Opinion ID: 2631109
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: officer lasalle lacked reasonable suspicion to detain the truck following the valid traffic stop

Text: {18} The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits `unreasonable searches and seizures' by the Government, and its protections extend to brief investigatory stops of persons or vehicles that fall short of traditional arrest. United States v. Arvizu, 534 U.S. 266, 273, 122 S.Ct. 744, 151 L.Ed.2d 740 (2002) (citing Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 9, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968); United States v. Cortez, 449 U.S. 411, 417, 101 S.Ct. 690, 66 L.Ed.2d 621 (1981)); see also Robbs, 2006-NMCA-061, ¶ 11, 139 N.M. 569, 136 P.3d 570. Our central inquiry under the Fourth Amendment is reasonableness, which involves two questions: `whether the officer's action was justified at its inception, and whether it was reasonably related in scope to the circumstances which justified the interference in the first place.' Robbs, 2006-NMCA-061 ¶ 11, 139 N.M. 569, 136 P.3d 570 (quoting Terry, 392 U.S. at 19-20, 88 S.Ct. 1868). {19} With respect to determinations of reasonable suspicion, we engage in a de novo review, as the decision of whether police conduct was objectively reasonable extends beyond fact-finding. Vandenberg, 2003-NMSC-030, ¶ 19, 134 N.M. 566, 81 P.3d 19. It is thus the duty of appellate courts to shape the parameters of police conduct by placing the constitutional requirement of reasonableness in factual context. We conduct this review de novo along with our review of any inferences the district court may have drawn from its factual findings. In performing this de novo review, we look at the totality of the circumstances. Id. (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). {20} Under Fourth Amendment standards, a police officer making a lawful stop may conduct an investigation reasonably related to the circumstances that gave rise to the officer's reasons for the stop. State v. Williamson, 2000-NMCA-068, ¶ 8, 129 N.M. 387, 9 P.3d 70. The officer may expand this investigation if the officer has reasonable and articulable suspicion that other criminal activity has been or may be afoot. . . . The officer's investigation, of course, is limited to a reasonable inquiry that is designed to satisfy the officer's reasonable suspicions. Moreover, the officer's investigation of any reasonable suspicion must proceed diligently. Id. (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). Following a valid stop and reasonably related investigation, further detention requires reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. Cardenas-Alvarez, 2001-NMSC-017, ¶ 20, 130 N.M. 386, 25 P.3d 225; State v. Lowe, 2004-NMCA-054, ¶ 12, 135 N.M. 520, 90 P.3d 539. {21} It is well-established that [r]easonable suspicion is measured by an objective standard, in which the court examines the totality of the surrounding circumstances, to determine whether the officer acted reasonably in expanding the scope of inquiry. State v. Romero, 2002-NMCA-064, ¶ 11, 132 N.M. 364, 48 P.3d 102; see also State v. Cobbs, 103 N.M. 623, 626, 711 P.2d 900, 903 (Ct.App.1985). A reasonable suspicion is a particularized suspicion, based on all the circumstances that a particular individual, the one detained, is breaking, or has broken, the law. State v. Jason L., 2000-NMSC-018, ¶ 20, 129 N.M. 119, 2 P.3d 856 (emphasis added). By assessing the totality of the circumstances, we recognize that officers may draw on their own experience and specialized training to make inferences from and deductions about the cumulative information available to them that `might well elude an untrained person.' Arvizu, 534 U.S. at 273, 122 S.Ct. 744 (quoting Cortez, 449 U.S. at 418, 101 S.Ct. 690). However, this does not mean that [u]nsupported intuition and inarticulate hunches are . . . sufficient to constitute reasonable suspicion justifying a detention. Jason L., 2000-NMSC-018, ¶ 20, 129 N.M. 119, 2 P.3d 856 (quoting Cobbs, 103 N.M. at 626, 711 P.2d at 903); see also Vandenberg, 2003-NMSC-030, ¶ 21, 134 N.M. 566, 81 P.3d 19; Urioste, 2002-NMSC-023, ¶ 10, 132 N.M. 592, 52 P.3d 964. {22} It is undisputed that Officer LaSalle's traffic stop of Defendant for a cracked windshield was valid. Thus, Officer LaSalle had the authority to investigate the cracked windshield and seek identification, registration, and insurance from Defendant, which he did. The core issue with which we are then confronted is whether Officer LaSalle had individual, particularized reasonable suspicion with respect to Defendant to detain the vehicle further to await a drug dog sniff. That is, did Officer LaSalle have reasonable suspicion that drugs would be found in the truck? The Court of Appeals found Robbs, 2006-NMCA-061, 139 N.M. 569, 136 P.3d 570, directly on point and applied its analysis to conclude that Officer LaSalle had reasonable suspicion both to expand the traffic stop into a drug investigation and to detain the vehicle. Neal, No. 25,864, memorandum op. at 4-8. {23} However, as Judge Kennedy ably pointed out in his dissent, Robbs is readily distinguishable from the instant case. Neal, No. 25,864, memorandum op. at 9 (Kennedy, J., dissenting). Robbs involved a very specific tip to police about a drug transaction that would be taking place. 2006-NMCA-061, ¶ 2, 139 N.M. 569, 136 P.3d 570. Based on the tip, police conducted surveillance of the identified residence, spotted the vehicle described, at approximately the time described, and stopped the vehicle. Id. ¶¶ 2-3. While the officers told the defendant she was free to leave, which she did, they detained the truck for thirty-five to forty minutes to wait for a drug dog to perform a sniff of the truck. Id. ¶ 4. The Court held that the officers had reasonable suspicion to make the stop based upon the tip and that it was reasonable to detain the truck in order to wait for the canine sniff. Id. ¶ 31; see also State v. De Jesus-Santibanez, 119 N.M. 578, 581-82, 893 P.2d 474, 477-78 (Ct.App.1995) (finding reasonable suspicion to stop a vehicle that matched a specific and reliable be-on-the-lookout bulletin and detain the vehicle for approximately twenty minutes). In the instant case, the Court of Appeals, relying on Robbs, held that the much shorter ten-minute detention of Defendant's truck was equally reasonable. Neal, No. 25,864, memorandum op. at 7-8. However, unlike in Robbs, there was no specific tip with respect to Defendant. Indeed, the only legitimate basis for the stop was the cracked windshield. We, therefore, reject Robbs as controlling the instant case. The core issue is whether Officer LaSalle had specific and particularized information with respect to Defendant to constitute reasonable suspicion that drugs would be found in the vehicle and to, therefore, justify its detention beyond the time necessary to issue a citation for the cracked windshield. We are convinced that he did not. The following cases are illustrative. {24} In State v. Prince, police had been investigating the defendant for possible drug involvement for several months, and, on the night he was stopped, police had received information from a drug task force agent that the defendant might be traveling into New Mexico from Texas and might be in possession of a controlled substance. 2004-NMCA-127, ¶ 2, 136 N.M. 521, 101 P.3d 332. However, the agent did not believe he had enough information to justify a stop, so he contacted the local police department to see if patrol deputies could develop probable cause to stop the defendant. Id. Police subsequently stopped the defendant for speeding and told him that he had been under investigation for manufacturing and trafficking methamphetamine. Id. ¶¶ 3-4. They frisked him for weapons and later obtained his consent to investigate for drugs. Id. ¶¶ 4-5. {25} Even though the defendant was personally under investigation for drugs and despite the specific tip with respect to him and his movements, the Court of Appeals held reasonable suspicion was lacking to detain the vehicle beyond the valid traffic stop, stating: Guilt by association and generalized suspicions are insufficient grounds upon which to base an investigatory detention. In the absence of specific and particularized incriminating information about the criminal activity that defendant is or is about to engage in, generalized suspicions and mere corroboration of innocent activity, even if it is not readily available to the general public, is insufficient to create reasonable suspicion for an investigatory detention. Id. ¶ 17; see also State v. Eli L., 1997-NMCA-109, ¶ 13, 124 N.M. 205, 947 P.2d 162 (holding that a child-defendant's mere identification as a gang member and his making a gang whistle and sagging his pants in a manner associated with gang members was not sufficient to constitute individualized reasonable suspicion to search the child). The Court, therefore, held the investigatory detention for drugs following the traffic stop unlawful and further held that this police illegality tainted the defendant's subsequent consent and any evidence discovered thereafter. Prince, 2004-NMCA-127, ¶¶ 21-22, 136 N.M. 521, 101 P.3d 332. {26} State v. Graves provides further guidance. 119 N.M. 89, 888 P.2d 971 (Ct.App. 1994). In Graves, the Court of Appeals held that mere presence does not justify the arrest or detention of a person, other than the resident, at a residence lawfully being searched. Id. at 94, 888 P.2d at 976 (internal quotation marks omitted). The police were executing a valid search warrant that named to be searched any persons and/or vehicles which can be shown to be involved in drug dealing (purchasing or selling). Id. at 91, 888 P.2d at 973. In addition to the residents of the house, police detained and handcuffed non-residents, including the defendant, for at least thirty minutes, despite any shown connection with the drugs and paraphernalia discovered on the premises or any other grounds to suspect such a connection. Id. at 91, 94, 888 P.2d at 973, 976. {27} The Court concluded that no circumstances existed to give rise to reasonable suspicion to believe the defendant was involved in criminal activity and no articulable reason to detain him. Id. at 94, 888 P.2d at 976. In holding that mere presence was insufficient to establish reasonable suspicion to detain a non-resident, the Court reasoned that recognizing presence alone as sufficient to detain a person found on premises subject to a search warrant would provide unlimited and unreviewable discretion. Such discretion, we believe, would betray the underlying principles of the Fourth Amendment. Id. Contra State v. Sanchez, 2005-NMCA-081, ¶¶ 3, 13, 137 N.M. 759, 114 P.3d 1075 (finding reasonable suspicion to detain and search all present at a fight/party/disturbance where a stabbing had occurred and drugs and weapons were found), cert. denied, 2005-NMCERT-006, 137 N.M. 766, 115 P.3d 229. In the instant case, Defendant never entered the house under investigation, and Officer LaSalle could only see that an occupant of the house was leaning into Defendant's truck. He could not see what, if anything, they were doing, aside from talking, and could not hear what they were saying. If reasonable suspicion was found lacking in Prince, where the defendant himself was under investigation, and in Graves, where the defendant was actually present inside the house being searched, we are loath to find it here. {28} As the Court of Appeals stated in Prince, Officers may not use a lawful stop to fish for evidence of other crimes where there is insufficient reason to detain a defendant, beyond the purpose of the initial detention. 2004-NMCA-127, ¶ 19, 136 N.M. 521, 101 P.3d 332. Likewise, Officer LaSalle could not use his valid traffic stop of Defendant for a cracked windshield to detain the truck longer than necessary in order to fish for evidence of a drug transaction. We acknowledge that reasonable suspicion `can arise from wholly lawful conduct.' Robbs, 2006-NMCA-061, ¶ 26, 139 N.M. 569, 136 P.3d 570 (quoting Urioste, 2002-NMSC-023, ¶ 10, 132 N.M. 592, 52 P.3d 964). In addition, we recognize that our reasonable suspicion determination requires us to assess the totality of the circumstances and precludes . . . [a] divide-and-conquer analysis in which we view each individual factor or circumstance in a vacuum. See Arvizu, 534 U.S. at 274, 122 S.Ct. 744. However, we are still compelled to address the factors upon which Officer LaSalle based his assessment of reasonable suspicion that drugs would be found in the truck: Defendant's stopping in front of a house under investigation; talking to Horton, a convicted felon; becoming nervous when stopped by the police; wishing to leave; and denying consent to search the truck. {29} We have never adopted `a rule equating simple nervousness with reasonable suspicion.' Vandenberg, 2003-NMSC-030, ¶ 31, 134 N.M. 566, 81 P.3d 19 (quoted authority omitted). Indeed, `[i]t is common knowledge that most citizens . . . whether innocent or guilty, when confronted by a law enforcement officer who asks them potentially incriminating questions are likely to exhibit some signs of nervousness.' Id. (quoting United States v. Millan-Diaz, 975 F.2d 720, 722 (10th Cir.1992)). Thus, viewed in the context of Officer LaSalle's other observations, Defendant's fidgety and nervous demeanor and desire to leave did not suffice to create reasonable suspicion. See id. (noting that nervousness is to be expected when confronted with law enforcement and that it does not alone create reasonable suspicion); State v. Van Dang, 2005-NMSC-033, ¶ 16, 138 N.M. 408, 120 P.3d 830 (holding reasonable suspicion existed to expand valid traffic stop where defendant, driving a rental van, was not named in the rental contract, had a story inconsistent with passenger regarding their travel plans and defendant's alleged permissive use of the van, and defendant's nervousness). {30} Likewise, Defendant's mere association with a convicted felon like Horton, who was under surveillance in an ongoing drug investigation, was insufficient to create reasonable suspicion of Defendant, especially where as here, Officer LaSalle did not even know the identities of the two men when he observed them. See State v. Harbison, 2006-NMCA-016, ¶ 21, 139 N.M. 59, 128 P.3d 487, aff'd, 2007-NMSC-016, 141 N.M. 392, 156 P.3d 30. Moreover, Defendant's denial of consent to search the truck is not a probative fact of guilt, suspicion, or dangerousness. Vandenberg, 2003-NMSC-030, ¶ 46, 134 N.M. 566, 81 P.3d 19. We consider Defendant's refusal of consent to be a neutral act which neither incriminated nor exculpated him, and it does not figure into our reasonable suspicion calculus. Id. ¶ 47. {31} Officer LaSalle was indeed entitled to make an assessment of the situation in light of his specialized training and familiarity with the customs of the area's inhabitants. See Arvizu, 534 U.S. at 276, 122 S.Ct. 744. However, taking into account his training and experience, it was not reasonable for him to infer from the circumstances and his observations that Defendant had been involved in a drug transaction and that he, therefore, had reasonable suspicion to detain his vehicle, even for ten minutes, to await a drug dog sniff. Defendant's innocent conduct and the surrounding circumstances, viewed together and indulging the factual inferences drawn by Officer LaSalle, do not constitute the type of individualized, specific, articulable circumstances necessary to create reasonable suspicion that Defendant himself was involved in criminal activity and thus did not provide a basis upon which Officer LaSalle could lawfully detain Defendant's vehicle. Rather, as Judge Kennedy asserted in his dissent, these circumstances smack more of the type of conjecture and hunch we have rejected in the past as insufficient to constitute reasonable suspicion. Neal, No. 25,864, memorandum op. at 9 (Kennedy, J., dissenting); see also Jason L., 2000-NMSC-018, ¶ 22, 129 N.M. 119, 2 P.3d 856; Prince, 2004-NMCA-127, ¶ 17, 136 N.M. 521, 101 P.3d 332; Graves, 119 N.M. at 94, 888 P.2d at 976. Any other conclusion would eviscerate the very protection of individual rights and liberties the Fourth Amendment was designed to create and which this Court has taken an oath to uphold. {32} Based on the foregoing, we hold that Officer LaSalle lacked the requisite reasonable suspicion to detain Defendant's truck to await a canine sniff.