Court Opinion

ID: 9533541
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:32:32.243125+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:29:05.060013
License: Public Domain

Chief Justice VOLLACK
dissenting:
The majority affirms the trial court’s ruling suppressing a plastic bag containing methamphetamine and a statement made by the defendant, Thomas Redinger (Redinger). The majority holds that when “the purpose for which the investigatory stop ... has been accomplished and no other reasonable suspicion exists to support further investigation, there is no justification for continued detention and interrogation of citizens.” Maj. op. at 85. This rationale presumes that Trooper Russell Wise (Officer Wise) engaged in a Fourth Amendment investigatory stop when he requested that Redinger produce his driver’s license, registration, and proof of insurance. I dissent because Officer Wise’s conduct in merely asking Redinger for identifying information did not rise to the level of a Fourth Amendment investigatory stop, and the trial court erred in suppressing the evidence.
I.
On January 7, 1995, at approximately 2:00 a.m., Officer Wise of the Colorado State Patrol was on routine patrol and observed Re-dinger driving a motor vehicle with no visible license plate on either the front or rear of the vehicle. At a hearing on Redinger’s motion to suppress the contraband and the statement, Officer Wise testified that he stopped Redinger because he did not observe any license plate or temporary registration sticker on Redinger’s vehicle. Officer Wise pulled the defendant’s vehicle over to the side of the road. As Officer Wise approached Redinger’s vehicle, he noticed a temporary license plate sticker on the rear window of the driver’s side. Officer Wise stated to the defendant his reason for the stop and asked Redinger to produce a driver’s license, registration, and proof of insurance.1 Redinger reached into his jacket pocket to remove his wallet, and as he pulled out his wallet, a small clear plastic bag filled with a white powdery substance fell on his leg. Redinger handed Officer Wise his license and pushed the plastic bag off his leg and onto the seat.
After observing Redinger’s action, Officer Wise requested that Redinger step out of the car. Officer Wise retrieved the plastic bag and asked Redinger what was in the bag. *87Redinger told Officer Wise that the white powdery substance was crystal methamphetamine. Redinger was thereafter charged by information with one count of possession of a schedule II controlled substance, a class 4 felony, in violation of sections 18-18-204 and 18 — 18—405(2)(a)(I), 8B C.R.S. (1994 Supp.).
The defendant moved to suppress the contraband and the statement which the officer had obtained at the time of the stop. At the suppression hearing, the trial court heard testimony from Officer Wise and three lay witnesses. On May 8, 1995, the trial court ruled that the initial stop was proper. The trial court found that Officer Wise had an articulable basis in fact for suspecting that criminal activity had occurred since the officer did not see a valid temporary license plate when he stopped the defendant’s vehicle. The trial court held, however, that once the officer saw the valid temporary license plate, he was no longer justified in continuing the detention. The trial court suppressed the contraband and the defendant’s statement to the officer on the ground that Officer Wise had exceeded the scope of the investigatory stop by requesting Redinger’s driver’s license, registration, and proof of insurance.
II.
The trial court, in its conclusion of law, focused on the three-pronged test for investigatory stops articulated in Stone v. People, 174 Colo. 504, 485 P.2d 495 (1971): “(1) the officer must have a reasonable suspicion that the individual has committed, or is about to commit, a crime; (2) the purpose of the detention must be reasonable; and (3) the character of the detention must be reasonable when considered in light of the purpose.” Id. at 509, 485 P.2d at 497.
The trial court held that the first prong of the Stone test was satisfied, but that the People had failed to satisfy the other two prongs of the test. The trial court found that Officer Wise had a reasonable suspicion that the defendant had committed a crime when he did not see any valid visible license plate on the defendant’s vehicle. The trial court concluded, however, that once Officer Wise noticed the valid temporary license plate, the reason for the investigatory stop became moot and further detention was unreasonable and not related to the original stop. The trial court therefore suppressed the evidence and Redinger’s statement as the product of an unreasonable stop in violation of the Fourth Amendment.
The trial court correctly found that Officer Wise had a reasonable suspicion that Redinger had committed a crime when he stopped Redinger for not displaying a valid license plate on his vehicle.2 However, the trial court erred in ruling that Officer Wise’s subsequent questioning of the defendant violated the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable search and seizure. The trial court’s application of Stone’s Fourth Amendment analysis to Officer Wise’s subsequent questioning of Redinger was erroneous because that questioning did not rise to the level of a Fourth Amendment investigatory stop.
In Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968), the landmark case which held that investigatory stops implicate the Fourth Amendment, the United States Supreme Court noted that some encounters between police and citizens do not implicate Fourth Amendment issues:
[N]ot all personal intercourse between policemen and citizens involves “seizures” of persons. Only when the officer, by means of physical force or show of authority, has in some way restrained the liberty of a citizen may we conclude that a “seizure” has occurred.
Id. at 19 n. 16, 88 S.Ct. at 1879 n. 16. The Court elaborated on this proposition in Florida v. Bostick, 501 U.S. 429, 111 S.Ct. 2382, *88115 L.Ed.2d 389 (1991), in which it stated that
even when officers have no basis for suspecting a particular individual, they may generally ask ... to examine the individual’s identification ... as long as the police do not convey a message that compliance with their request is required.
Id. at 434-35, 111 S.Ct. at 2386 (citations omitted). The Court held in Bostick that the Fourth Amendment was not implicated unless “the police conduct would have communicated to a reasonable person that he was not at liberty to ignore the police presence and go about his business.” Id. at 437, 111 S.Ct. at 2387 (quoting Michigan v. Chestemut, 486 U.S. 567, 569, 108 S.Ct. 1975, 1977, 100 L.Ed.2d 565 (1988)). In Bostick, the Court found that the Fourth Amendment was not implicated when police officers boarded a bus and requested identification from a passenger thereon. Id.
In determining whether Officer Wise implicated Fourth Amendment issues by asking Redinger to produce his license and registration, our recent decision in People v. T.H., 892 P.2d 301 (Colo.1995), is helpful. In T.H., police officers observed two young men standing at the side of a building. In response to one of the men saying to the officers, “Hey, get [T.H.] away from me,” one of the officers approached T.H. and asked him for identification. T.H. made a hand motion as if he were reaching for identification and instead ran away from the officers. While one of the officers pursued T.H., T.H. tossed a plastic bag containing cocaine into the street.
We held in T.H. that the officers’ initial contact with the defendant did not rise to the level of a Fourth Amendment investigatory stop, as the officers did not approach T.H. based on an articulable suspicion that he was committing a criminal act. Id. at 303. Rather, the officers approached T.H. for identification purposes only. Because the brief confrontation between T.H. and the officers was a mere encounter, this court held that the principles surrounding a Fourth Amendment investigatory stop were inapplicable. Id. at 304.
Similarly here, after Officer Wise noticed the valid temporary license plate on Redinger’s car, he did not approach Redinger based on an articulable suspicion that Redinger was committing a criminal act. Instead, Officer Wise merely approached Redinger to explain why he had initially stopped Redinger, and to request routine identifying information typically requested by an officer as part of standard police procedures. Because motorists are required by state law to carry a driver’s license, registration, and proof of insurance when operating a motor vehicle, Officer Wise’s request for such documents was proper. Furthermore, the record does not indicate that Officer Wise communicated to Re-dinger that he was not at liberty to leave. Thus, Officer Wise did not conduct a Fourth Amendment investigatory stop by merely asking Redinger for identifying information.
This case is distinguishable from United States v. McSwain, 29 F.3d 558 (10th Cir. 1994), cited by the majority. Maj. op. at 84. The officer in McSwain did more than merely ask the defendant driver for identifying information. There, the officer asked the driver whether he had just purchased the vehicle or whether he was taking it for a test drive. McSwain, 29 F.3d at 560. The officer then asked the driver for identification and vehicle registration. Id. After the driver produced his identification and vehicle registration, the officer asked the driver and his passenger where they had been. Id. The driver told the officer that he and his passenger had been in Las Vegas, Nevada, but the officer observed on the front seat a receipt dated the prior day from a Jiffy Lube in Pasadena, California. Id. The officer then returned to his patrol car to request a computer check, which indicated that the driver had a suspended driver’s license and a prior record for drug and gun violations and assaults. Id. When the officer returned to the driver’s vehicle, he inquired further as to the driver’s residence and whether the driver was “packing” any alcohol, firearms, or drugs in the vehicle. Id. After the driver responded in the negative, the officer obtained the driver’s consent to search the vehicle. Id.
*89The officer in McSwain not only asked the driver for identifying information, he also questioned the driver regarding his itinerary and the contents of his vehicle. Such questioning was not a mere request for identification, but was an interrogation that constituted an investigatory stop. The McSwain court therefore found a basis for holding that the officer’s “actions in questioning [the driver] and requesting his license and registration exceeded the limits of a lawful investigative detention and violated the Fourth Amendment.” Id. at 561-62 (emphasis added).
The majority cites other eases that are similarly distinguishable. In United States v. Castillo, 864 F.Supp. 1090 (D.Utah 1994), the driver gave a valid driver’s license and registration to the officer, but the officer continued to question the driver regarding matters unrelated to the traffic stop because the officer suspected that the driver’s customized truck contained a hidden compartment for narcotics. In State v. Dominguez-Martinez, 321 Or. 206, 895 P.2d 306 (1995), an officer stopped a driver for a defective signal light. After obtaining a valid driver’s license and registration, the officer continued to question the driver and passenger about drug trafficking because the automobile exhibited characteristics associated with drug trafficking. In both cases, the courts did not invalidate the officer’s request for a driver’s license and registration; they only invalidated the subsequent questioning that was unrelated to the traffic stop.
In Powell v. State, 649 So.2d 888 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1995), after the officer realized that the vehicle displayed a temporary license plate, the officer nevertheless retrieved a drug detecting police dog to search the vehicle for narcotics. This case did not involve a mere request for identification but involved a full search and seizure of the driver’s vehicle. Similarly, in Rouse v. State, 643 So.2d 696 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1994), after the officer finished giving the defendant a traffic citation, the officer questioned the defendant and conducted a pat-down search. Again, this case involved a full search of the defendant’s person rather than a mere request for identifying information.
All these eases involve officers who not only requested identifying information from the defendants, but who implicated the Fourth Amendment by asking questions unrelated to the investigatory stop or by conducting searches without probable cause. In contrast, Officer Wise in the current case merely explained to Redinger why he had been stopped and asked Redinger for identifying information.
As discussed above, Officer Wise’s actions in simply requesting Redinger’s identifying information, without more, did not rise to the level of an investigatory stop and therefore did not violate the Fourth Amendment.3 For the reasons expressed, I dissent.

. Under Colorado law, motorists are required to carry a driver's license, registration, and proof of insurance when operating a motor vehicle. §§ 42-2-101(3), 42-3-111(5), 17 C.R.S. (1993); § 10-4-705(1), 4A C.R.S. (1994).

. Failure to display a license plate or temporary registration sticker on a vehicle is a class B traffic infraction which technically is a civil, not criminal, matter. See § 42-3-123, 17 C.R.S. (1995 Supp.), superseding § 42-3-113, 17 C.R.S. (1993); § 42-3-133(l)(a), 17 C.R.S. (1995 Supp.), superseding § 42-3-122(l)(a), 17 C.R.S. (1993). However, suspected traffic infractions are treated the same as suspected crimes for Fourth Amendment purposes of reasonable suspicion to stop the defendant's vehicle. See, e.g., People v. Corpany, 859 P.2d 865, 870 (Colo.1993); People v. Clements, 665 P.2d 624, 625 (Colo.1983).

. Even under a Fourth Amendment analysis, an officer’s request for a motorist’s driver’s license and registration does not unconstitutionally exceed the scope of a valid investigatory stop. In State v. Hill, 606 A.2d 793 (Me. 1992), a police officer pulled over a vehicle after he did not observe a discernible rear license plate. As the officer approached and just before reaching the cab of the truck, he noticed an unilluminated license plate in the rear window. The officer nevertheless asked the driver for his license and registration. The driver moved to suppress the officer’s testimony based on the fact that the officer's reasonable suspicion had dissipated before he requested the defendant's license and registration. Id. at 795. The court concluded that the police officer did not exceed the scope of a valid investigatory stop when he asked to see the defendant's license and registration. The Supreme Court of Maine reasoned:
[Ojnce a defendant has been validly seized, the scope of subsequent police conduct must be ... evaluated to determine whether it is reasonable under all the circumstances.... In this case, Hill was validly stopped for a suspected traffic violation. Officer Low then sought to ensure that Hill was neither unlicensed nor operating an unregistered vehicle. Balancing this significant state interest against the minimal further intrusion of asking Hill for the documents, we hold that Officer Low did not unreasonably intrude on Hill’s Fourth Amendment rights.
Id. (citations omitted).