Title: Shaver v. State

State: arkansas

Issuer: Arkansas Supreme Court

Document:

John Wesley SHAVER v. STATE of Arkansas

CR 97-520                                          ___ S.W.2d ___

                    Supreme Court of Arkansas
               Opinion delivered February 25, 1998


1.   Search & seizure -- traffic stop -- extent of permissible
     search. -- The U. S. Supreme Court has held that an officer
     making a traffic stop may order passengers to get out of the
     vehicle pending completion of the stop; the Arkansas Supreme
     Court has held that, after a lawful stop, the police are
     permitted to search the outer clothing of an individual and
     the immediate vicinity for weapons if the facts available to
     an officer would warrant a person of reasonable caution to
     believe that a limited search was appropriate; when an officer
     is justified in believing that an individual whose suspicious
     behavior he is investigating at close range is armed and
     presently dangerous to the officers or others, a patdown
     search may be conducted to determine whether the person is in
     fact carrying a weapon and to neutralize the threat of
     physical harm.

2.   Motions -- suppression -- review of. -- In reviewing a trial
     judge's ruling on a motion to suppress, the supreme court
     reviews the evidence most favorable to the appellee; the
     supreme court reviews a trial court's suppression ruling under
     the totality of the circumstances, deferring to the superior
     position of that court to evaluate questions of credibility,
     and reverse only if the ruling is clearly against a
     preponderance of the evidence.

3.   Search & seizure -- traffic stop -- limited search of
     passenger justified under circumstances. -- The circumstances
     leading to appellant's patdown included the officers'
     knowledge that there were two guns in the vehicle, seeing a
     leather holster next to appellant's seat, seeing a tee shirt
     in appellant's lap, and appellant's agitation and "bowing up"
     before patdown; to insure the officers' safety, the officer
     felt compelled to check the "big bulge" in appellant's pocket,
     and while, in doing so, he found a bag of white powdery
     substance but remained uncertain regarding what else was in
     appellant's pockets; the trial court was not clearly wrong in
     finding the officer justified in conducting a limited search
     to determine that appellant had no weapon on his person; the
     denial of the motion to suppress was affirmed.

     Appeal from White Circuit Court; Robert Edwards, Judge;
affirmed.
     Paul Petty, for appellant.
     Winston Bryant, Att'y Gen., by:  David R. Raupp, Sr. Asst.
Att'y Gen., for appellee.

     Tom Glaze, Justice.
     Appellant John Wesley Shaver brings this appeal after entering
a conditional plea of guilty of possession of methamphetamine with
intent to deliver and receiving a sentence of 120 months in the
department of correction.  His sole point for reversal is that the
trial court erred in failing to grant his motion to suppress
evidence recovered as a result of an unlawful search and seizure. 
We affirm the trial court's ruling.
     Shaver's arrest ensued from incidents that occurred at 2:40
a.m. on July 7, 1996.  Greg Henry was driving Shaver's truck 76 
miles per hour in a 55-mile-per-hour zone when Officers Larry
Mitchell and Phillip Hydron stopped Henry for speeding.  Shaver was
a passenger in his truck.  After Henry exited the vehicle and gave
his driver's license to Officer Mitchell, Mitchell saw what
appeared to be leather straps next to the passenger seat, and
noticed that Shaver was seated with an old tee shirt or towel over
his lap.  Mitchell asked Henry if there were any weapons in the
vehicle, and Henry responded, saying Shaver had two.  Mitchell then
alerted Officer Hydron of the presence of the guns and asked him to
remove Shaver from the truck.  Hydron obliged, had Shaver place his
hands on the truck, and began to pat him down.  As Hydron reached
to pat Shaver down, he noticed a bulge in Shaver's front pocket. 
At the same time, Shaver "bowed up," causing Hydron to press him
against the truck and to tell Shaver to calm down and keep his
hands on the truck.  Officer Hydron then decided to reach inside
Shaver's pocket to determine what caused the bulge.  Hydron pulled
out a bag of white powdery substance, and he told Officer Mitchell
that "it looks like we have discovered contraband."  Hydron
continued to pull out a substance from both of Shaver's pockets
that he suspected was methamphetamine.  Hydron testified that,
initially, he had no idea what was in Shaver's pockets, but only
knew there was a "big bulge."  Hydron said that the bulge did not
feel like a weapon, but added he was uncertain what the contents
were.  On cross examination, Hydron related that his intent was to
pull everything out of Shaver's pockets, regardless.
     Recently, the Supreme Court held that an officer making a
traffic stop may order passengers to get out of the vehicle pending
completion of the stop.  Maryland v. Watson, 519 U.S. ____, 117 S. Ct. 882 (February 19, 1997); see also Wright v. State, 327 Ark.
558, 940 S.W.2d 432 (1997).  We have also held that, after a lawful
stop, the police are permitted to search the outer clothing of an
individual and the immediate vicinity for weapons if the facts
available to an officer would warrant a person of reasonable
caution to believe that a limited search was appropriate.  State v.
Barter, 310 Ark. 94,