State v. Staton

992 A.2d 348

120 Conn.App. 497

STATE of Connecticut v. Terrell STATON.

No. 29607.

Appellate Court of Connecticut.

Argued February 4, 2010.

Decided April 20, 2010.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Glenn W. Falk, special public defender, with whom was Jennifer Rae Taylor, law student intern, for the appellant (defendant).

Michele C. Lukban, senior assistant state's attorney, with whom, on the brief, was Stephen J. Sedensky III, state's attorney, for the appellee (state).

DIPENTIMA, ALVORD and FRANCIS X. HENNESSY, Js.^*

FRANCIS X. HENNESSY, J.

The defendant, Terrell Staton, appeals from the judgment of conviction, rendered after a jury trial, of sale of narcotics by a person who is not drug-dependent in violation of General Statutes § 21a-278 (b), sale of narcotics in violation of General Statutes § 21a-277 (a), sale of narcotics within 1500 feet of a school in violation of General Statutes § 21a-278a (b), possession of narcotics in violation of General Statutes § 21a-279 (a) and possession of narcotics within 1500 feet of a school in violation of General Statutes § 21a-279 (d). On appeal, the defendant claims that the trial court improperly denied his motion to suppress the evidence obtained following his detention because the police lacked a sufficient reasonable suspicion of criminal conduct to stop him. Additionally, the defendant claims that his subsequent detention by the police was unconstitutionally prolonged. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The record reveals the following facts and procedural history. Lieutenant Shaun McColgan, a Danbury police officer with over twenty three years experience as an officer in New York City and Connecticut, and with over 500 drug arrests, went on patrol in an unmarked police station wagon after 3 a.m. on the morning of November 9, 2006. He was aware that the police had been watching a brown car with Colorado license plates earlier that morning and that he was to be on the lookout for suspicious activity associated with that vehicle. Thus, when he saw a brown Chrysler with Colorado license plates, occupied by a driver and a passenger, turn left down Davis Street, McColgan followed.

The Chrysler proceeded slowly down Davis Street, past the Morris Street School, onto Rogers Avenue and then right onto Westville Avenue. After McColgan turned left onto Westville Avenue to avoid detection, he observed the Chrysler turn around in a driveway and then head back up Rogers Avenue before ultimately stopping in front of the Morris Street School. At this point, given that the Chrysler was a known suspicious vehicle driving slowly in the early morning hours and because he believed the vehicle was "casing" the neighborhood, he turned off his vehicle's headlights, backtracked up Rogers Avenue and stopped approximately 200 feet behind the Chrysler on Davis Street. He had an unobstructed view of the Chrysler, and no other vehicles were parked on the road at that time.

McColgan initially thought he saw someone exit the Chrysler and that a burglary of the school was going to occur. Within seconds, however, he realized that the defendant, wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, had approached the Chrysler's front passenger window, leaned into the car and placed his hands on the door. McColgan could not see what was happening inside the vehicle and did not observe the exchange of drugs or money. About ten seconds later, the defendant walked away from the car and into a school parking lot. McColgan testified that, in light of his experience, he suspected a hand-to-hand drug transaction had occurred.

Immediately after the defendant walked away from the vehicle, the Chrysler proceeded north on Davis Street. McColgan turned his vehicle's headlights on and began to follow the Chrysler. As he drove slowly past the defendant, the defendant looked directly at McColgan, who had a clear view of the defendant's face.

McColgan next radioed for assistance, requesting that nearby officers detain the defendant and follow the Chrysler. He gave a very general description of the defendant as a black male and provided his location for the officers. Within one minute, two officers detained the defendant and notified McColgan, who was still following the Chrysler, of the detention. The defendant provided identification to the officers and told them that he was coming from his girlfriend's house and heading to his mother's house. The officers did not handcuff him, they did not place him in a police car, and they did not display their weapons. The defendant, however, was not free to leave.

Concurrent with the investigatory stop of the defendant, two additional undercover officers—who had responded to McColgan's call and closely were following the Chrysler—saw the Chrysler commit a traffic infraction. The officers notified McColgan of the traffic infraction, and he instructed them to make a motor vehicle stop. McColgan then caught up to the Chrysler, which the officers had stopped, received permission from the driver to search the vehicle and found crack cocaine on the passenger side floor. The driver told him that the passenger in the Chrysler had just purchased the drugs from a black male at the Morris Street School.

As a result, McColgan radioed the officers who were detaining the defendant and instructed them to arrest him. McColgan then went to Tomlinson Avenue, where the defendant had been detained, and identified the defendant as the black male he had seen at the Chrysler's passenger window in front of the Morris Street School. The defendant was brought to the police station and subsequently searched. A cellular telephone, two $50 bills in one pocket and a total of $30 cash in another pocket were found. Approximately twelve to fifteen minutes elapsed from the initial detention of the defendant until he was arrested on Tomlinson Avenue.

On August 10, 2007, the defendant filed a motion to suppress all evidence that the police had obtained as a direct consequence of the investigative stop, including the drugs seized in the Chrysler, the money and the cellular telephone. The court held an evidentiary hearing on the matter on August 14 and 16, 2007. In an oral ruling, the court denied the defendant's motion to suppress.¹ The court stated that a "police officer may, in appropriate circumstances ... and in an appropriate manner, detain ... an individual for investigative purposes, even though there is no probable cause to make an arrest. The state has the burden of showing that when the initial seizure of the defendant occurred, the police had sufficient objective indicia of criminal activity given the totality of the circumstances to justify an intrusion on the defendant's freedom of movement." According to the court, a reasonable and articulable suspicion could not be based on a mere hunch but, rather, had to be based on specific reasonable inferences that the officer could draw from the facts in light of his experience.

Given this legal standard and the facts of the case, the court concluded that the officers had a reasonable and articulable suspicion to detain the defendant. Among the factors the court considered was McColgan's twenty plus years of experience as a police officer. Specifically, the court pointed out that McColgan worked for years in a New York City police department street narcotics unit where he had observed drug transactions involving motor vehicles. Additionally, the court noted the following reasonable inferences: there were no other pedestrians in the area when the defendant was detained, and he was in a residential area at a quiet time of day—approximately 3:30 a.m.

The court then went on to conclude that the approximately twelve to fifteen minute detention of the defendant was not too intrusive or too lengthy to violate his constitutional rights. The court stated that "the purpose of detaining the defendant was to conduct an investigation. After completing the investigation the police had probable cause to arrest the defendant for sale of narcotics, when the police obtained the information, which rose to probable cause, the defendant's detention then turned into an arrest when ... McColgan radioed the officers near the school that the defendant should be placed under arrest." As a result, the court denied the defendant's motion to suppress.

Following a jury trial, the defendant was found guilty of all the drug related charges and not guilty of loitering in or about school grounds. He was sentenced to twenty years in prison, execution suspended after twelve years, and five years of probation.² This appeal followed.

We first set forth our standard of review. "Our standard of review of a trial court's findings and conclusions in connection with a motion to suppress is well defined. A finding of fact will not be disturbed unless it is clearly erroneous in view of the evidence and pleadings in the whole record. ... When the legal conclusions of the court are challenged, our review is plenary, and we must determine whether they are legally and logically correct and whether they find support in the facts set out in the court's ruling. ... Because a trial court's determination of the validity of a ... search or seizure implicates a defendant's constitutional rights ... we engage in a careful examination of the record to ensure that the court's decision was supported by substantial evidence. ... However, we will give great deference to the findings of the trial court because of its function to weigh and interpret the evidence before it and to pass upon the credibility of witnesses." (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Kimble, 106 Conn.App. 572, 579, 942 A.2d 527, cert. denied, 286 Conn. 912, 950 A.2d 1289 (2008).

I

The defendant claims that the court improperly denied his motion to suppress the evidence obtained following his detention because the police lacked a sufficient reasonable suspicion of a drug transaction to stop him. We disagree.

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