Case Name: HOLT v. THE STATE
Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
Jurisdiction: Georgia
Decision Date: 1997-06-05
Citations: 227 Ga. App. 46
Docket Number: A97A0856
Parties: HOLT v. THE STATE.
Judges: Ruffin and Eldridge, JJ, concur and concur specially. Senior Appellate Judge Harold R. Banke concurs specially. Andrews, C. J, Birdsong, R J, and Smith, J., dissent.
Reporter: Georgia Appeals Reports
Volume: 227
Pages: 46–55

Head Matter:
A97A0856.
HOLT v. THE STATE.
(487 SE2d 629)

Opinion:
McMurray, Presiding Judge.
Defendant appeals his conviction for "giving a false name and a false date of birth to a law enforcement officer" in violation of OCGA § 16-10-25. This Code section makes it unlawful to give a false name, address, or date of birth to "a law enforcement officer in the lawful discharge of his official duties with the intent of misleading the officer as to his identity or birthdate. . . ." We reverse because defendant gave a false name and date of birth to an officer who was not acting within "the lawful discharge of his official duties."
Corporal James Hood of the City of Norcross Police Department was the State's only witness. His testimony — which we quote extensively — reveals the following: Shortly before 11:00 in the morning on June 18, 1996, Corporal Hood observed three African-American "males" in a "suspicious vehicle" slowly "creeping" through an office complex where there had been recent reports of illegal entries into "autos." Because these men "didn't appear . to have any apparent purpose except to be driving around [during normal business hours, the corporal decided to execute a traffic stop based upon his observation of] a kind of webbed crack in the [vehicle's] windshield."
When Corporal Hood signaled for the "suspicious vehicle" to stop, the driver complied, exited his car and stood "outside the driver's side of the vehicle." The two passengers — defendant and another African-American man — remained in the car. Corporal Hood approached the stopped car from the rear and stood "on the passenger side where [he] could see both of the occupants in the vehicle, as well as the driver. . . ." He then "asked the driver if he would place his hands on the car where [he] could see them, and [positioned himself] behind the passengers [so that he] could see both of their hands." The driver produced a valid Georgia driver's license, but could not show proof of insurance. Corporal Hood asked the driver why he and his passengers were driving through the office complex and the driver "told [the corporal] that they were just riding around, but then [said] that they were just looking for a job."
Corporal Hood returned to his patrol car and began preparing traffic citations charging the driver with driving with a cracked windshield and driving without proof of insurance. As the corporal was serving these citations, he kept an eye on the driver's two passengers and deduced that they were "making kind of furtive movements like they were nervous about something. . . ." "Due to that fact and also the suspicious activity [he] observed [(i.e., three men traveling randomly through an office complex during normal business hours)] and the fact that there had been entering autos in the past couple of days in that same parking lot, [Corporal Hood] went ahead and asked the passengers if they had any ID on them and both of them told [him] no." Believing that every citizen is "supposed to have some type of ID with you[,]" Corporal Hood decided to ask the passengers for their names and dates of birth. The corporal wanted this information "so [he] could run them to see if they were wanted and also so [he] could have their names on file in case we had more entering autos in the area."
After running a computer check and questioning the driver about defendant's identity, Corporal Hood suspected that defendant had given him a false name and date of birth. The corporal confronted defendant about this suspicion, and defendant reluctantly admitted that he had given the officer a false name and date of birth. As soon as defendant acknowledged his true identity, Corporal Hood arrested defendant and took him into police custody. Held:
Defendant first contends the trial court erred in considering proof that he gave Corporal Hood a false name and date of birth, arguing that the corporal gleaned this information during an unlawful police-citizen encounter in violation of his constitutional rights under Terry v. Ohio, 392 U. S. 1 (88 SC 1868, 20 LE2d 889). Defendant employs similar logic while challenging the sufficiency of the evidence in his second enumeration of error, arguing that Corporal Hood was not "in the lawful discharge of his official duties" when he asked defendant for identification during the traffic stop. We consider these enumerations together because we find it appropriate to measure the performance, vel non, of a law enforcement officer's "official duties" by the standard justifying police "stops" under Terry v. Ohio, 392 U. S. 1, supra.
OCGA § 16-10-25 makes it unlawful for any person to give a false name, address, or date of birth "to a law enforcement officer in the lawful discharge of his official duties. . . ." This prohibition against deceitful obstruction of an officer is analogous to OCGA § 16-10-24 (b)'s prohibition against violent obstruction of an officer because both OCGA § 16-10-24 (b) and 16-10-25 make it "essential that the State prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the obstruction was knowing and wilful, and that it occurred while the officer was 'in the lawful discharge of his official duties.' OCGA § 16-10-24 (b). See Hall v. State, 201 Ga. App. 328 (411 SE2d 274); Powell v. State, 192 Ga. App. 688 (3) (385 SE2d 772); Kight v. State, 181 Ga. App. 874 (1) (354 SE2d 202); Carr v. State, 176 Ga. App. 113 (1) (335 SE2d 622). '(A) police officer is not discharging his lawful duty when he arrests an individual without reasonable or probable cause.' Brown v. State, 163 Ga. App. 209, 212 (294 SE2d 305)." (Emphasis omitted.) Wagner v. State, 206 Ga. App. 180, 182 (424 SE2d 861). Further, an officer is not within the lawful discharge of his official duties when he approaches and questions an individual without specific, articulable facts sufficient to give rise to a reasonable suspicion of criminal conduct. Id. at 181-183. Where circumstances do not provide an officer with articulable suspicion (less than probable cause, but greater than mere caprice) that the law has been or is about to be violated, the officer's act of detaining and questioning an individual is nothing more than a police-citizen encounter outside the scope of the officer's "official" police duties. See Brooks v. State, 144 Ga. App. 97, 98 (1) (240 SE2d 593). The controlling issue in the case sub judice is thus whether Corporal Hood's roadside inquiry into defendant's name and date of birth was based upon articulable facts indicating that defendant had engaged in, was engaging in, or was about to engage in crim inal activity.
"An investigatory stop may not be based on a hunch or pretext, but must be justified by ' "some objective manifestation that the person stopped is, or is about to be, engaged in criminal activity. (Cits.)" (Cit.)' Evans v. State, 183 Ga. App. 436, 438 (359 SE2d 174) (1987). In determining whether such a stop, made in the absence of an observed violation of law, was justified, the proper inquiry is not merely whether the officer could validly have made the stop, but whether under the same circumstances a reasonable officer would have done so absent any invalid purpose. Tarwid v. State, 184 Ga. App. 853, 854 (363 SE2d 63) (1987). In Brooks [v. State, 144 Ga. App. 97, 98 (1)], supra, this court held that an officer acted improperly in pursuing for questioning a man he observed looking into the window of one car in a shopping center parking lot and leaving when the officer approached. Id. at 97-99 (1)." (Emphasis in original.) Hopkins v. State, 209 Ga. App. 337, 338 (1) (a) (433 SE2d 423). The basis of Corporal Hood's encounter with defendant in the case sub judice was far less substantial. '
After Corporal Hood completed the only tenable object of his parking lot investigation (i.e., issuing a driver a citation for driving with a cracked windshield), the corporal directed his attention to the two passengers in the driver's car. He explained that his suspicions were aroused because these men were "making kind of furtive movements like [they were] nervous about something. . . ." Corporal Hood testified that, "[d]ue to that fact and also the suspicious activity [he] observed [(i.e., three men driving randomly through an office complex in Norcross, Georgia during normal business hours)] and the fact that there had been entering autos in the past couple of days in that same parking lot, [he] went ahead and asked the passengers if they had any ID on them. . . ." Corporal Hood explained, during cross-examination, that he then decided to ask the driver's passengers for their names and dates of birth because the suspects could not produce identification papers and, in his view, every citizen is "supposed to have some type of ID with you." The corporal stated that he wanted this information "so [he] could run them to see if they were wanted, and also so [he] could have their names on file, in case we had more entering autos in the area." Specifically, the corporal explained that he wanted to record the passengers' names, race, gender and dates of birth in his "little notebook pad" because he believes it is "good practice" for any law enforcement officer to keep such a notebook. The corporal admitted, however, that he "did not see [the driver's passengers] commit a crime." He simply felt that these men were "suspicious [because they] were in an area where we had entering autos prior, a couple of days ago; and as far as. [he] knew, there could have been some that morning." We cannot say that Corporal Hood's explanation for questioning defendant is sufficient to authorize the trial court's finding, beyond a reasonable doubt, that defendant obstructed an officer who was lawfully discharging his official duties in violation of OCGA § 16-10-25.
What must be minimally articulated in such cases to authorize a finding that an officer is lawfully discharging his "official duties" under OCGA § 16-10-25 are particular facts providing reason for an officer's impression for the need to investigate criminal behavior. See Terry v. Ohio, 392 U. S. 1, supra. Corporal Hood articulates no such grounds in the case sub judice. His testimony reveals that defendant's only transgression was his presence in a car with a cracked windshield which was traversing the wrong parking lot, at the wrong time. Under these circumstances, we find Corporal Hood's desire to include defendant's name and date of birth in his "little notebook pad" outside the scope of his "official" police duties. While keeping a "little notebook pad" of suspects may be good police practice, the collection of such information — as a matter of police routine unsupported by articulable suspicion of criminal activity — cannot be constitutionally justified. And in so holding, we are mindful of the recent decision in Maryland v. Wilson, 519 U. S. _ (117 SC 882, 137 LE2d 41) (1997), where the United States Supreme Court held that a law enforcement officer may, as a matter of personal safety, order passengers out of a lawfully stopped vehicle. The case sub judice is distinguishable from Wilson because the arresting officer's exit-order in Wilson was a Terry-type command which the Supreme Court justified on the ground of officer safety, and Corporal Hood's interrogation of defendant in the case sub judice was a Terry-type encounter which the State alleges is justified on the ground of prevention or detection of crime.
Because Corporal Hood could not articulate a particularized reason for questioning defendant — other than his sense that defendant was "making kind of furtive movements like [he was] nervous about something ." — and because the corporal admitted he had no basis for believing that defendant had engaged in, was engaging in, or was about to engage in criminal activity, Corporal Hood was not lawfully discharging his "official duties" when he questioned defendant. Defendant therefore did not obstruct an officer in violation of OCGA § 16-10-25, and his conviction must therefore be reversed.
Judgment reversed.
Ruffin and Eldridge, JJ, concur and concur specially. Senior Appellate Judge Harold R. Banke concurs specially. Andrews, C. J, Birdsong, R J, and Smith, J., dissent.
Corporal Hood testified that his police file consists of "a little notebook pad" containing a list of persons — identified by name, race, and sex — who the officer believes were involved, at various times, in "suspicious activity." Corporal Hood testified that he believes "it is a good practice [for any law enforcement officer to keep such a notebook, explaining that] if you have any information, you know, it could do you some help in solving a case if you flip back through your notebook and find it."