U.S. v. Purcell

• Decision Date: 04 January 2001
• Docket Number: Nos. 99-11537,99-11538,s. 99-11537
• Citation: 2001 WL 10392,236 F.3d 1274
• Parties: (11th Cir. 2001) UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Albert Lee PURCELL, Shon Purcell, Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

Page 1274

236 F.3d 1274 (11th Cir. 2001)

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Albert Lee PURCELL, Shon Purcell, Defendants-Appellants.

Nos. 99-11537, 99-11538.

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.

January 4, 2001.

January 16, 2001

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. (No. 98-14064-CR-JCP), James C. Paine, Judge.

Before TJOFLAT, HILL and POLITZ^*, Circuit Judges.

HILL, Circuit Judge:

Albert Purcell and Shon Purcell were indicted for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine base, in violation of 21 U.S.C. 846, and possession with intent to distribute cocaine base, in violation of 21 U.S.C. 841(a)(1). Both defendants moved to suppress the cocaine base that was seized in a search of their car. After the motion was denied, both defendants pled guilty but reserved their right to bring this appeal of the denial.

I.

On Saturday, November 7, 1998, Albert Purcell and Shon Purcell were traveling on I-95, driving at 70 miles per hour, less than seven car lengths behind the car in front of them.¹ Deputy James Warren of the Martin County Sheriff's office observed their vehicle and stopped it for following too closely.²

Deputy Warren and Shon Purcell, the driver of the car, both stepped out of their vehicles. Deputy Warren asked to see Purcell's driver's license and registration. Purcell handed the deputy his driver's license and a rental agreement for the car he was driving. The rental agreement was not in Shon Purcell's name, and although he was listed as an additional driver, his name had been crossed out.

Deputy Warren also obtained identification from two other people in the stopped car, Albert Purcell and Shon's wife, Sharolyn, and he used his police radio to request a computer check on the car's occupants. While he was waiting for this information, Deputy Warren began writing a warning citation to Shon Purcell for following too closely. Prior to asking Purcell to sign the citation, Deputy Warren asked him if he had ever been arrested. Purcell replied that he had and that the arrests were drug related. The deputy then asked Purcell if he had "any narcotics, weapons, firearms, contraband, anything like that in the car." Purcell replied that he did not. At this point, approximately fourteen minutes into the traffic stop, Shon Purcell consented to a search of the car, saying "I've got nothing to hide."³

At about the same time, Deputy Robert Kohl arrived at the scene.⁴ Prior to searching the car, the two deputies "patted down" the Purcells to ensure they were not armed and then told them to stand by the patrol car while the deputies searched the car. During the search, Deputy Kohl observed white powder on the floorboard of the front passenger compartment. He also observed a bag protruding from underneath the dashboard, above the white powder, which appeared to contain crack cocaine.

After finding the cocaine, Deputy Kohl and Deputy Warren placed Shon and Albert Purcell under arrest. Deputy Warren put the Purcells in the back of his patrol car. The audio microphone feature of his car's video camera was on and it recorded the Purcells discussing who should take responsibility for the cocaine and what they should say.

After their motion to suppress was denied, the Purcells pled guilty, but preserved their right to appeal the denial. On appeal, they argue that the cocaine should have been inadmissible against them because the search of their car was the product of an unconstitutional detention and involuntary consent.⁵

II.

The Fourth Amendment protects individuals from unreasonable search and seizure. A traffic stop is a seizure within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. Delaware v. Prouse, 440 U.S. 648, 653, 99 S.Ct. 1391, 59 L.Ed.2d 660 (1979). Because a routine traffic stop is only a limited form of seizure, it is more analogous to an investigative detention than a custodial arrest. See Berkemer v. McCarty, 468 U.S. 420, 439, 104 S.Ct. 3138, 82 L.Ed.2d 317 (1984). Therefore, we analyze the legality of these stops under the standard articulated in Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968). United States v. Sharpe, 470 U.S. 675, 105 S.Ct. 1568, 84 L.Ed.2d 605 (1985); United States v. Tapia, 912 F.2d 1367, 1370 (11th Cir.1990); United States v. Hardy, 855 F.2d 753, 758 (11th Cir.1988). Under Terry, an officer's actions during a traffic stop must be "reasonably related in scope to the circumstances which justified the interference in the first place." 392 U.S. at 20, 88 S.Ct. 1868 (emphasis added). Furthermore, the duration of the traffic stop must be limited to the time necessary to effectuate the purpose of the stop. United States v. Pruitt, 174 F.3d 1215, 1219 (11th Cir.1999). The traffic stop may not last "any longer than necessary to process the traffic violation" unless there is articulable suspicion of other illegal activity. United States v. Holloman, 113 F.3d 192, 196 (11th Cir.1997).

The Purcells claim that their detention exceeded both the duration and the scope of a constitutional traffic stop. They contend that the duration of a permissible traffic stop was exceeded when Deputy Warren prolonged the detention to wait for information on the criminal histories of the car's occupants. They contend that the scope of the stop was impermissibly enlarged when the officer asked Shon Purcell whether he had any "firearms, guns, or narcotics" in the car. Both of these contentions are issues of first impression in this circuit. We shall consider each of them in turn.

A. The length of the detention

The district court found, and the videotape confirms, that approximately fourteen minutes elapsed between the time Deputy Warren and Shon Purcell exited their cars and the point at which Purcell consented to a search.⁶ A detention of fourteen minutes is certainly not unreasonable on its face. The Purcells argue, however, that the officer had finished writing the warning citation several minutes before, but prolonged the detention in order to wait for the results of the computer check on the Purcells' criminal histories. They argue that the detention became unconstitutional when it lasted longer than necessary to process the traffic violation. Holloman, 113 F.3d at 196.

It is well established that officers conducting a traffic stop may "take such steps as [are] reasonably necessary to protect their personal safety." United States v. Hensley, 469 U.S. 221, 235, 105 S.Ct. 675, 83 L.Ed.2d 604 (1985). This includes conducting a protective search of the driver, Pennsylvania v. Mimms, 434 U.S. 106, 111, 112, 98 S.Ct. 330, 54 L.Ed.2d 331 (1977), the passengers, id., and the vehicle, Michigan v. Long, 463 U.S. 1032, 1049-51, 103 S.Ct. 3469, 77 L.Ed.2d 1201 (1983). The officer may seize any contraband, including weapons, in plain view. Id. at 1049, 103 S.Ct. 3469. The officer may use a flash light to illuminate a vehicle's dark interior. United States v. Dunn, 480 U.S 294, 305, 107 S.Ct. 1134, 94 L.Ed.2d 326 (1987). The officer may also prolong the detention to investigate the driver's license and the vehicle registration, Prouse, 440 U.S. at 657-59, 99 S.Ct. 1391, and may do so by requesting a computer check. United States v. Simmons, 172 F.3d 775, 778 (11th Cir.1999); Pruitt, 174 F.3d at 1219. See also United States v. Hunnicutt, 135 F.3d 1345, 1349 (10th Cir.1998); Foote v. Dunagan, 33 F.3d 445, 448-50 (4th Cir.1994); United States v. Shabazz, 993 F.2d 431, 437 (5th Cir.1993); McFadden v. United States, 814 F.2d 144, 147 (3d Cir.1987).

Many courts have recognized that knowledge of the criminal histories of a vehicle's occupants will often be relevant to that safety. United States v. Wood, 106 F.3d 942, 945 (10th Cir.1997) (criminal history check justified for officer safety); United States v. Finke, 85 F.3d 1275, 1280 (7th Cir.1996)(where the request for a criminal history is reasonably contemporaneous with the license and warrant check, it is both reasonable and justified); United States v. Crain, 33 F.3d 480, 483 (5th Cir.1994) (approving computer check which included request for criminal history); United States v. McManus, 70 F.3d 990, 993 (8th Cir.1995) (approvingly noting use of National Crime Information Center (NCIC) criminal history check in routine traffic stops to support using of same check in vehicle identification number investigation).⁷ In the context of "the tragedy of the many officers who are shot during routine traffic stops each year, the almost simultaneous computer check of a person's criminal record, along with his or her license and registration, is reasonable and hardly intrusive." United States v. McRae, 81 F.3d 1528, 1535-36 n. 6 (10th Cir.1996).

We agree. The request for criminal histories as part of a routine computer check is justified for officer safety. It is both reasonable and minimally intrusive. Indeed, in most cases, the occupants of the car will not even know what information has been requested as part of the computer check. The inclusion of such a request in an otherwise valid computer check does not render it unconstitutional.

In this case, the officer testified without contradiction that highway stops on Interstate 95 are "very high risk." He requested a criminal history check as part of his routine computer check. He was still waiting for the results of the computer check and had not yet given the citation to Purcell to sign when he asked for and received Purcell's consent to search the vehicle. The traffic stop, therefore, had not concluded prior to the consent to search, and the detention continued to be supported by the facts that justified its initiation. See United States v. Zucco, 71 F.3d 188, 190 (5th Cir.1995) (detention supported by facts justifying its initiation while officer waits for computer check); Shabazz, 993 F.2d at 437(detention does not exceed its original scope while officers waiting for results of computer check).

Although some of these cases...