Opinion ID: 2169632
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 12

Heading: Fourth Amendment: Alleged Illegal Seizure

Text: Although Burdette's statements to Pankonin were voluntary and were not obtained in violation of his Fifth Amendment rights, the statements were obtained as a result of the stop of Burdette's vehicle made by deputy sheriffs based on the locate put out by investigators. The next issue we must resolve is whether Burdette's voluntary statements following this stop should nevertheless have been suppressed because they were the product of an illegal seizure and therefore excluded as `fruit of the poisonous tree,' under Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 488, 83 S.Ct. 407, 9 L.Ed.2d 441 (1963). The provisions of both the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Neb. Const. art. I, § 7, protect against unreasonable seizures. We have recognized three levels of police-citizen encounters: The first tier of police-citizen encounters involves no restraint of the liberty of the citizen involved, but rather the voluntary cooperation of the citizen is elicited through non-coercive questioning. This type of contact does not rise to the level of a seizure and therefore is outside the realm of fourth amendment protection.... The second category, the investigative stop, is limited to brief, non-intrusive detention during a frisk for weapons or preliminary questioning. This type of encounter is considered a `seizure' sufficient to invoke fourth amendment safeguards, but because of its less intrusive character requires only that the stopping officer have specific and articulable facts sufficient to give rise to reasonable suspicion that a person has committed or is committing a crime.... The third type of police-citizen encounters, arrests, are characterized by highly intrusive or lengthy search or detention. The fourth amendment requires that an arrest be justified by probable cause to believe that a person has committed or is committing a crime. (Citations omitted.) State v. Van Ackeren, 242 Neb. 479, 486-87, 495 N.W.2d 630, 636 (1993), quoting United States v. Armstrong, 722 F.2d 681 (11th Cir.1984). The officers' stop of Burdette on October 27, 1998, was an encounter of the second type. The officers stopped Burdette's vehicle and briefly detained him until Jackson and Pankonin arrived at the scene. Police can constitutionally stop and briefly detain a person for investigative purposes if the police have a reasonable suspicion, supported by articulable facts, that criminal activity exists, even if probable cause is lacking under the Fourth Amendment. State v. Anderson, 258 Neb. 627, 605 N.W.2d 124 (2000). As discussed above in connection with our Fifth Amendment analysis, after Jackson and Pankonin arrived at the scene, Burdette voluntarily accompanied them to the sheriff's headquarters. Burdette was not seized when Jackson and Pankonin took him to the sheriff's headquarters because one who voluntarily accompanies law enforcement officers for questioning has not been seized for Fourth Amendment purposes. See State v. Osborn, 250 Neb. 57, 547 N.W.2d 139 (1996). However, the investigators gained Burdette's compliance as a result of the initial stop. If the stop was an illegal seizure, the statements Burdette made to Pankonin were fruit of the poisonous tree requiring suppression. Wong Sun v. United States, supra . We note that in denying the motion to suppress, the district court determined that the deputy sheriffs properly stopped [Burdette] for the purpose of updating his Sexual Offender Registration form. In reviewing the factual record, it is clear that a locate had been put out on Burdette and that a stop would permit law enforcement officers to install a tracking device as part of their investigation of Burdette as a suspect in the felonies committed against A.B. The investigators could not disclose such purpose to Burdette and therefore told him he was stopped to update his sex offender registration. What is relevant to our analysis is the propriety of the stop for its actual purpose rather than for the purpose which the investigators represented to Burdette. We, therefore, consider whether the stop was proper for the purpose of investigating Burdette as a suspect in the felonies committed against A.B. and do not decide whether the stop was proper for the purpose of updating the sex offender registration. See Kelly v. Kelly, 246 Neb. 55, 516 N.W.2d 612 (1994) (appellate court is not obligated to engage in analysis not needed to adjudicate case and controversy before it). Under the undisputed facts and the applicable law, the initial stop of Burdette on October 27, 1998, was proper pursuant to the standards set forth in United States v. Hensley, 469 U.S. 221, 105 S.Ct. 675, 83 L.Ed.2d 604 (1985). In Hensley, the U.S. Supreme Court stated: Although stopping a car and detaining its occupants constitute a seizure within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment, the governmental interest in investigating an officer's reasonable suspicion, based on specific and articulable facts, may outweigh the Fourth Amendment interest of the driver and passengers in remaining secure from the intrusion. 469 U.S. at 226, 105 S.Ct. 675. If police have a reasonable suspicion, grounded in specific and articulable facts, that a person was involved in or is wanted in connection with a completed felony, then a stop may be made to investigate that suspicion. United States v. Hensley, supra . In the instant case, the deputy sheriffs stopped Burdette's vehicle on the basis of a locate put out by the investigators who had information that Burdette and his vehicle were connected to the felonies involving A.B. The U.S. Supreme Court held in Hensley that if a flyer or bulletin has been issued on the basis of articulable facts supporting a reasonable suspicion that the wanted person has committed an offense, then reliance on that flyer or bulletin justifies a stop to check identification, ... to pose questions to the person, or to detain the person briefly while attempting to obtain further information. (Citation omitted.) 469 U.S. at 232, 105 S.Ct. 675. If police make a stop in objective reliance on a flyer or bulletin ... the evidence uncovered in the course of the stop is admissible if the police who issued the flyer or bulletin possessed a reasonable suspicion justifying a stop. 469 U.S. at 233, 105 S.Ct. 675. Based on Hensley, we have held that it is irrelevant whether an officer making a stop in reliance on a radio bulletin is personally aware of the factual foundation for the bulletin, so long as the factual foundation underlying the bulletin is sufficient to support a reasonable suspicion. State v. Soukharith, 253 Neb. 310, 570 N.W.2d 344 (1997). In a similar vein, it has also been held that an arrest for which probable cause exists, regardless of whether or not the arresting officer is personally aware of all the facts supporting probable cause, will be deemed a proper arrest. See State v. Hayes, 3 Neb.App. 919, 535 N.W.2d 715 (1995). In the instant case, the deputy sheriffs who stopped Burdette in his Bronco did so in objective reliance on a locate put out by the investigators. The investigators who issued the locate had a reasonable suspicion that the driver of the Bronco was involved in the sexual assault, burglary, and robbery at A.B.'s house. The question therefore is not whether the deputy sheriffs who made the stop based on a locate personally possessed reasonable suspicion, but, rather, whether the investigators who put out the locate had reasonable suspicion, grounded in specific and articulable facts, that the driver of the Bronco was involved in or was wanted in connection with a completed felony. See, State v. Soukharith, supra ; State v. Schwartz, 239 Neb. 84, 474 N.W.2d 461 (1991) (officer had reasonable suspicion to stop vehicle which answered description of vehicle reported involved in robbery). In this case, investigators possessed information that a neighbor had seen a Bronco parked near A.B.'s house on the night of the crime. Specifically, the neighbor reported seeing a black Bronco with the same description as Burdette's and reported that the license plate number was 1-H8 ... [a]nd ... possibly a seven. The license plate number of Burdette's black Bronco was 1-HH87. Burdette had been linked to this vehicle in the traffic stop of October 17, 1998. The investigators who put out the locate, therefore, had reasonable suspicion sufficient to justify briefly detaining the driver of the vehicle for investigative purposes. The district court found that the deputy sheriffs properly stopped Burdette for the purpose of updating his sex offender registration. Burdette asserts the stop was illegal because the address information on Burdette's registration was up to date and he was not required to update any other information until after his registration anniversary date, which had not yet passed. Because the police stopped Burdette for the purpose of investigating Burdette as a suspect in the sexual assault, robbery, and burglary at A.B.'s house based on a locate which was grounded on sufficient reasonable suspicion, the stop was proper. The record shows that the stop enabled investigators to place a tracking device on Burdette's vehicle pursuant to a court order. So long as the stop was otherwise proper, the stop was not made invalid because the investigators did not disclose this objective to Burdette. It is fundamental that a statement must be suppressed if it is obtained by offensive police practices. State v. Nissen, 252 Neb. 51, 560 N.W.2d 157 (1997). However, mere deception will not render a statement involuntary or unreliable; the test for determining the admissibility of a statement obtained by police deception is whether that deception produced a false or untrustworthy confession or statement. Id. Nothing in this record indicates that Burdette's statement of October 27, 1998, was false or untrustworthy. Because Burdette's vehicle was identified in connection with recent felonies and Burdette was a suspect in the recent felonies, we conclude that the deputy sheriffs' stop of Burdette's vehicle based on a proper locate did not violate the Fourth Amendment and did not poison Burdette's subsequent voluntary statements. We conclude there was no violation of Burdette's constitutional rights in connection with his statements to Pankonin on October 27, 1998. The district court properly admitted Burdette's statements of October 27 into evidence. We therefore reject Burdette's second assignment of error.