home at the time of the shooting. He denied owning the sweatshirt or the ski mask.

Prior to Waddell's second interview, during which he continued to deny involvement in the crime, the state applied to the district court for an extension of time in which to present Waddell in court for his first appearance. The state claimed that such an extension was necessary to reformat a surveillance videotape, take physical measurements at the scene, further analyze physical evidence at the scene, obtain and execute search warrants, and interview witnesses without interference. On Friday, December 8, 2000, the court granted the extension until "no later than 1:30 p.m., Tuesday, December 12, 2000."

A third interview occurred during the evening of Sunday, December 10. Prior to this interview, a search warrant had been executed at the apartment of Anthony Williams, Waddell's companion at the Minni-Market. The search recovered the gun believed to have been used in the robbery, ammunition, and other evidence. When interviewed, Waddell continued to deny involvement in the crime and ownership of both the sweatshirt and the ski mask. Waddell was then returned to jail, which also housed Williams.

On December 11 at 1:30 p.m., Waddell initiated a fourth interview with police. During the interview, Waddell admitted to the crime and detailed his involvement. Subsequently, Waddell was charged with murder in the first degree.

At the district court level, Waddell challenged the stop and subsequent search of the vehicle. Specifically, Waddell argued that the police did not have reasonable articulable suspicion to stop the vehicle in which he was a passenger, and that the evidence obtained on December 7 and all statements made by Waddell should be suppressed. The district court found that, based on the totality of the circumstances, the officers had reasonable and articulable suspicion of criminal activity sufficient to justify the stop and denied the motion to suppress. Waddell also moved to suppress his confession on the basis that the state violated the prompt appearance rule, Minn. R.Crim. P. 4.02, subd. 5(1). The district court denied that motion as well. After a jury trial, Waddell was found guilty and was convicted of first-degree murder.

I.

On appeal, Waddell raises three issues. Waddell asserts that the police did not have reasonable articulable suspicion to stop the vehicle in which he was a passenger.¹ Specifically, Waddell contends that the descriptions of the vehicle and its occupants that the arresting officers received over the dispatch were far too general to warrant even an investigatory stop of the Pontiac 6000. On that basis, Waddell further asserts that all evidence seized from the vehicle should have been suppressed as "fruit of the poisonous tree." See Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 484, 488, 83 S.Ct. 407, 9 L.Ed.2d 441 (1963)

.

The trial court's determination of reasonable suspicion as it relates to limited investigatory stops conducted pursuant to Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968), is reviewed de novo. State v. Munson, 594 N.W.2d 128, 135 (Minn.1999). Because the facts of this case are not in dispute, appellate review simply requires that we "analyze the testimony of the officers and determine whether, as a matter of law, his observations provided an adequate basis for the stop." Berge v. Comm. of Public Safety, 374 N.W.2d 730, 732 (Minn.1985).

Both the United States and Minnesota Constitutions prohibit unreasonable searches and seizures by the government of "persons, houses, papers and effects." U.S. Const. amend. IV; Minn. Const. art. I, § 10. Those searches conducted outside the judicial process are per se unreasonable, save for a few exceptions. Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 357, 88 S.Ct. 507, 19 L.Ed.2d 576 (1967). In contrast, however, brief investigatory stops are permissible if the officer can be said to have had a "particularized and objective basis for...