Opinion ID: 885939
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Particularized Suspicion

Text: ¶ 19 Montana recognizes a narrow exception to the Fourth Amendment's protection against warrantless searches and seizures which allows a law enforcement officer to briefly detain and question an individual without probable cause if the officer suspects the individual has committed or is in the process of committing an offense. State v. Henderson, 1998 MT 233, ¶ 11, 291 Mont. 77, ¶ 11, 966 P.2d 137, ¶ 11 (citing Terry v. Ohio (1968), 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889). Montana has codified this exception at § 46-5-401, MCA: Investigative Stop. In order to obtain or verify an account of the person's presence or conduct or to determine whether to arrest the person, a peace officer may stop any person or vehicle that is observed in circumstances that create a particularized suspicion that the person or occupant of the vehicle has committed, is committing, or is about to commit an offense. ¶ 20 Whether particularized suspicion exists is determined in light of the totality of the circumstances. Henderson, ¶ 12 (citing State v. Gopher (1981), 193 Mont. 189, 631 P.2d 293). The totality of the circumstances takes the officer's knowledge and training into consideration. Henderson, ¶ 12 (citing Gopher, 193 Mont. at 193, 631 P.2d at 295). A particularized suspicion does not require that the officer be certain that an offense has been committed. Henderson, ¶ 12. The State has the burden to show: 1) objective data from which an experienced officer can make certain inferences; and 2) a resulting suspicion that the occupant of the vehicle is or has been engaged in wrongdoing or was a witness to criminal activity. Kleinsasser v. State, 2002 MT 36, ¶ 12, 308 Mont. 325, ¶ 12, 42 P.3d 801, ¶ 12 (citing Gopher, 193 Mont. at 194, 631 P.2d at 296). ¶ 21 In Henderson, a law enforcement officer made an investigatory stop because he could not read the letters of a temporary vehicle registration through the vehicle's tinted windows. We concluded that the inability of an officer to see a registration sticker because it was displayed behind a tinted car window was sufficient to give rise to particularized suspicion that the vehicle was not properly registered and justified an investigatory stop. Henderson, ¶ 14. Because the defendant did not respond to the officer's attempt to stop him for over two blocks, the scope of the officer's inquiry broadened to include particularized suspicion that the driver of the vehicle was under the influence. Henderson, ¶ 15. In Henderson, we declined to address the issue of whether the temporary registration was clearly displayed in compliance with Montana law. Henderson, ¶ 14. We noted that the State produced substantial evidence that the officer who initiated the investigatory stop could not view the letters on the temporary tag because of the dark tinted windows. Henderson, ¶ 14. In fact, the officer needed artificial illumination to read the tag through the window when he inspected the vehicle in spite of the fact the stop was made in broad daylight. Henderson, ¶ 14. Consequently, we concluded that the District Court misapprehended the effect of the evidence when it found that the officer had no reasonable grounds to suspect that an offense was being committed and reversed its decision to suppress the evidence obtained as a result of the traffic stop. Henderson, ¶ 16. ¶ 22 The State argues that Henderson provides binding precedent in the present case because, like Henderson, Deputy Dominick could not see Lacasella's license plate and, therefore, had a particularized suspicion that the vehicle was being driven on state highways in violation of § 61-3-301, MCA. Furthermore, the State argues that the observations Deputy Dominick made when Lacasella stepped from his vehicle broadened the scope of the stop to include particularized suspicion that Lacasella was illegally driving while under the influence of alcohol, similar to the defendant's delayed response to the officer's lights in Henderson. ¶ 23 Henderson can be distinguished from the instant case for a number of reasons. First, we have concluded that the manner in which Lacasella's license plate was displayed in this case complies with Montana law, whereas we declined to make that determination in Henderson. We also note that the window in Henderson was so darkly tinted artificial illumination was required to read the letters in broad daylightthe law enforcement officer could not see the vehicle registration. In this case, the pictures indicate that the window was not tinted and the license plate was clearly visible from the outside. Given the benefit of the doubt, Deputy Dominick did not see the license plate. Even if the State's contention that glare could obscure the license plate from plain view at night is true, it produced no evidence that glare obscured the license plate from plain view in this case. Therefore, unlike Henderson, the plate in the present case could be seen by a law enforcement officer. ¶ 24 Another important distinction between Henderson and the present case is the officer's understanding and application of the law to the facts. In Henderson, the officer's understanding of Montana law, was correct and he pulled the vehicle over because he could not see the temporary registration through the vehicle's tinted window. Lacasella contends that a law enforcement officer's belief that a person is involved in wrongdoing which is based upon a misunderstanding of the law cannot constitute particularized suspicion for a constitutional investigatory stop. ¶ 25 The State responds that what is known by the officer at the time of the stop dictates whether particularized suspicion existed and that particularized suspicion does not require certainty on the part of the officer that a crime has been committed. It argues that Deputy Dominick did not see a front license plate when Lacasella entered Highway 93. Therefore, based on what he knew at the time he initiated the stop, he had a reasonable suspicion that Lacasella was operating his vehicle in violation of § 61-3-301, MCA. ¶ 26 There is a legal distinction between a mistake of fact and a mistake of law. Deputy Dominick's knowledge of the law and his perception of the facts based upon that understanding is the question before this Court. This Court has not had the opportunity to consider whether particularized suspicion can exist when an investigatory stop is made based on a mistaken view of the law. ¶ 27 The incident report filed by Deputy Dominick states: I observed that the truck had no front license plate ... he showed his front plated [sic] that he had setting in his windshield. I explained to him it needed to be mounted on the front bumper. The State's response to Lacasella's motion to suppress provides: Deputy Dominick stopped the vehicle, which was driven by the Defendant, Gary Lacasella, and informed him that he had stopped him for not having his license plate mounted on his front bumper. It is clear from the report that Deputy Dominick believed that § 61-3-301, MCA, required a license plate to be mounted to the bumper. Furthermore, arguments made in the District Court indicate that Deputy Dominick believed that only the bumper and grill constitute the front of a vehicle, and a license plate mounted elsewhere did not comply with the law. It is clear that Deputy Dominick, the State and the District Court misapprehended § 61-3-301, MCA. ¶ 28 In United States v. Lopez-Soto (9th Cir.2000), 205 F.3d 1101, a California law enforcement officer stopped a vehicle because he believed that the law required the registration sticker to be displayed in a vehicle's rear window. The officer pulled behind and along the side of the vehicle to determine if a registration sticker was properly displayed. The officer initiated an investigatory traffic stop after determining there was no registration sticker displayed in the rear window. California law, however, required that the sticker be displayed on the front window of the vehicle. The Ninth Circuit stated: the traffic stop in the case before us was not objectively grounded in the governing law.... This cannot justify the stop under the Fourth Amendment. Nor is it possible to justify the stop objectively ... with the facts available to Officer Hill when he made the stop: in his mistaken belief that Baja California law required the registration sticker to be visible from behind, Officer Hill did not check the windshield for the sticker. The information that he did gatherthat there was no sticker on the rear or left windowsdid not make it any less likely that Lopez-Soto was operating his car in conformity with the law. We have no doubt that Officer Hill held his mistaken view of the law in good faith, but there is no good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule for police who do not act in accordance with governing law. [citation omitted] To create an exception here would defeat the purpose of the exclusionary rule, for it would remove the incentive for police to make certain that they properly understand the law that they are entrusted to enforce and obey. Lopez-Soto, 205 F.3d at 1106. ¶ 29 In United States v. Twilley (9th Cir. 2000), 222 F.3d 1092, 1096, the Ninth Circuit revisited its holding in Lopez-Soto and stated that: A suspicion based on such a mistaken view of the law cannot be the reasonable suspicion required for the Fourth Amendment, because `the legal justification [for a traffic stop] must be objectively grounded.' [citation omitted]. In other words, if an officer makes a traffic stop based on a mistake of law, the stop violates the Fourth Amendment. While the officer need not perfectly understand the law when he stops the vehicle, his observation must give him an objective basis to believe that the vehicle violates the law. ¶ 30 These cases stand for the proposition that observations made by an officer who does not understand the law are not objectively grounded in the law and, therefore, cannot be the basis for particularized suspicion. In Lopez-Soto, the officer's observations were limited to those facts which he thought were legally relevant pursuant to his understanding of the law. The Ninth Circuit held that those facts, which were based on a misapprehension of the law, could not give rise to a suspicion that the vehicle was in violation of the law and were not objectively grounded in the law. Similarly, Deputy Dominick thought that Montana law required a license plate to be displayed on Lacasella's bumper. Furthermore, he believed that the front of the vehicle was limited to the front bumper and grill of the vehicle. Based on this misunderstanding, he had no reason to look at Lacasella's windshield for a license plate and the State produced no evidence that he did. ¶ 31 The data upon which particularized suspicion was founded in this case was gathered based upon a clear misapprehension of the law. Deputy Dominick thought that Montana law required a license plate to be mounted on either the bumper or the grill of Lacasella's truck. The State produced no evidence that Deputy Dominick looked at Lacasella's windshield. Furthermore, based on his misunderstanding of the law, Deputy Dominick would have had no reason to look at the windshield once he determined there was no license plate on the bumper of the vehicle. However, the fact that there was no license plate on the bumper of Lacasella's vehicle provides no objective basis that the law was being violated. The pictures of the truck suggest that Deputy Dominick could have seen the license plate if he had looked at the window as well as the bumper of the vehicle. ¶ 32 Based on the facts presented in this case, we conclude that the observations made by Deputy Dominick were not objectively grounded in Montana law because they were based upon a misunderstanding of the law. Therefore, Deputy Dominick did not have the objective data necessary to justify an investigatory stop. We hold that the investigatory stop made by Deputy Dominick was unlawful and that the evidence obtained subsequent to that stop should have been suppressed. ¶ 33 Finally, Lacasella maintains that the District Court erred when it held that even if Deputy Dominick had seen the license plate mounted on the windshield he was permitted to make an investigatory stop to determine if it was securely fastened. Law enforcement is not permitted to make an investigatory stop unless an officer observes objective data that gives rise to an inference that an individual is involved in wrongdoing. To hold as the District Court did would justify the investigatory stop of every vehicle in Montana. We conclude that the District Court erred when it held that if Deputy Dominick had seen the license plate in the window, he was permitted to make an investigatory stop to determine if the license plate was securely fastened. ¶ 34 For the foregoing reasons, we reverse the Order of the District Court which denied Lacasella's motion to suppress and remand to the District Court for further proceedings consistent with this Opinion.