Opinion ID: 2581708
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the officer had a reasonable suspicion to effectuate an investigatory stop on paul albert hankey.

Text: When reviewing a motion to suppress, this Court defers to the trial court's findings of fact unless the findings are clearly erroneous. State v. Reese, 132 Idaho 652, 653, 978 P.2d 212, 213 (1999) (citing State v. Medley, 127 Idaho 182, 185, 898 P.2d 1093, 1096 (1995)). But this Court may undertake a free review of the trial court's determination as to whether constitutional requirements have been satisfied in light of the facts found. State v. Harvill, 131 Idaho 720, 721, 963 P.2d 1157, 1158 (1998) (citing State v. Weber, 116 Idaho 449, 452, 776 P.2d 458, 461 (1989)). The facts of this case are undisputed. Therefore, this Court exercises free review of the legal effect of the facts.
The State argues that the officer had reasonable suspicion to stop the pickup based on his initial observations, together with the radio dispatch informing him that a domestic was in progress and his observations upon returning to the scene. The Court explained the concept of an investigatory stop, also referred to as a Terry stop, in State v. Manthei, 130 Idaho 237, 239, 939 P.2d 556, 558 (1997) [2] : [N]ot all seizures of the person need be justified by probable cause to arrest for a crime; a police officer may, in appropriate circumstances and in an appropriate manner, detain a person for purposes of investigating possible criminal behavior even though there is no probable cause to make an arrest. Terry, 392 U.S. at 22, 88 S.Ct. at 1880 [20 L.Ed.2d at 906]. Such a seizure is justified under the Fourth Amendment if there is an articulable suspicion that the person has committed or is about to commit a crime .... Whether an officer had the requisite reasonable suspicion to conduct an investigatory stop is determined on the basis of the totality of the circumstances. 130 Idaho at 239, 939 P.2d at 558. To justify an investigatory stop there must be some objective manifestation that the person stopped is, or is about to be engaged in criminal activity. United States v. Cortez, 449 U.S. 411, 417, 101 S.Ct. 690, 694, 66 L.Ed.2d 621, 628 (1981); Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968); State v. DuValt, 131 Idaho 550, 552-53, 961 P.2d 641, 643-44 (1998). The officer's suspicion must be grounded on specific articulable facts and rational inferences that can be drawn therefrom. Terry, 392 U.S. at 21, 88 S.Ct. at 1879, 20 L.Ed.2d at 905; State v. Gallegos, 120 Idaho 894, 896-97, 821 P.2d 949, 951-52 (1991). An appellate court evaluates the validity of the stop by looking at the totality of the circumstances and then determines whether the detaining officer had a particularized objective basis for suspecting the particular person of criminal activity. Cortez, 449 U.S. at 417-18, 101 S.Ct. at 694-95, 66 L.Ed.2d at 628-29 [3] . The threshold question in this case is the weight, if any, the anonymous information concerning a possible domestic should be given in evaluating the totality of the circumstances. In Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983), the Supreme Court considered the weight to be given an anonymous informant's tip and applied a totality of the circumstances analysis, requiring a balance assessment of the relative weight of all the indicia of reliability. Gates, 462 U.S. at 235-36, 103 S.Ct. at 2330-31, 76 L.Ed.2d at 546. In Gates, the details of an anonymous informant's letter were corroborated by police observation. The Supreme Court reasoned that the inherently suspect nature of an anonymous tip was diminished by independent corroboration by police of the letter's predictions of future activities of the suspect. Gates, 462 U.S. at 244-45, 103 S.Ct. at 2335-36, 76 L.Ed.2d at 552. In Alabama v. White, 496 U.S. 325, 110 S.Ct. 2412, 110 L.Ed.2d 301 (1990), the Supreme Court held that a dispatcher's report may be based upon a variety of sources, ranging from another officer to a completely anonymous telephone tip. The Supreme Court noted: Standing alone, the tip here is completely lacking in the necessary indicia of reliability, since it provides virtually nothing from which one might conclude that the caller is honest or his information reliable and gives no indication of the basis for his predictions regarding White's criminal activities. See Gates, supra, 462 U.S., at 227, 103 S.Ct. at 2326 [76 L.Ed.2d at 541]. However, although it is a close question, the totality of the circumstances demonstrates that significant aspects of the informant's story were sufficiently corroborated by the police to furnish reasonable suspicion. Id. The Supreme Court reasoned that although the tip standing alone is insufficient, it may contribute to the necessary reasonable suspicion when coupled with the officer's own corroboration of significant details of the tip. White, 496 U.S. at 326, 110 S.Ct. at 2414, 110 L.Ed.2d at 306; See United States v. Rodriguez, 835 F.2d 1090, 1092 (5th Cir.1988) (when law enforcement officials corroborate the details of an anonymous informant's tip, the tip can give rise to a reasonable articulable suspicion); See also United States v. McClinnhan, 660 F.2d 500, 502 (D.C.Cir. 1981) (D.C. Circuit held that an anonymous tip can provide sufficient reasonable suspicion when the tip was corroborated in every significant detail by the police officer's pre-stop surveillance.) In the present case it is clear that the anonymous information received by the officer through police dispatch would be insufficient by itself to justify an investigatory stop. However, the anonymous information is entitled to some weight when taken together with other facts known to the officer. Initially the officer observed a blue Mazda pickup following a woman and a child on the side of Highway 95. Upon continuing down the highway, radio dispatch informed the officer that a possible domestic was in progress and provided the officer with an accurate description of the pickup and its location. The officer returned to the location of the pickup and observed it again. He activated his lights and initiated a stop. The unusual activity that the officer had initially observed with the pickup following the woman and child sufficiently corroborated the information in the radio dispatch to provide the requisite reasonable suspicion to make an investigatory stop of Hankey to determine if the woman and child were in danger or had been harmed.