Commonwealth v. Valdivia

145 A.3d 1156

2016 PA Super 181

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Appellee

v.Randy Jesus Valdivia, Appellant

No. 319 MDA 2015

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued April 20, 2016

FILED AUGUST 19, 2016

Marc A. Decker, State College, for appellant.

Michael M. Osterberg, Assistant District Attorney, Bellefonte, for Commonwealth, appellee.

BEFORE: FORD ELLIOTT, P.J.E., JENKINS, J., and PLATT, J.^*

OPINION BY JENKINS, J.:

Randy Valdivia appeals from his judgment of sentence of 11 ½–23 months' imprisonment followed by 30 days' probation for possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.¹ Valdivia contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress all evidence seized from his motor vehicle during a traffic stop following a written traffic warning. We conclude that state troopers had reasonable suspicion to detain Valdivia for investigation, and that he voluntarily consented to the search of his vehicle, including a canine sniff of items found in the passenger compartment. Accordingly, we affirm.

Valdivia was arrested following discovery of marijuana in his car during a traffic stop on Interstate 80. The trial court held a suppression hearing and subsequently entered findings of fact and conclusions of law denying Valdivia's motion to suppress. The case proceeded to a non-jury trial in which the court found Valdivia guilty of all charges. After sentencing, Valdivia filed a timely notice of appeal, and both Valdivia and the trial court complied with Pa.R.A.P. 1925.

Valdivia raises three issues in this appeal:

1. Whether the trial court erred in denying [ ] Valdivia's motions to suppress all evidence and fruit of the poisonous tree where the arresting officer illegally detained [ ] Valdivia and engaged in a second investigative detention that was not supported by reasonable suspicion once the initial traffic stop was completed, and where the initial traffic stop was unreasonably prolonged to allow time for a drug sniffing canine to arrive on the scene?

2. Whether the trial court erred in denying [ ] Valdivia's motions to suppress all evidence and fruit of the poisonous tree since any purported consent to search given by [ ] Valdivia was not knowingly, intelligently, or voluntarily given and any purported consent to search was the product of an unconstitutional search?

3. Whether the trial court erred in denying [ ] Valdivia's motion to suppress evidence and all fruit of the poisonous tree since the canine sniff was illegal and not supported by reasonable suspicion, and where the use of trained drug-sniffing dogs was outside the scope of any purported consent?

Brief For Appellant, at 7.

All three arguments on appeal challenge the denial of Valdivia's motion to suppress. In an appeal from the denial of a motion to suppress,

[our] standard of review ... is limited to determining whether the suppression court's factual findings are supported by the record and whether the legal conclusions drawn from those facts are correct. Because the Commonwealth prevailed before the suppression court, we may consider only the evidence of the Commonwealth and so much of the evidence for the defense as remains uncontradicted when read in the context of the record as a whole. Where the suppression court's factual findings are supported by the record, [the appellate court is] bound by [those] findings and may reverse only if the court's legal conclusions are erroneous. Where ... the appeal of the determination of the suppression court turns on allegations of legal error, the suppression court's legal conclusions are not binding on an appellate court, whose duty it is to determine if the suppression court properly applied the law to the facts. Thus, the conclusions of law of the courts below are subject to [ ] plenary review.

Commonwealth v. Jones , 605 Pa. 188, 988 A.2d 649, 654 (2010).

The record supports the following findings of fact made by the trial court. On December 12, 2013, Troopers Hoy and Long were traveling east bound in a marked patrol cruiser on Interstate 80. Trial Court's Findings of Facts (“FF”), ¶ 1. The troopers were following a white Dodge Caravan with a Michigan license plate in the left hand lane. FF, ¶ 2. Trooper Hoy observed the vehicle quickly move from the left lane to the right lane without using a turn signal, at which time Trooper Long immediately activated his overhead lights and initiated a traffic stop. FF, ¶ 3.

Both Troopers Hoy and Long exited their police cruiser and Trooper Hoy approached the vehicle from the passenger side while Trooper Long stood behind the vehicle as backup. FF, ¶ 4. As Trooper Hoy approached the vehicle, he noticed two large boxes wrapped in Christmas paper and a suitcase in the cargo area of the vehicle. FF, ¶ 5. Trooper Hoy testified that drug smugglers often wrap drugs in Christmas paper around the holidays in an effort to blend in with innocent motorists. N.T., 8/8/14, at 25.²

Trooper Hoy asked the driver (Valdivia) for his license, registration, and proof of insurance. Valdivia gave Trooper Hoy a license and rental agreement and stated that the vehicle was a rental. FF, ¶ 6. As Valdivia produced the documents, the trooper noticed that Valdivia's hands were shaking, and that he seemed nervous. Valdivia stated that he needed to pull off and get gas. FF, ¶ 7. Trooper Hoy found this strange because gas had been available at two exits that Valdivia had just passed. N.T., 8/8/14, at 9.³

Trooper Hoy asked Valdivia about his travel plans. Valdivia responded that he was flying from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to New Jersey, but his flight had been re-routed to Detroit, Michigan, and he had to rent a vehicle because he had missed his connecting flight to New Jersey. FF, ¶ 8. Trooper Hoy found it strange that the packages in the cargo area were unblemished, even though they presumably had been part of Valdivia's belongings on his flight from Florida. Id. at 15.⁴ Trooper Hoy noticed from the vehicle information that Valdivia rented the car in Ann Arbor, Michigan, not Detroit, Michigan as he had stated, and that the rental was for a one-way trip. FF, ¶ 9. Trooper Hoy knew from his training and experience that the route Valdivia was traveling, Michigan to New Jersey, is a common drug trafficking route. FF, ¶ 10.

Trooper Hoy then went back to his patrol cruiser and ran a records check, as is his custom, while completing the warning paperwork for the illegal lane change. FF, ¶ 11. Trooper Hoy also contacted a State Police K-9 Unit to respond to the scene. FF, ¶ 12. The record check revealed that Valdivia had been previously charged in Florida with possession with intent to deliver. FF, ¶ 13.

Trooper Hoy returned to Valdivia's vehicle, asked him to exit the vehicle, explained the warning, and returned Valdivia's identification documents. FF, ¶ 14. Trooper Hoy then inquired if he could ask some follow-up questions about Valdivia's travel plans. FF, ¶ 15. Valdivia changed his story when answering these additional questions. He now stated that he had flown to Detroit to visit a friend and had left early the next morning. He also said that when he arrived at the Detroit airport, all of the rental companies were closed, which was why he rented the vehicle in Ann Arbor. FF, ¶ 16. Trooper Hoy felt that Valdivia's responses were unusual, because one does not normally visit a friend for such a short time, most of which would be spent sleeping. Trooper Hoy also found it difficult to believe that all rental companies would have been closed at a large airport such as Detroit. FF, ¶ 17.

Trooper Hoy asked Valdivia for consent to search his vehicle, and Valdivia agreed. Trooper Long filled out a consent to search form, and Valdivia signed the form after reading it. N.T., 8/8/14, at 17-18, 81-82.⁵ The consent form itself was not admitted into evidence, Id. at 2, but Trooper Long testified that the form stated that Valdivia did not have to consent to the search. Id. at 81–82. Valdivia never revoked his consent or said: “No, stop searching.” Id. at 82.

Trooper Hoy testified that after Valdivia gave verbal consent to search his vehicle, he told Valdivia that he would call a K-9 unit to assist in the search. N.T., 8/8/14, at 54. Later in his testimony, however, Trooper Hoy testified that he could not remember whether he told Valdivia that he would call for a K-9 unit. Id. at 55–56.

Trooper Tiracorda, his K-9 partner, Tom, and several other state police officers arrived at the scene in marked police cruisers. FF, ¶ 20. Trooper Hoy and the other officers searched the vehicle while Valdivia sat in the back seat of the patrol cruiser upon an offer by the Troopers due to the cold weather. FF, ¶ 21.

The troopers removed the Christmas packages from the back of the vehicle and placed them on the ground in an area safe enough for Tom to perform a canine sniff. FF, ¶ 22. There is no evidence that Valdivia objected to the canine sniff. Tom alerted to the larger of the two packages on the first “fast pass” by stopping in front of the package, changing his posture, and increasing his respiration. Tom alerted to the package again on the second systematic search. FF, ¶ 23. The troopers opened the packages and found 21 clear, vacuum-sealed bags, each containing forty smaller bags of what appeared to be marijuana. FF, ¶ 24. Valdivia was placed under arrest. FF, ¶ 25.

One important detail is absent from the trial court's findings of fact. Before obtaining Valdivia's consent to search the vehicle, Trooper Hoy did not tell Valdivia that he was free to leave. Trooper Hoy testified as follows:

Q. You never at any point in time told [ ] Valdivia that he was free to leave, free to be on his way and go about his business. That's true?

A. Yeah, that's true. At that time I had reasonable suspicion to believe that there was criminal activity in the vehicle.

N.T., 8/8/14, at 49.⁶

In his first argument on appeal, Valdivia argues that Trooper Hoy lacked reasonable suspicion...