Court Opinion

ID: 9783045
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 19:38:05.14476+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:35:19.209794
License: Public Domain

Justice KOURLIS
dissenting.
The Majority sustains the trial court’s suppression order, finding the order justified by “objective factors supported by uncontested evidence contained in the record and the trial court’s findings of historical facts.” Because the trial court made no finding of historical fact that would support the conclusion that the defendant was in custody for Miranda purposes, I disagree. Accordingly, I would reverse the trial court’s order and remand for additional findings of historical facts. I therefore respectfully dissent.
I. Background
On October 12, 2002, D.V. and her husband, L.V. reported to police that she had been kidnapped -and sexually assaulted by three “Guatemalan” males occupying a blue Chevrolet GMC minivan. The victim reported that the incident occurred in the vicinity of the Break Bar, located in Greeley, Colorado. She disclosed that she and her husband had encountered the van while leaving the bar on foot. As the van approached them, one suspect pushed her husband away and pulled her into the van. She stated further *479that she was then sexually assaulted by the occupants who used a knife to subdue her.
On October 12, at about 10:45 p.m., Officer Pfeiler spotted a blue minivan matching that described by the victim and her husband. He followed the van for about two blocks into the parking lot of the Break Bar where he parked and radioed dispatch to contact the investigating officer. Sergeant Olson was the second officer on the scene. Both he and Officer Pfeiler eventually contacted the suspects and obtained their identification. Because none of the suspects appeared fluent in English, Officer Pfeiler could not communicate with them. Sergeant Olson, who had limited Spanish speaking abilities, attempted to communicate with the vehicle’s four occupants. He spoke with each separately away from the van for about 15 minutes. Ultimately, Sergeant Olson determined that the circumstances called for an Officer with better Spanish speaking abilities. To that end, either he or Officer Pfeiler contacted Officer Medhurst, who arrived about 15 to 20 minutes later. At least three other officers appeared at the scene either sometime after or before Medhurst. The question of the time of arrival of each officer was not resolved by the trial court’s findings. Similarly, other relevant facts and circumstances were the subject of conflicting testimony at the suppression hearing, and were left unresolved by the trial court.
Following the hearing on the defendant’s motion to suppress, the trial court issued an order suppressing any statements made by the defendants to the officers after Sergeant Olson contacted Officer Medhurst. The court held that the officers’ initial contact with the defendants was justified by a reasonable articulable suspicion and therefore constituted a valid investigatory stop. The court found, however, that “the scope and character of the investigatory stop was reasonably related to its purpose until the point that Sergeant Olson called for Officer Me-dhurst to conduct a more in-depth interrogation.” It therefore suppressed the defendants’ statements, holding that they were obtained in violation of Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966).
II. Discussion
We have characterized a trial court’s custody determination as a mixed question of law and facts, and therefore, one we review de novo. People v. Matheny, 46 P.3d 453, 459 (Colo.2002). However, our conclusion to that effect was never intended to contravene the basic precept that as an appellate court we do not engage in resolving disputed factual issues. When reviewing the trial court’s custody determination we are always guided by the trial court’s findings of historical facts, to which we give deference if supported by the record. Id. at 462.1
Accordingly, we are not concerned here with whether, in hindsight, examination of the record reveals evidence that would support the trial court’s statement of the relevant legal principle. We are merely concerned with three matters: (1) whether the court made historical findings of facts; (2) whether the court’s historical facts are justified by competent evidence in the record; and (3) whether application of the law to the facts found by the trial court justifies its conclusions.
The Supreme Court established that in determining whether Miranda warnings are due, “the ultimate inquiry is simply whether there [was] a ‘formal arrest or restraint on freedom of movement’ of the degree associated with a formal arrest.” Stansbury v. California, 511 U.S. 318, 323, 114 S.Ct. 1526, 128 L.Ed.2d 293 (1994). We have interpreted the court’s holding as directing that Miranda rights are triggered “when police detain a suspect using a degree of force more tradi*480tionally associated with concepts of ‘custody’ and ‘arrest’ than with a brief investigatory stop.” See People v. Polander, 41 P.3d 698, 705 (Colo.2001) (quoting People v. Breidenbach, 875 P.2d 879, 887 (Colo.1994)).
The trial court found that the investigatory stop in this case was justified by reasonable articulable suspicion but concluded that the officers’ contact with the defendants was transformed into a custodial interrogation at the point at which one officer contacted a police translator. The court alluded sweepingly to the legal factors motivating its decision, namely, “the totality of the circumstances, the length of the detention, the number of officers and squad cars involved, the suspects not being free to leave, the nature and tenor of the interrogation of the defendants.” The court, nevertheless, failed to make any findings of historical facts that justified its conclusion that each of those factors existed. More to the point, the trial court’s historical findings of fact, when measured against the relevant law and the record in this case, seem to weigh more heavily in favor of a contrary conclusion than the one the trial court reached.
At the outset, in determining whether the defendant is in custody for Miranda purposes, this court has considered significant evidence that the officers drew their guns, used handcuffs, or “otherwise demonstrated the kind of force typically associated with an arrest.” See Breidenbach, 875 P.2d at 886. Here, the trial court expressly found that the officers had not handcuffed or searched the suspects. Moreover, the court heard conflicting testimony from a defense witness and the officers, concerning whether any of the officers had in fact displayed their weapons, and did not make any findings as to which testimony it believed. We have certainly held that a defendant may be seized even in the absence of a display of weapons or handcuffing by the police. However, since the proper inquiry is whether a reasonable person would believe he was in police custody of the degree associated with a formal arrest, we have upheld a conclusion of custody without a show of force “under circumstances in which it was apparent to all that the police had grounds to arrest the occupants of the vehicle.” See Polander, 41 P.3d at 705 (noting that the officers sought to question the defendant about illegal contraband the officers found upon conducting a valid search).
As the Supreme Court has made clear, “Any interview of one suspected of a crime by a police officer will have coercive aspects to it, simply by virtue of the fact that the police officer is part of a law enforcement system which may ultimately cause the suspect to be charged with a crime. But police officers are not required to administer Miranda warnings to everyone whom they question.” See Oregon v. Mathiason, 429 U.S. 492, 494, 97 S.Ct. 711, 50 L.Ed.2d 714 (1977).
Here, the record indicates that Officer Pfeiler had followed the van as it made its way to the parking lot of the Break Bar. He parked and maintained visual contact with the van. Sergeant Olson arrived later and parked. The two officers exited their vehicles and were on foot when they approached the parked vehicle in the parking lot of the bar. The officers were in uniform and carried weapons — possibly holstered or possibly displayed. In sum, whether the officers exhibited conduct exceeding that associated with a stop was an issue that the trial court did not resolve.
Furthermore, the court made insufficient findings in support of its conclusion that the length of the detention elevated the encounter to custodial. The court drew a line of demarcation between a valid investigatory stop and custody at the point at which Sergeant Olson decided to contact Officer Me-dhurst. Yet, it noted that Sergeant Olson’s conversations with the four suspects lasted only 30 minutes, and the record indicates that Medhurst was contacted immediately thereafter. The court did state that the officers were on the scene for a total of one hour and ten minutes, but did not make clear how that overall time span was bisected by the contact with Officer Medhurst. Moreover, the court emphasized that the officers had difficulty communicating with the vehicle occupants.2 Yet the court neglected to allow a *481period of time within which the officers could appropriately try to remedy that inability to communicate with the suspects. See People v. Avalos, 47 Cal.App.4th 1569, 1577, 55 Cal.Rptr.2d 450 (1996) (holding that length of detention, which was extended for additional 15 to 20 minutes because of need to obtain Spanish-speaking officer to communicate with defendant, was not unreasonable).
Further, the trial court’s historical facts do not support any conclusion that the number of officers on the scene at the point at which Sergeant Olson determined that he could use Officer Medhurst’s assistance triggered Miranda requirements. The court found only that there were a total of six officers on the scene. At minimum, the record indicates that at the point Officer Medhurst was called, only two officers were present, Sergeant Olson and Officer Pfeiler. At most, the record discloses conflicting testimony concerning the number of officers in the parking lot of the bar at the moment of Officer Medhurst’s arrival, and that conflict is not resolved. The victim had reported that she had been kidnapped and raped at knife point by several males occupying a van matching the one driven by the defendants. The trial court explicitly noted that the initial stop was justified by reasonable articulable suspicion. The record suggests that, excluding Officer Me-dhurst, at least four other officers could have appeared on the scene as a result of the initial dispatch. Whether that number of officers was disproportionate to the circumstances or to the nature of the investigation is not an issue that the trial court addressed.
Similarly, there was conflicting evidence about whether the Officers had impeded the van’s movement such that Pascual and the other occupants did not feel free to leave. There is some evidence that the officers had taken the keys to the van, but, based upon the testimony, that may have occurred after the suspects were allegedly in custody. The court did note that each suspect was interviewed separately for 15 minutes away from the bus. The court did not discuss specific distance but Sergeant Olson testified that each suspect was asked to walk away a short distance from the van. Merely having the suspect move a short distance to facilitate conversation does not itself constitute custody. See 2 Wayne R. LaFave, et al, Criminal Procedure § 6(f), at 539 (2d ed.1999 and Supp.2005).
Lastly, although the court highlighted the nature and tenor of the interrogation as one factor supporting a conclusion of custody, the court pointed to no evidence that justified that conclusion. To the contrary, it expressly noted that Sergeant Olson was “non-confrontational with the defendants.” See People v. Minjarez, 81 P.3d 348, 356 (Colo.2003) (noting tone of interview in which officer confronted the defendant with the evidence against him and with his own belief in the defendant’s guilt); People v. Viduya, 703 P.2d 1281, 1284 (Colo.1985) (citing officer’s tone and general demeanor).
The trial court pointed to Sergeant Olson’s statement that his decision to call Officer Medhurst was motivated in part by his conclusion that the van’s occupants were “good suspects” and concluded that Sergeant Olson had called Officer Medhurst to conduct a more “in-depth interrogation.” The trial court, however, did not suggest that Sergeant Olson had made his intentions known to the suspects or point to any facts justifying the conclusion that the officer was called to conduct an in-depth investigation; the record also does not support such a finding. It is well established by this and other courts, that “despite the broad range of factors a court may consider ... a court may not rest its conclusion that a defendant is in custody for Miranda purposes upon a ‘policeman’s unarticulated plan’.” Minjarez, 81 P.3d at 353. In sum, the officer’s “knowledge, intentions, or beliefs are only relevant to a custody determination to the extent that they affect how a reasonable person in the defendant’s position would evaluate his situation.” Id.
Here, the trial court emphasized in its historical findings of fact that the defendant speaks no English, his native tongue is Kan-jobal and that he “speaks some Spanish but doesn’t understand much.” The record indicates that Sergeant Olson could converse *482minimally with the defendant and the others because of his limited Spanish speaking abilities. The court cited to testimony by one defense witness that “the officer didn’t speak much Spanish so they didn’t understand each other very well.” Thus, the court’s findings are subject to the interpretation that a reasonable person in Pascual’s position would have perceived that Officer Medhurst was called because Sergeant Olson had difficulties communicating with him and not because the situation had escalated from a brief investigatory stop to a custodial context. We have made plain that the trial court’s application of the improper legal standard requires reversal and remand. See Viduya, 703 P.2d at 1287. To be sure, we have, in other contexts, concluded that despite the trial court’s improper reliance on the officer’s intent, the totality of the circumstances nevertheless justified upholding the court’s suppression order. See Minjarez, 81 P.3d at 356.
III. Conclusion
A trial court need not address every contested issue, or write painstakingly long orders. On the other hand, the findings must be sufficient to support the ultimate legal conclusion. Here, although there may well have been evidence from which the trial court could have reached the conclusion that Pascual was in custody and should have been given Miranda warnings, the findings do not buttress that conclusion and the evidence is conflicting. I would therefore reverse the trial court suppression order and remand for further findings of historical facts by the trial court.
I am authorized to state that Justice RICE and Justice COATS join in this dissent.

. In Matheny, 46 P.3d at 462, we explained the standard as follows:
As an appellate court, we will not engage in fact finding, and thus, a trial court’s findings of historical fact are entitled to deference by a reviewing court and will not be overturned if supported by the record. However, law application, which involves the application of the controlling legal standard to the facts established by the evidence and found by the trial court is a matter for de novo appellate review .... Determining whether a defendant is in custody for Miranda purposes ... requires us to apply a controlling legal standard to the facts found by the trial court.

. And the record indicates that the officers continued to diligently pursue the investigation in-*481eluding interviewing witnesses at the bar and having the victim identify the vehicle.