State v. Williams
| Decision Date | 27 April 1999 |
| Docket Number | No. 96-1821-CR,96-1821-CR |
| Citation | 591 N.W.2d 823,225 Wis.2d 159 |
| Parties | STATE of Wisconsin, Plaintiff-Respondent-Petitioner, v. Roosevelt WILLIAMS, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | Wisconsin Supreme Court |
For the plaintiff-respondent-petitioner the cause was argued by Warren D. Weinstein, assistant attorney general, with whom on the brief was James E. Doyle, attorney general.
For the defendant-appellant there was a brief and oral argument by Melinda Swartz, assistant state public defender.
The State seeks review of a court of appeals' decision reversing the judgment of conviction of the defendant Roosevelt Williams. Two issues are presented in this case:
¶2 The first issue is whether police officers had reasonable suspicion to conduct an investigatory stop of Roosevelt Williams when, responding to an anonymous tip that unidentified individuals were dealing drugs from a vehicle parked within view of the tipster, they confirmed the readily observable information offered by the tipster without independently observing any suspicious activity. The Milwaukee County Circuit Court, Reserve Judge James Eaton presiding, answered "yes." The court of appeals answered "no," holding that an anonymous tip containing only readily observable information failed to constitute reasonable suspicion in the absence of independent police observations of suspicious activity.
¶3 The second issue is whether a protective frisk of the vehicle following the stop was illegal because police officers lacked reasonable suspicion that the defendant might have been armed and dangerous. The circuit court again answered "no." The court of appeals did not reach this issue.
¶4 We find that under the circumstances of this case that the police officers did have reasonable suspicion to conduct an investigatory stop of the defendant. We also find that the officers' protective frisk of the defendant and the vehicle was not unreasonable. We reverse the court of appeals and affirm the decision of the circuit court and uphold the judgment of conviction.
¶5 The defendant Roosevelt Williams was stopped on November 2, 1995 as he sat with one other person in a vehicle parked in an area adjoining an apartment building at 4261 North Teutonia in Milwaukee. Police Officers Johnny Norred and Phillip Henschel, responding to a dispatch relaying a report of drug activity at that address, approached Williams from the front of the vehicle in which Williams was sitting. As they approached, with their weapons drawn, the officers ordered both occupants from the vehicle. The officers made an initial pat-down of both, found nothing, and then placed both in the back seat of their police car. Officer Norred returned to the stopped vehicle and searched the areas which were within the reach of the two occupants for weapons. He found no weapons, but did discover both marijuana and cocaine. Williams was subsequently arrested and charged with knowingly possessing with intent to deliver five grams or less of cocaine, a controlled substance, contrary to Wis. Stat. §§ 161.16(2)(b)(1) and 161.41(1m)(cm)(1).
¶6 On November 10, 1995, the defendant moved to suppress the evidence seized by the officers as a result of their search on the grounds that they did not have a warrant and that the circumstances leading to the search provided them with no exception to the search warrant requirement.
¶7 On January 10, 1995, the circuit court held an evidentiary hearing on the defendant's motion. The parties stipulated to the reception into evidence of a transcript of a November 2, 1996, 9-1-1 telephone call received from an anonymous caller. The transcript is repeated here:
¶8 The officers, in the squad car 73R, did not receive the above transcript, but instead responded to the following radio dispatch:
¶9 Officer Norred testified that after receiving the radio dispatch, approximately four minutes passed before he and Officer Henschel arrived in their marked squad car at 4261 North Teutonia. On their initial pass of the location they observed a vehicle closely matching, although not identical, to the description of the vehicle provided by their dispatcher. 1
¶10 The officers next drove around the block in order to approach the vehicle from the vehicle's front. At that point, the officers observed that the vehicle was a two-door blue and burgundy Chevy Blazer without license plates. Officer Norred admitted that he and his partner neither conducted surveillance nor observed any drug activity.
¶11 The officers then left their squad car and approached the Blazer. Officer Norred observed that the defendant's right hand was behind the passenger seat, and he testified that the defendant's hand was already in place when the officer first noticed the defendant's position; that is, Norred did not see the defendant make any moves which could be characterized as furtive. Although he did not see a weapon, he testified that he was concerned for his safety. Therefore, he and his partner approached the Blazer with their weapons drawn.
¶12 The officers asked the occupants to exit the vehicle, at which point the officers patted them down. They found no weapons or contraband. The officers then placed both individuals into the back seat of their squad car.
¶13 While Officer Henschel remained in the squad car with the two individuals, Officer Norred returned to the Blazer and searched the area behind the driver's seat where he earlier had noticed the defendant's hand to have been hidden from his view. Norred testified that the purpose of this search was his safety. He stated that the defendant "may have had a gun in his hands, and he possibly may have dropped it [behind the seat]." On cross-examination Norred explained he needed to search the area behind the seat, for his
¶14 During this protective search of the vehicle, Officer Norred discovered a ball of a green leafy substance which he suspected was marijuana. He also found a small container with 26 rocks of a white-rock like substance which he suspected was cocaine base, and another small bag of marijuana next to the passenger seat. It was at this point that he placed the defendant under arrest.
¶15 At the conclusion of this evidentiary hearing, the circuit court denied the defendant's motion to suppress. The court specifically found that the police officers verified the readily observable information contained in the anonymous call and that the defendant's hand was behind the passenger seat as the officers approached the vehicle. The court ruled that together, the two facts sufficiently supported the officers' reasonable suspicion for making a stop, and that together, the two facts also made reasonable the officers' protective search of the occupants and the Blazer.
¶16 The defendant pled guilty to the charge in the information. The court found the defendant guilty and ordered a judgment of conviction, and later sentenced him to 30 months in the state prison system. 2 The defendant appealed the order denying his motion to suppress.
¶17 The court of appeals reversed the circuit court, holding that the information contained in the 9-1-1 anonymous call and independently corroborated by the police officers did not reach the requisite level of reasonable suspicion necessary for a stop. State v. Williams, 214 Wis.2d 412, 570 N.W.2d 892 (Ct.App.1997). The court held that reasonable suspicion under the circumstances in this case requires not only that the police corroborate anonymous tips with independent observation of the details of such calls, but that they must also either corroborate the predictions contained in those tips, see Alabama v. White, 496 U.S. 325, 110 S.Ct. 2412, 110 L.Ed.2d 301 (1990), or make independent observations of suspicious activities. Williams, 214 Wis.2d at 422-424, 570 N.W.2d 892 (citing United States v. Roberson, 90 F.3d 75 (3d Cir.1996)). We disagree with the court of appeals and now reverse.
¶18 In reviewing a circuit court order suppressing or denying the suppression of evidence, this court will uphold a circuit court's...
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