Com. v. By

812 A.2d 1250

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee v. Chamroeun BY, Appellant.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued April 16, 2002.

Filed December 2, 2002.

MaryJean Glick, Public Defender, Lancaster, for appellant.

Vincent Mazeski, Assistant District Attorney, Lancaster, for Commonwealth, appellee.

Before: JOYCE, BECK and POPOVICH, JJ.

POPOVICH, J.

¶ 1 Appellant Chamroeun By appeals from the judgment of sentence entered on February 6, 2001, in the Court of Common Pleas, Lancaster County. Following a non-jury trial, Appellant was convicted of possession with intent to deliver cocaine and firearms not to be carried without a license. He was sentenced to time served to 23 months, plus five years of probation. Appellant filed the present appeal challenging the suppression court's denial of his motion to suppress the evidence. Upon review, we affirm.

¶ 2 The relevant facts are as follows. On the evening of January 9, 2000, Officer Charles Wildt, III, of the East Lampeter Township Police Department was on patrol on Lincoln Highway East when he observed a dark gray Mazda RX-7, with darkly tinted windows, in a Super 8 Motel parking lot. The vehicle was parked alongside vehicles known to the police as belonging to persons who dealt narcotics. Officer Wildt observed four individuals enter the Mazda and drive out of the parking lot. He followed the vehicle and initiated a traffic stop based upon the tinted windows violation. Due to the number of persons in the vehicle coupled with the fact that it was beginning to get dark, Officer Wildt radioed for backup. Officers George Quickel of the Lancaster City Police Department and Michael Neff of the East Lampeter Township Police Department arrived on the scene as a safety precaution.

¶ 3 Appellant, the driver of the vehicle, identified himself as Chamroeun By and provided his driver's license and vehicle documents to Officer Wildt. Officer Wildt also obtained the identity and birth dates of the remaining persons in the Mazda. He then returned to his police cruiser to conduct a check on the persons in the vehicle. As a result of the check, Officer Wildt learned that one of the passengers gave false information, i.e., he gave an incorrect name and birth date. Officer Wildt returned to the Mazda and asked Appellant to exit the vehicle. Appellant did so. Officer Wildt issued Appellant a warning for the tinted windows violation and returned the driver's license and vehicle documents to Appellant. He then advised Appellant that he was free to leave. At this point in time, Officer Wildt asked Appellant if he could ask a couple of questions. Officer Wildt asked him if he had any weapons or drugs. He observed Appellant hesitate, become noticeably nervous and begin to perspire. Officer Wildt then asked Appellant if he could search the vehicle. Appellant hesitated. Again, Officer Wildt reminded Appellant that he was free to leave. Officer Wildt asked again if he could search the vehicle. Appellant consented to a search.

¶ 4 The passengers exited the vehicle. Officer Wildt conducted a search. In the center console, a clear plastic bag containing ten smaller bags, which contained a substance later positively identified as crack cocaine, was found. During the search, a female passenger asked to retrieve her coat from the vehicle because she was cold. Before the officers would give her the coat, they patted the coat down to make sure there were no weapons. In doing so, a .25 caliber magazine was found in one of the pockets. The female passenger was asked if there was a handgun in the vehicle. She responded in the affirmative and that it was located behind the driver's seat. A loaded Beretta .25 caliber semi-automatic handgun was recovered. Subsequently, all of the passengers were taken into custody and were transported back to the police station.

¶ 5 At the police station, Appellant received his Miranda warnings. He then provided a handwritten, signed confession in which he admitted that the crack cocaine and the handgun were his, that a room at the Super 8 Motel was rented in his name and that he consented to a search of that room.

¶ 6 Appellant was charged with possession with intent to deliver cocaine and firearms not to be carried without a license. He filed a motion to suppress the physical evidence and the statement taken at the police station on the basis that each was the product of an illegal detention. The suppression court denied the motion. Appellant waived his right to a jury trial, and he was found guilty on both charges. That same day, Appellant was sentenced. This timely appeal followed.

¶ 7 On appeal, Appellant alleges the suppression court improperly denied his motion to suppress evidence where his consent to search the vehicle was the product of an unlawful investigative detention in the absence of reasonable suspicion.

¶ 8 In considering the denial of a suppression motion, our standard of review is well-settled. We must "determine whether the record supports the suppression court's factual findings and the legitimacy of the inferences and legal conclusions drawn from these findings." Commonwealth v. Ayala, 791 A.2d 1202, 1207 (Pa.Super.2002). In doing so, we "may consider only the prosecution's [evidence]" and the defendant's evidence to the extent it is not contradictory. Id., 791 A.2d at 1207. If the evidence presented at the suppression hearing supports these findings of fact, we may not reverse the lower court unless its accompanying legal conclusions are in error. See Commonwealth v. Lohr, 715 A.2d 459, 461 (Pa.Super.1998).

¶ 9 The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 8 of the Pennsylvania Constitution protect individuals from unreasonable searches and seizures, thereby ensuring the "right of each individual to be let alone." Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218, 236, 93 S.Ct. 2041, 36 L.Ed.2d 854 (1973); Commonwealth v. Blair, 394 Pa.Super. 207, 575 A.2d 593, 596 (1990). Specifically, police officers may not conduct a warrantless search or seizure unless one of several recognized exceptions applies. See Schneckloth, 412 U.S. at 219,93 S.Ct. 2041; Blair, 575 A.2d at 596-97. One such exception is a search conducted pursuant to consent voluntarily given. See Blair, 575 A.2d at 597 (citation omitted). The Fourth Amendment inquiries in consent cases entail a two-prong assessment: first, the constitutional validity of the citizen/police encounter giving rise to the consent and, second, the voluntariness of said consent. See Commonwealth v. Strickler, 563 Pa. 47, 757 A.2d 884, 888 (2000) (citation omitted). Where the underlying encounter is found to be lawful, voluntariness becomes the exclusive focus. See id.,757 A.2d at 889 (citation omitted). If a defendant's initial detention violates the Fourth Amendment, then any evidence seized during that stop must be excluded as fruit of an unlawful detention absent a demonstration by the government both of a sufficient break in the causal chain between the illegal detention and the seizure of evidence, thus assuring that the search is not an exploitation of the prior illegality, and of voluntariness. See id.,757 A.2d at 889 (citation omitted).

¶ 10 To secure the right of citizens to be free from such intrusions, courts in Pennsylvania require law enforcement officers to demonstrate ascending levels of suspicion to justify their interactions with citizens as those interactions become more intrusive. See Commonwealth v. Key, 789 A.2d 282, 288 (Pa.Super.2001) (citation omitted).

¶ 11 The first of these interactions is a "mere encounter," or request for information, which need not be supported by any level of suspicion, but carries no official compulsion to stop or respond. See Strickler, 757 A.2d at 889. The second level is an "investigative detention," or Terry stop, which must be supported by reasonable and articulated suspicion that the person seized is engaged in criminal activity, and the detention may continue only so long as is necessary to confirm or dispel such suspicion. See id., 757 A.2d at 889. It subjects a suspect to a stop and period of detention but does not involve such coercive conditions as to constitute the functional equivalent of arrest. See id., 757 A.2d at 889. Finally, an arrest or "custodial detention" must be supported by probable cause. See id., 757 A.2d at 889. To guide the crucial inquiry as to whether or not a seizure has been effected, the United States Supreme Court has devised an objective test entailing a determination of whether, in viewing the totality of the circumstances, a reasonable person would have believed that he was free to leave. See id., 757 A.2d at 889 (citing United States v. Mendenhall, 446 U.S. 544, 554, 100 S.Ct. 1870, 64 L.Ed.2d 497 (1980)). In evaluating the circumstances, the focus is directed toward whether, by means of physical force or show of authority, the citizen's movement has in some way been restrained.¹ See id., 757 A.2d at 889 (citing Mendenhall, 446 U.S. at 553, 100 S.Ct. 1870).

¶ 12 In Strickler and its companion case, Commonwealth v. Freeman, 563 Pa. 82, 757 A.2d 903 (2000), our Supreme Court has used these principles regarding seizure to examine a subsequent citizen/police interaction following a valid traffic stop. In these cases, the Court recognized that "the transition between detention and a consensual exchange can be so seamless that the untrained eye may not notice that it has occurred." Strickler, 757 A.2d at 892 (citation omitted). Although there may be no question regarding the validity of the initial traffic stop, the crucial question is when the validity of that stop ceased. See id., 757 A.2d at 891.

¶ 13 Where the purpose of an initial, valid traffic stop has ended and a reasonable person would have believed that he was free to leave, the law characterizes a subsequent round of questioning by the officer as a mere encounter. See Strickler, 757 A.2d at 898. Since the citizen is...