Opinion ID: 2228003
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: First Search of Harris' Person

Text: After first asking Harris some general identification questions and whether he was transporting any narcotics, weapons, or large amounts of currency, Bratsch asked Harris' permission to conduct a search of Harris' person. Because the police lacked probable cause to search Harris, absent Harris' consent, the search would be illegal. The state claims Harris voluntarily gave consent to be searched, but Harris asserts that the consent he gave was not voluntary. If Harris did not give voluntary consent to the search, then the evidence gathered thereafter must be suppressed. Therefore, we must determine whether Harris' consent was voluntarily given. The police do not need probable cause or, in proper circumstances, reasonable articulable suspicion to search if a person voluntarily consents to an officer's request to search his person and his belongings. See State v. George, 557 N.W.2d 575, 579 (Minn. 1997). However, an officer has a right to ask to search and an individual has the right to say no. State v. Dezso, 512 N.W.2d 877, 880 (Minn.1994). [I]nvoluntariness of a consent to a police request is not to be inferred simply because the circumstances of the encounter are uncomfortable for the person being questioned. Rather, it is at the point when an encounter becomes coercive, when the right to say no to a search is compromised by a show of official authority, that the Fourth Amendment intervenes. Consent must be received, not extracted. Id.; see also Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218, 93 S.Ct. 2041, 36 L.Ed.2d 854 (1973). Whether consent was voluntary is determined by examining the totality of the circumstances, including the nature of the encounter, the kind of person the defendant is, and what was said and how it was said. Dezso, 512 N.W.2d at 880. The state bears the burden of showing by a preponderance of the evidence that consent was voluntarily obtained. See Cripps, 533 N.W.2d at 392. The determination involves balancing the government's legitimate need to search against the requirement that consent not be coerced. Schneckloth, 412 U.S. at 219, 93 S.Ct. 2041. In support of his argument that he did not voluntarily consent to Bratsch's request to search, Harris first cites State v. Dezso, 512 N.W.2d 877 (Minn.1994). In Dezso, we held that the state did not meet its burden of showing that a police officer obtained voluntary consent when the officer searched a defendant's wallet during a traffic stop on a highway at night. Id. at 881. While the officer used a conversational tone in his questioning, he leaned over to look into defendant's wallet, did not inform the defendant that he had the right to refuse to consent, and persistently questioned the defendant about the contents of the wallet. Id. In further support of his argument, Harris cites State v. George, 557 N.W.2d 575 (Minn.1997). In George, we held that the state produced insufficient evidence to show that the defendant voluntarily consented to a search of his motorcycle when the defendant was stopped for a minor traffic violation. Id. at 581. The defendant in George was subjected to persistent questioning by two state troopers, was unaware that he had a right to refuse to consent, and answered the troopers' questions with equivocal responses. Id. In the present case, Harris was a passenger on an interstate bus that was making a regularly scheduled stopover in Saint Paul. The stopover occurred at approximately 10:30 in the morning. Bratsch and Pyka, both in plainclothes and neither visibly armed, boarded the bus, stood near where Harris was sitting, announced their intention to question all the passengers, stated that any questioning or searching would be voluntary, and approached Harris, who was seated at the back of the bus. Bratsch then advised Harris individually that this was all consensual and asked Harris one time whether he was carrying any weapons, narcotics, or large amounts of currency. Harris replied that he was not. Bratsch asked Harris, in a low key, easy-going tone of voice, for permission to search his person. Bratsch testified that Harris probably said, yes, go ahead. Harris then stood up and Bratsch searched him. Again, we note that Harris stipulated to Bratsch's version of what transpired at the time Bratsch conducted this first search of his person. The circumstances presented in Harris' case are much different than the circumstances presented in either Dezso or George. In Dezso, the request for consent to search took place at night and the officer leaned over to look into Dezso's wallet while he repeatedly asked Dezso's permission to search the wallet. Here, it was mid-morning when Bratsch requested Harris' consent to search. There is no evidence that Bratsch hovered over Harris or leaned over when he asked for Harris' consent to search. In George, troopers persistently questioned the defendant in order to gain his consent and the defendant responded equivocally to the troopers' requests for consent to search. Here, the record reveals that Harris promptly responded to Bratsch's request to search and did so unequivocally. In both Dezso and George, the defendants were not advised of their right to refuse to comply with the officers' requests that they consent to the searches. Harris stipulated that he was informed on two separate occasions that his cooperation was voluntary, once when the officers boarded the bus and once when they approached him individually. Based on these facts, we conclude that Harris voluntarily consented to the first search of his person.