Court Opinion

ID: 9788794
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 01:18:21.457509+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:16.730895
License: Public Domain

Allegrucco, J.,
dissenting: I agree that State v. Slater, 267 Kan. 694, 986 P.2d 1038 (1999), controls this case. Notwithstanding, I respectfully dissent from the majority’s holding that the officer had reasonable suspicion of criminal activity to make the stop. I remain convinced in that belief for the reasons set forth in the well-reasoned dissent by Lockett, J. in Slater. I add the following comments.
The majority perpetuates Slater to continue to approve vehicle stops based on the “totality of the circumstances.” It has become the cure-all to remedy ailing vehicle stops made under the guise of either a “safety stop” or “Terry Stop.” Here the majority, as did the majority in Slater, relied on Alabama v. White, 496 U.S. 325, 110 L. Ed. 2d 301, 110 S. Ct. 2412 (1990), for the “totality of the circumstances test.” There the Supreme Court said:
“Reasonable suspicion, like probable cause, is dependent upon both the content of information possessed by police and its degree of reliability. Both factors— quantity and quality — are considered in the ‘totality of the circumstances — the whole picture,’ United States v. Cortez, 449 U.S. 411, 417 (1981), that must be taken into account when evaluating whether there is reasonable suspicion. Thus, if a tip has a relatively low degree of reliability, more information will be required to establish the requisite quantum of suspicion than would be required if the tip were more reliable. The Gates Court applied its totality of the circumstances approach in this manner, taking into account the facts known to the officers from personal observation, and giving the anonymous tip the weight it deserved in light of its indicia of reliability as established through independent police work.” 496 U.S. at 330.
*501This case involved drug violations and factually is very different from the present case. The controlling factor was the detail provided by the tipster predicting the defendant’s future behavior,
“because it demonstrated inside information — a special familiarity with respondent’s affairs. The general public would have had no way of knowing that respondent would shortly leave the building, get in the described car, and drive the most direct route to Dobey’s Motel. Because only a small number of people are generally privy to an individual’s itinerary, it is reasonable for police to believe that a person with access to such information is likely to also have access to rehable information about that individual’s illegal activities.” 496 U.S. at 332.
The Supreme Court differentiated between easily obtained facts such as a vehicle description which existed at the time of the call and which could easily be obtained by anyone. Here, the tip provided only such information and was totally void of anything to conclude the tipster was honest, reliable, or that the tipster personally observed a criminal violation.
Here the majority, with nothing more than the statement that a driver was “driving recklessly,” concludes that Crawford violated K.S.A. 8-1567. Further, such violation was corroborated based upon the officer finding a matching vehicle, and such match made it apparent the tipster personally observed the violation. Such easily obtained fact corroborated nothing more than Crawford was driving a black Dodge Dakota pickup with Oklahoma tags northbound on U.S. Highway 169. The bottom line is that the tip lacked any indicia of reliability or content that would support a “Terry Stop” of Crawford’s vehicle. I suggest that the majority has lost sight of the court’s responsibility to ensure that vehicle stops are carried out only in accordance with constitutional principle. In my view, the majority decision in Slater resulted from the use of blue smoke and mirrors and a retreat from that decision would be warranted. I would affirm the district court and the Court of Appeals.
Luckert, J., joins in the foregoing dissent.