Court Opinion

ID: 9855461
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 06:25:20.035898+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:35:47.017297
License: Public Domain

ROVIRA, Justice,
dissenting:
The majority correctly delineates the criteria which must be applied to determine whether the police had probable cause to arrest the defendant. As stated, probable cause to arrest “is not to be measured by a ‘more likely true than false’ level of certitude but by a common-sense, nontechnical standard of reasonable cause to believe, with due consideration being given to a police officer’s experience and training in determining the significance of his observations to the ultimate issue of probable cause.” Majority op. at 1375. I believe that the majority’s analysis applies the probable cause criteria in an overly technical manner which provides little guidance for police officers and denies them fair leeway in enforcing the law for the community’s protection. I also disagree with the majority’s conclusion that Officer Spitzmil-ler’s actions were not justified as being within the scope of a proper search pursuant to Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968).
I.
As the majority indicates, “[pjrobable cause is a fact-specific inquiry that must be resolved on the basis of the totality of circumstances.” Majority op. at 1377. Seldom does a decision in one case handily dispose of the next. United States v. Davis, 458 F.2d 819, 821 (D.C.Cir.1972). The richness and variety of street encounters in which law enforcement officers are *1382involved necessitates that the probable cause determination be based upon “a common-sense, nontechnical standard of reasonable cause to believe.” People v. Melgosa, 753 P.2d 221, 225 (Colo.1988).
When viewed in isolation, the discrete acts of the defendant are not dispositive and could be rationalized as involving only “suspicious behavior.” The defendant’s actions, however, are not independent. When viewed in their entirety, the individual acts fit together like pieces of a puzzle, and provide a reasonable basis for concluding that a drug transaction has taken place. See United States v. Davis, 458 F.2d 819 (D.C.Cir.1972).
Detective Turner, a narcotics officer with many years of experience, observed the defendant as he left the Cloud Nine Bar, located in an area known for its high level of drug activity. The defendant then contacted Ernest Walker, a known seller and user of drugs, who was standing in the bar’s parking lot. Walker and the defendant proceeded to the side of the building together. While attempting to hide their actions they engaged in a “hand to hand” transfer of a small object. Turner, believing that he had observed a drug transaction, radioed for assistance from uniformed officers.
When Officers Spitzmiller and McDonald entered the parking lot in a marked police car, the defendant immediately began to move away from Walker. Spitzmiller, who is a veteran police officer and defensive tactics instructor, stopped the defendant and conducted a Terry type frisk.
Through his verbal and nonverbal actions, the defendant exhibited his dismay at the impending discovery of the duct taped vial he possessed.1 The significance of the defendant’s actions could easily have been overlooked by a casual observer. Spitzmil-ler, however, because of his training and experience as a police instructor, found this behavior to be highly probative. See People v. Hughes, 767 P.2d 1201 (Colo.1989) (defendant’s dropping of his arm and head during a Terry search involved furtive movement). He recognized the defendant’s behavior as being “a key ... [indicating] that there was something in there he didn’t want me to find.” Immediately thereafter he discovered a hard object in the defendant’s pocket. The object turned out to be a vial, wrapped in duct tape, which effectively concealed the container’s contents.
Spitzmiller, as the majority acknowledges, was justified in performing a Terry type stop and frisk of the defendant. Facts discovered as a result of such an encounter may provide probable cause to support a custodial arrest. Hughes, 767 P.2d at 1207; Melgosa, 753 P.2d at 228; People v. Tate, 657 P.2d 955, 959 (Colo. 1983). The defendant's conduct during the Terry stop and the discovery of the vial indicated that his prior activities were more than merely “suspicious.” See Robles v. State, 510 N.E.2d 660 (Ind.1987) (defendant’s suspicious actions provided law enforcement officials with probable cause to open two small packages wrapped in duct tape); State v. Buckley, 426 So.2d 103 (La. 1983) (police observation of a suspicious transfer provided them with probable cause to search defendant’s purse); see also United States v. Green, 670 F.2d 1148 (D.C.Cir.1981) (officer’s observation of a suspicious transfer involving currency and a concealed object provided probable cause to search); United States v. White, 655 F.2d 1302 (D.C.Cir.1981) (probable cause to search found where, in a high narcotics area, police observed a transaction involving a small object and currency).
The discovery of the vial, when considered in conjunction with the events which transpired after the defendant left the Cloud Nine Bar, provided Spitzmiller with a reasonable basis to believe that the defendant had been involved in a drug transaction. Therefore, examination of the vial’s contents by Officer Spitzmiller was permitted as a search incident to a valid custodial arrest of the defendant. E.g., United States v. Robinson, 414 U.S. 218, *138394 S.Ct. 467, 38 L.Ed.2d 427 (1973); People v. Bischofberger, 724 P.2d 660 (Colo.1986).
The court in United States v. Davis, 458 F.2d 819, 821 (D.C.Cir.1972), noted:
A significantly lower quanta of proof is required to establish probable cause than guilt. Probable cause does not emanate from an antiseptic courtroom, a sterile library or a sacrosanct adytum, nor is it a pristine “philosophical concept existing in a vacuum,” but rather it requires a pragmatic analysis of “everyday life on which reasonable and prudent men, not legal technicians act.” It is to be viewed from the vantage point of a prudent, reasonable, cautious police officer on the scene at the time of the arrest guided by his experience and training.
(Citations omitted.)
An overly technical application of the probable cause criteria frustrates legitimate law enforcement activity, without appreciably furthering a citizen’s interest in being protected from “rash and unreasonable interferences with [their] privacy.” Law enforcement officers must be given “fair leeway for enforcing the law in the community’s protection.” Brinegar v. United States, 338 U.S. 160, 176, 69 S.Ct. 1302, 1311, 93 L.Ed. 1879 (1949).
Under the circumstances present here, I believe there was probable cause to support a custodial arrest of the defendant, and, accordingly, would reverse the order of suppression. Finding there was probable cause to arrest ends the inquiry, but in light of the majority’s analysis of the investigatory stop, I will also consider this issue.
II.
I agree with the majority’s conclusion that the police had a specific and articula-ble basis in fact for suspecting that the defendant had or was engaging in a criminal act, and that the purpose of the intrusion was reasonable. I disagree with the conclusion that Officer Spitzmiller’s act of opening and examining the contents of the vial exceeded the limits of a constitutionally protected search. Under Terry, he would have been justified in opening the container if he had an objectively reasonable basis for believing that it contained some type of weapon. A Terry type search “will be upheld on the basis of its objective reasonableness even though the officer may have harbored a subjective intent to engage in a more extensive intrusion than was otherwise warranted under the circumstances.” 2 Majority op. at 1377.
Spitzmiller testified that on prior occasions he had recovered “side arms, weapons, knives, razor blades, and handguns” from suspects who had been contacted in the parking lot of the Cloud Nine Bar. The three-inch long, one and one-half inch wide, and one-half inch thick duct taped vial which the defendant possessed could have contained, among other things, a small knife or a razor blade.
The officer’s search of the vial was within the permissible scope of a Terry search because there was an objectively reasonable basis for concluding a weapon might be found. See Taylor v. Superior Court, 275 Cal.App.2d 146, 79 Cal.Rptr. 677 (1969) (proper to open Zippo-type cigarette lighter because it could contain razor blades); State v. Campbell, 53 N.J. 230, 250 A.2d 1 (1969) (proper to open an envelope which “might well have contained a weapon such as a thin knife or blade”); see also United States v. Simmons, 567 F.2d 314 (7th Cir. 1977) (search of small bag justified as a valid Terry search); United States v. Vigo, 487 F.2d 295 (2d Cir.1973) (search of closed handbag within limits of permissible search).
Accordingly, I would reverse the order of the trial court.
I am authorized to say that Justice VOL-LACK joins me in this dissent.

. When Officer Spitzmiller came to the pocket in which the vial was found, the defendant dropped his head, saying "Geez.”

. As the majority indicates, “an officer's subjective intent is a relevant factor for a court to consider in determining the purpose of the intrusion ... it is [however] by no means determinative of the issue ..." Majority op. at 1377 (emphasis added).