Opinion ID: 1828856
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: whether moore made a prima facie showing of ineffective assistance of counsel for failing to attempt to suppress evidence retrieved from his vehicle after an allegedly illegal traffic stop.

Text: ¶ 13. When considering a trial court's denial of a petition filed pursuant to the Mississippi Uniform Post-Conviction Collateral Relief Act, Mississippi Code Annotated Sections 99-39-1, et seq. (Rev. 2007), our standard of review is well-settled: When reviewing a lower court's decision to deny a petition for post conviction relief this Court will not disturb the trial court's factual findings unless they are found to be clearly erroneous. However, where questions of law are raised the applicable standard of review is de novo. Lambert v. State, 941 So.2d 804, 807 (Miss.2006) (quoting Brown v. State, 731 So.2d 595, 598 (Miss.1999)); see also Bank of Miss. v. S. Mem'l Park, Inc., 677 So.2d 186, 191 (Miss.1996). Callins v. State, 975 So.2d 219, 222 (Miss. 2008). ¶ 14. In finding that Moore was entitled to an evidentiary hearing to determine whether his trial attorney was guilty of rendering ineffective assistance of counsel by failing to attempt to suppress the fruits of the search of Moore's vehicle, the Court of Appeals relied on Walker v. State, 913 So.2d 198 (Miss.2005), a case decided by this Court subsequent to our decision in Harrison. However, Walker, a death-penalty case, is distinguishable from this case. In Walker, the defendant filed a motion to suppress the evidence found when an Arkansas state trooper pulled him over for speeding and the subsequent inventory search of the vehicle led to evidence which implicated the defendant in a murder in Mississippi. Id. at 214-15, 225. The defendant argued that the officer lacked probable cause to stop the vehicle and conduct the search, but the defendant never denied that he was speeding. Id. at 225-26. Instead, the defendant argued that, because the state trooper did not issue him a speeding ticket in any form or fashion, the state trooper's reason for stopping him `could easily' have been pretextual, thus causing the items in the vehicle to have been seized in violation of his Fourth Amendment right to be free from an illegal search and seizure. Id. at 225. Although we found a procedural bar on this issue, we alternatively addressed this issue on its merits and found that the issue was meritless inasmuch as the stop was not pretextual, but instead the evidence revealed that the stop was objectively valid. Id. at 225-26. En route to making this finding, we cited United States v. Escalante, 239 F.3d 678, 680-81 (5th Cir.2001), and quoted language from Escalante which was used by the Court of Appeals to undergird its finding that this issue had merit: The traffic stop may have been pretextual. But under Whren v. United States, [517 U.S. 806, 116 S.Ct. 1769, 135 L.Ed.2d 89 (1996)], a traffic stop, even if pretextual, does not violate the Fourth Amendment if the officer making the stop has probable cause to believe that a traffic violation has occurred. This is an objective test based on the facts known to the officer at the time of the stop, not on the motivations of the officer in making the stop. On the other hand, if it is clear that what the police observed did not constitute a violation of the cited traffic law, there is no objective basis for the stop, and the stop is illegal. (Footnotes omitted) (emphasis added). Walker, 913 So.2d at 225-26 (quoting Escalante, 239 F.3d at 680-81). See Moore, 986 So.2d 959, 962-63, 2007 WL 1121416, , 2007 Miss.App. LEXIS 242, -6, ¶¶ 9-10. ¶ 15. However, in both Walker and Escalante, the issue was whether the stop was pretextual. While Moore argued to the Court of Appeals that he was racially profiled, we see the issue as one of mistake of law. However, pursuant to Walker and Escalante, even assuming arguendo that there was factual support in the record (which there is not) that Moore was racially profiled, if Officer Moulds had probable cause to believe that Moore was violating a law, the stop was constitutional, regardless of Officer Moulds's alleged motivation for stopping the vehicle. ¶ 16. With this having been said, of significant import is that the State argues the Court of Appeals overlooked our decision in Harrison, which the State asserts is directly on point with the case sub judice. Since we agree with the State, we will thoroughly analyze Harrison. ¶ 17. In Harrison, two Lincoln County deputy sheriffs stopped Harrison at 1:30 a.m. for traveling sixty-seven to seventy miles per hour in a construction zone which was marked with a sixty-mile-per-hour speed limit sign. Harrison, 800 So.2d at 1135. No workers were in the construction zone at that early hour. Id. Upon stopping Harrison, one of the deputies requested Harrison's driver's license and asked some general questions of Harrison, thus learning that Harrison was driving a vehicle which he had rented after flying to Houston, Texas, and that he was en route to Alabama. Id. The driver's license check revealed that, although Harrison's driver's license was valid, Harrison had a criminal history for narcotics trafficking. Id. After Harrison assented to a search of his vehicle, one of the deputies opened the rear door of the vehicle and smelled the odor of marihuana. Id. After obtaining Harrison's car keys and opening the trunk, one of the deputies discovered 117 pounds of marijuana in a duffle bag. Id. ¶ 18. Harrison was subsequently indicted, tried and convicted for the crime of possession with the intent to distribute more than one kilogram of marihuana, in violation of Mississippi Code Annotated Section 41-29-139 (1972), as amended. Id. at 1135-36. Harrison appealed, and we assigned this case to the Court of Appeals, which affirmed the trial court in a five-five decision. Id. at 1136. The Court of Appeals' dissent opined that the deputies did not have probable cause to pull Harrison over for speeding because he had not violated the posted speed limit inasmuch as there were no construction workers present in the construction zone at 1:30 a.m. [3] Id. After Harrison's motion for rehearing was denied by the Court of Appeals, this Court granted Harrison's petition for writ of certiorari. Id. ¶ 19. After a thorough discussion of the applicable statutes and the facts of the case, this Court found that Harrison had not violated the construction-zone speed limit (since construction workers were not present) or the general seventy-mile-per-hour speed limit, and that it thus necessarily followed that evidence derived from the stop would be subject to suppression if the inquiry stopped there. Id. at 1136-38. However, this Court considered cases from both the United States Supreme Court and this Court in concluding that the deputies had sufficient probable cause to stop Harrison, even though their stopping Harrison was a mistake of law. Id. at 1138-39. We stated: The United States Supreme Court has stated that the decision to stop an automobile is reasonable where the police have probable cause to believe that a traffic violation has occurred. Whren v. United States, 517 U.S. 806, 810, 116 S.Ct. 1769, 1772, 135 L.Ed.2d 89 (1996), citing Delaware v. Prouse, 440 U.S. 648, 659, 99 S.Ct. 1391, 1399, 59 L.Ed.2d 660 (1979). We have held that the test for probable cause in Mississippi is the totality of the circumstances. Haddox v. State, 636 So.2d 1229, 1235 (Miss.1994). This Court has further defined probable cause as: a practical, nontechnical concept, based upon the conventional consideration of every day life on which reasonable prudent men, not legal technicians act. It arises when the facts and circumstances with an officer's knowledge, or of which he has reasonably trustworthy information, are sufficient in themselves to justify a man of average caution in the belief that a crime has been committed and that a particular individual committed it. Conway v. State, 397 So.2d 1095, 1098 (Miss.1980) (quoting Strode v. State, 231 So.2d 779 (Miss.1970)). Here, the officers testified that they based their stop on the belief that Harrison was in violation of the traffic laws that made it illegal to exceed the posted speed limit, which was sixty (60) miles per hour. In essence, the stop was based on a mistake of law. In addressing the validity of probable cause in light of a mistake of law, several courts have determined that if the probable cause is based on good faith and a reasonable basis then it is valid. See United States v. Wallace, 213 F.3d 1216 (9th Cir.2000)(finding probable cause existed because of reasonable belief that suspect committed or was committing crime even though officer was mistaken that all front-window tint was illegal); United States v. Sanders, 196 F.3d 910 (8th Cir.1999)(officer objectively had reasonable basis for probable cause even though, vehicle was not technically in violation of the statute); DeChene v. Smallwood, 226 Va. 475, 311 S.E.2d 749 (Va.1984)(holding arrest resulting from mistake of law should be judged by the same test as one stemming from mistake of fact; whether the arresting officer acted in good faith and with probable cause). Id. ¶ 20. After likewise discussing the Eight Circuit's decision in Sanders, which cited Arizona v. Evans, 514 U.S. 1, 17, 115 S.Ct. 1185, 131 L.Ed.2d 34 (1995), this Court concluded: Based on the totality of the circumstances and the valid reasonable belief that Harrison was violating the traffic laws, the two deputies had probable cause to stop Harrison, even though it was based on a mistake of law. Accordingly, we find that the deputies had sufficient probable cause to stop Harrison, even in light of the mistake of law. Id. at 1139. Harrison's conviction and sentence for the crime of possession with intent to distribute more than one kilogram of marihuana were thus affirmed. Id. [4] ¶ 21. With our holding in Harrison squarely before us, we now return to the facts of today's case, which we find likewise involves a mistake-of-law issue. From the totality of the record before us, we conclude that Officer Moulds had an objective, reasonable basis for believing that Moore was in violation of the law for driving a vehicle on a public street with only one operative tail light. [5] In other words, based on the totality of the circumstances with which Officer Moulds was confronted, including a valid, reasonable belief that Moore was violating a traffic law, Officer Moulds had sufficient probable cause to pull Moore over, although, as it turns out, Officer Moulds based his belief of a traffic violation on a mistake of law. It necessarily follows from the record before us that, consistent with our discussion of cases from this Court, the United States Supreme Court, and certain federal circuit courts, the search of Moore's vehicle which produced, inter alia, the Hi-Point .380 caliber handgun, was lawful. Had Moore's case gone to trial, the trial court would not have committed error by allowing the handgun into evidence. Thus, Moore's trial counsel cannot be found to have rendered ineffective assistance by failing to file a motion to suppress this evidence prior to Moore's offer of his Alford plea. ¶ 22. For the reasons stated, we find that the Court of Appeals erred in finding that Moore had made a prima facie showing that he was denied ineffective assistance of counsel so as to allow him to have an evidentiary hearing on this issue before the trial court. ¶ 23. Since the Court of Appeals did not address two of the five issues due to its decision to reverse and remand on the ineffective-assistance-of-counsel issue, and since we now find that this issue has no merit, we must consider the two additional issues not addressed by the Court of Appeals.