Title: Com. v. Haupt

State: pennsylvania

Issuer: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

Document:

389 Pa. Superior Ct. 614 (1989) 567 A.2d 1074 COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellant, v. Christopher A. HAUPT. Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Submitted April 17, 1989. Filed December 11, 1989. *616 W. Jeffrey Yates, Bellefonte, for appellant. Joseph P. Green, Bellefonte, for appellee. Before TAMILIA, POPOVICH and MELINSON, JJ. MELINSON, Judge: This is a Commonwealth appeal from the order of the Court of Common Pleas of Centre County granting Christopher A. Haupt's motion to suppress. The suppression court found that statements Haupt made in response to a state trooper's questions were obtained during a custodial interrogation without Haupt having the benefit of having his Miranda[1] rights read to him. Thus, the court suppressed his statements. The court also suppressed the information the trooper obtained from the serial number on a revolver found in Haupt's car as "fruit of the poisonous tree." The Commonwealth has certified in good faith that the granting of this motion substantially handicaps and effectively terminates its prosecution of Haupt on the charge of carrying a firearm without a license. 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 6106(a). We reverse. In reviewing the findings of a suppression court where the Commonwealth is appealing, we must consider only the evidence of the defendant's witnesses and so much of the evidence for the prosecution, as read in the context of the record as a whole, that remains uncontradicted. Commonwealth v. Lagana, 517 Pa. 371, 375-376, 537 A.2d 1351, *617 1353 (1988). While we are bound by the court's findings of facts if supported by the record, we are not bound by the court's legal conclusions which are drawn from the case. Id. A suppression hearing was held before the Honorable Charles C. Brown, Jr., President Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Centre County, on January 19, 1988. The only testimony presented was from Pennsylvania State Trooper David Toohey. Trooper Toohey's testimony, as recounted by the suppression court, was as follows: Upon review of the transcript of the suppression hearing we are compelled to note several important omissions from the suppression court's summary of the salient facts. First, it is uncontested that Trooper Toohey stopped Haupt because he reasonably believed that a provision of the Motor Vehicle Code was being violated. Such a stop is clearly permissible. 75 Pa.C.S.A. § 6308; Commonwealth v. Elliott, 376 Pa.Super. 536, 546 A.2d 654 (1988). Trooper Toohey also testified that he ordered Haupt out of his automobile in order to separate Haupt from the revolver. Then Trooper Toohey asked Haupt if he had a license to carry a firearm. Haupt responded that he had hunting and *618 fishing licenses[2] but did not have a license to carry a firearm in a vehicle or concealed on or about his body.[3] After removing the weapon from the vehicle, Trooper Toohey checked to see if it was loaded. He also radioed the police station in order to check the firearm's serial number to determine if it was stolen. After verifying that the weapon was not stolen, the officer issued a written warning for the motor vehicle violation and returned the firearm to Haupt. Haupt was not arrested. Subsequent investigation revealed that the firearm was registered to Dawn Summers, Haupt's sister. Toohey verified Haupt's representation that he held valid hunting and fishing permits and that he was not licensed to carry a firearm pursuant to 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 6109. Thereafter, the instant complaint was initiated. The suppression court rejected the Commonwealth's assertion that Miranda warnings were not necessary because this was a Terry stop. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S. Ct. 1868, 20 L. Ed. 2d 889 (1968). Instead, the court found Trooper Toohey "was not justified in ordering Defendant out of, and up against, the car for a frisk without such belief [that criminal activity was underway] based upon `specific and articulable facts indicating that the person frisked is armed and dangerous.'" See Commonwealth v. Espada, 364 Pa.Super. 604, 528 A.2d 968 (1987). A similar issue was recently addressed by this court in Commonwealth v. Elliott, 376 Pa.Super. 536, 546 A.2d 654 (1988). In Elliott, a Pennsylvania State Trooper stopped Elliott's automobile for a violation of the Motor Vehicle Code. The Trooper approached Elliott and asked for his operator's license and registration card. Then the Trooper observed a bag of ice with beer in it located behind the passenger's seat where a second individual, Ray, was seated. Suspecting that Ray was underage, the Trooper asked him for identification. Ray had no identification, but informed the officer that he was nineteen (19) years old. The *619 Trooper then asked Ray to step outside the vehicle. The trial court found that while the initial stop of the vehicle for a suspected Motor Vehicle Code violation was reasonable, the officer's ordering Ray, a passenger, out of the vehicle constituted an unreasonable intrusion on his personal security. As a result, the trial court suppressed all evidence obtained after Ray was ordered from the vehicle as "fruit of the poisonous tree." In reversing the trial court, this court reviewed the United States Supreme Court's holding in Pennsylvania v. Mimms, 434 U.S. 106, 98 S. Ct. 330, 54 L. Ed. 2d 331 (1977) (per curiam). The Mimms court held that out of a concern for the safety of the police, officers may, consistent with the Fourth Amendment, exercise their discretion to require a driver who commits a traffic violation to exit the vehicle even though they lack any particularized reason for believing the driver possesses a weapon. The Elliott court stated: Having determined that the trooper lawfully stopped and removed Haupt from his vehicle, we must next address ourselves to the legality of the Terry pat down for weapons. Once a stop is deemed reasonable for Fourth Amendment purposes, a police officer may frisk an individual to search for weapons if "a reasonably prudent man in the circumstances would be warranted in the belief that his safety or that of others was in danger." Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. at 27, 88 S. Ct. at 1883, 20 L. Ed. 2d at 909. In reviewing such conduct, we must balance the nature and quality of the intrusion against the importance of the governmental interests alleged to justify the intrusion. United States v. Place, 462 U.S. 696, 103 S. Ct. 2637, 77 L. Ed. 2d 110 (1983). Again, we turn to Pennsylvania v. Mimms, supra, for guidance. Applying the standard enunciated in Terry v. Ohio, the Mimms Court held that "the bulge in the [defendant's] jacket permitted the officer to conclude that Mimms was armed and thus posed a serious and present danger to the safety of the officer. In these circumstances, any man of `reasonable caution' would likely have conducted the `pat-down.'" Mimms, 434 U.S. at 112, 98 S. Ct. at 334, 54 L. Ed. 2d at 338. Similarly, in the case at bar we conclude that the trooper's view of the revolver on the front passenger seat of Haupt's vehicle was a circumstance under which any man of reasonable caution would have believed that his safety was in danger and would have conducted a frisk. The plain view observation of a weapon within the reach of the driver is at least as persuasive in this regard as the presence of a bulge in his pocket. Accordingly, when we balance the nature and quality of the intrusion (a pat-down *621 search) against the importance of the governmental interests alleged to justify the intrusion (the safety of police officers during motor vehicle stops), we conclude that the search here was permissible. United States v. Place, supra. Next, we must determine whether Haupt's Fifth Amendment rights were violated when Trooper Toohey asked him questions during the course of this traffic stop. The suppression court held that Haupt had been subjected to a "custodial interrogation" without the requisite Miranda warning. As a result, Haupt's statements and the information obtained from the weapon's serial number were suppressed. An encounter between police and a suspect may be described as a "mere encounter, an investigative detention, a custodial detention, or a formal arrest." Commonwealth v. Douglass, 372 Pa.Super. 227, 238, 539 A.2d 412, 417 (1988), citing 3 LaFave, Search and Seizure, §§ 9.1, 9.2 at 332-422 (1987) (discussing the genesis of the Terry stop and the limits of permissible investigative detention); Commonwealth v. Ellis, 379 Pa.Super. 337, 549 A.2d 1323 (1989). Miranda warnings are only required prior to custodial interrogations. Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 444, 86 S. Ct. 1602, 1612, 16 L. Ed. 2d 694, 706 (1966); see also Berkemer v. McCarty, 468 U.S. 420, 104 S. Ct. 3138, 82 L. Ed. 2d 317 (1984). As this court stated in Commonwealth v. Douglass, supra: Douglass, 372 Pa.Super. at 238-39, 539 A.2d at 417-418. In Berkemer v. McCarty, supra, the United States Supreme Court evaluated Fourth and Fifth Amendment concerns with regard to traffic stops. 468 U.S. at 439, 104 S. Ct. at 3150, 82 L. Ed. 2d at 334. (citations omitted.) "The clear import of Berkemer is that traffic stops, like Terry stops, constitute investigative rather that custodial detentions, unless under the totality of the circumstances the conditions and duration of the detention become the functional equivalent of an arrest." Commonwealth v. Ellis, 379 Pa.Super. 337, 353, 549 A.2d 1323 (1988) (citation omitted, emphasis in original); see also Pennsylvania v. Bruder, 488 U.S. 9, 109 S. Ct. 205, 102 L. Ed. 2d 172 (1988) *623 (a single police officer asking defendant a modest number of questions and requesting him to perform a simple balancing test at a location visible to passing motorists constitutes an ordinary traffic stop and does not involve custody for purposes of Miranda.) Thus, we must review the totality of the circumstances to determine whether facts existed which would elevate this traffic stop to the "functional equivalent of an arrest." The suppression court, relying on the cross-examination testimony of Trooper Toohey that the officer would have detained Haupt if he had tried to leave, determined that Haupt was in custody. Trooper Toohey testified concerning the stop as follows: The testimony of Trooper Toohey describes a classic Terry stop. As this court reasoned in Ellis, supra: 379 Pa.Super. at 354, 549 A.2d at 1331. Among the factors the court utilizes in determining whether the detention is custodial or investigative are: the basis for the detention; the duration; the location; whether the suspect was transported against his will, how far, and why; whether restraints were used; the show, threat, or *626 use of force; and the methods of investigation used to confirm or dispel suspicions. Commonwealth v. Douglass, 372 Pa.Super. at 245, 539 A.2d at 421. In the instant case, the basis for the detention was a traffic violation; the duration of the stop was approximately fifteen (15) to twenty (20) minutes; and the location was a public street. Haupt was not transported; no restraints were used; and Trooper Toohey made no show, threat, or use of force. The trooper detained Haupt only for the period required to transmit his motor vehicle and weapon information, and issue a warning for the exhaust violation. The record reveals that the trooper asked a moderate number of questions to ascertain Haupt's identity and to try to "obtain information confirming or dispelling the officer's suspicions" that Haupt was committing a crime involving the weapon. See Berkemer v. McCarty, supra; Pennsylvania v. Bruder, supra. When Trooper Toohey satisfied himself that the answers given did not provide probable cause for arrest, Haupt was released. See Berkemer v. McCarty, supra; Pennsylvania v. Bruder, supra. Considering the totality of the circumstances of Haupt's detention, we find that the actions of the trooper constituted an investigative detention, and Miranda warnings were not required. Order reversed. Jurisdiction relinquished. [1] Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S. Ct. 1602, 16 L. Ed. 2d 694 (1966), requires police to advise an individual of the following rights prior to any custodial interrogation: right to remain silent; anything said could be used against him in court; right to speak to an attorney of his own choice before questioning; if he could not afford an attorney, and he wanted one, the police would provide him with one free of charge before questioning; and, if willing to give a statement, he could stop at any time. [2] See 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 6106(b)(9). [3] See 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 6109. [4] The Elliott court did not find it necessary to extend the holding in Mimms to passengers under the facts of that case, but held that where a police officer has lawfully stopped a vehicle for a traffic violation, the officer may order a passenger to alight from the vehicle when he has an articulable basis to believe that criminal activity is afoot without violating the Fourth Amendment. 376 Pa.Super. at 549, 546 A.2d at 660.