Court Opinion

ID: 9795683
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 03:35:47.730003+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:31:25.801515
License: Public Domain

Justice RICE,
dissenting.
The majority affirms the trial court's suppression of statements and evidence because it finds that the defendant was subject to an investigatory stop unsupported by reasonable suspicion. I believe the interaction between the defendant and the police was a consensual encounter that did not require reasonable suspicion. In addition, I believe that even if the interaction could be considered an illegal investigatory stop, the discovery of a warrant for Martinez's arrest justifies admission of the evidence. I therefore respectfully dissent.
*1060I. Facts
Pueblo police officers responded to an anonymous tip reporting drug activity in the driveway of a house. When the police officers arrived, two cars were parked in the driveway. One sped off upon the officers' arrival, and the other remained. A woman inside the remaining car told the officers that the driver of the car was inside, but she did not know why. The officers then knocked on the front door of the house, and were given permission by the owner to enter the house. Inside the house, the officers saw Martinez enter the bathroom. They waited for him to finish and then asked Martinez and everyone else in the house to move into a large room in order to run clearances on all of the individuals and assure there were no warrants out for their arrest. Martinez's clearance came back with a felony arrest warrant for a parole violation. He was arrested and searched, and the search revealed controlled substances. He admitted to using cocaine. After he was given a Miranda warning, he made additional incriminating statements.
II. Consensual Encounters
The majority correctly states the standards for the three types of interactions between individuals and police officers-consensual encounters, investigatory stops, and formal arrests. Maj. op. at 1056-57. However, I disagree with the majority's conclusion that Martinez was subjected to an investigatory stop. I conclude instead that his interaction with the police constituted a consensual encounter. Because a consensual encounter does not trigger Fourth Amendment protections, I would reverse the trial court's suppression of the evidence and Martinez's statements.
A consensual encounter is one in which an individual voluntarily cooperates with a police officer asking non-coercive questions. People v. Thomas, 839 P.2d 1174, 1177 (Colo.1992). The individual is not seized for purposes of the Fourth Amendment because he is free to leave at any time during the encounter and may ignore the officer's questions. Id. at 1177-78 ("'The test for determining if the encounter is a consensual one is whether a reasonable person under the circumstances would believe he or she was free to leave and/or disregard the official's request for information."). For a consensual encounter to be transformed into an investigatory stop, "the officer, 'by means of physical force or show of authority, must in some way restrain the liberty of a citizen." People v. Padgett, 932 P.2d 810, 813-14 (Colo.1997).
The majority glosses over the fact that the officers entered the house with the owner's permission. - Officer Harris testified that the officers asked if they could come inside and whether anyone else was inside the house, and the homeowner said, "sure." At this point, the officers were legitimately on the premises pursuant to the homeowner's consent to enter. See People v. Milton, 826 P.2d 1282, 1286-87 (Colo.1992) ("Milton could have refused to open his front door and further could have refused to invite the officers to enter.").
Once inside the house, the officers moved all occupants of the house into the largest room and asked each individual to identify himself. Our precedent establishes that the Fourth Amendment permits police officers to ask individuals to move a short distance. People v. Marujo, 192 P.3d 1003, 1006 (Colo.2008); see also Florida v. Rodriguez, 469 U.S. 1, 5-6, 105 S.Ct. 308, 83 L.Ed.2d 165 (1984) (holding that defendant was not seized when asked to move fifteen feet because, "requesting that a person move a short distance does not constitute a seizure."). In addition, we have held that a consensual encounter is not transformed into an investigatory stop merely because a police officer asks an individual to identify himself. People v. Paynter, 955 P.2d 68, 71 (Colo.1998). Under this court's precedent, the officers' actions in the house did not violate the defendant's Fourth Amendment rights.
The majority relies on Padgett for the proposition that "when an individual reasonably infers that he cannot leave the area until the officer has the opportunity to check if the individual has any outstanding warrants against him, the contact is elevated to an investigatory stop or detention." Maj. op. at 1057. However, in Padgett, the defendant repeatedly told the officer that he wanted to leave, and the officer refused to let him go *1061until the clearance check was complete. Padgett, 932 P.2d at 814. It was clear in that case that "Padgett did not voluntarily cooperate with the officers, nor was he at liberty to ignore the police presence and go about his business." Id. (internal quotations and citations omitted). No such exchange happened in this case. Martinez never told the officers that he wanted to leave, and he was never told that he had to wait for the clearance check to be completed. The encounter did not occur in Martinez's house, and he could have easily left with his companion in the car at any time.
Because I believe the interaction between Martinez and the police constituted a consensual encounter, I would reverse the trial court's suppression of evidence and statements obtained during the encounter.
III Discovery of Outstanding Warrant
Even if the encounter between Martinez and the police were properly considered an illegal investigatory stop, I would still reverse the trial court's suppression of evidence and statements. In my view, the officers' discovery of an outstanding warrant for Martinez's arrest sufficiently attenuates the taint of the unlawful investigatory stop to render the evidence and statements admissible.1
The Fourth Amendment prevents admission "not only of evidence obtained by means abridging constitutional rights, but also the 'fruits' of that evidence." People v. Briggs, 709 P.2d 911, 915 (Colo.1985). However,
We need not hold that all evidence is fruit of the poisonous tree simply because it would not have come to light but for the illegal actions of the police. Rather, the more apt question in such a case is whether, granting establishment of the primary illegality, the evidence to which instant objection is made has been come at by exploitation of that illegality or instead by means sufficiently distinguishable to be purged of the primary taint.
Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 487-88, 83 S.Ct. 407, 9 L.Ed.2d 441 (1963)
(Internal quotation marks omitted). Evidence obtained after an illegal stop may be admissible, provided that the chain of causation between the illegal stop and the discovery of the evidence becomes attenuated or is interrupted by an intervening event. United States v. Crews, 445 U.S. 463, 471, 100 S.Ct. 1244, 63 L.Ed.2d 537 (1980). Factors to be considered in determining whether there is sufficient attenuation to admit the evidence include "the voluntariness of the defendant's communications, the degree of police misconduct and any relevant intervening cireum-stances." People v. Hillyard, 197 Colo. 83, 85, 589 P.2d 939, 941 (1979).
We have confronted this issue within the context of an illegal traffic stop. See id. In Hillyard, we held that where a police officer discovered an outstanding arrest warrant for an individual whom he had illegally stopped, evidence seized during a search incident to arrest pursuant to the warrant was admissible. Id. at 86, 589 P.2d at 941. In contrast, we have held that where an individual was illegally stopped, told he could not leave until a clearance check was run, and handcuffed and arrested before the police officer discovered a valid warrant for his arrest, evidence obtained during a search incident to the arrest had to be suppressed. Padgett, 932 P.2d at 817.
In my view, the outstanding warrant for Martinez's arrest severed the causal connection between the initial encounter and the seizure of evidence. As was the case in Hillyard, the police here searched Martinez pursuant to a valid arrest warrant discovered during a routine clearance check. Unlike the officers in Padgett, the officers in this case did not arrest or handcuff Martinez until they discovered a valid warrant for his arrest. I believe the intervening cireumstances caused by discovery of the arrest warrant rendered the suppressed evidence admissible.
IV. Conclusion
I believe the interaction between Martinez and the police was a consensual encounter *1062that did not require reasonable suspicion. I would therefore reverse the trial court's suppression of the evidence and statements. In the alternative, even if the interaction could be characterized as an illegal investigatory stop, I would admit the evidence based on the intervening discovery of a valid warrant for Martinez's arrest. I therefore respectfully dissent.
I am authorized to state that Justice EID joins in this dissent.

. The majority declines to address this argument because it was not specifically raised by the prosecution. Maj. op. at 1055, 'n. 1. I would decide the issue or, in the alternative, remand for the issue to be decided below.