State v. Rogers, 297 Neb. 265

On Aug. 5, 2015, Lincoln police located a vehicle near a residence linked to a person wanted on a federal indictment; two occupants were in the vehicle and a second car with three occupants (one later identified as Rogers) was parked in front.
A lead officer approached the second vehicle, observed the front-seat passenger reach under his seat, and summoned backup; three additional officers arrived within about a minute.
The wanted person was not in the vehicle, but the driver was a known narcotics contact; officers ordered all three occupants out of the car and arrested the front-seat passenger on an outstanding warrant.
The lead officer observed a purse on the rear floor with a small plastic bag protruding that she associated with narcotics packaging; consent to search was denied, so officers summoned a drug-detection dog.
The dog alerted on the driver’s side; officers searched the vehicle, found a pipe and the small bag in Rogers’s purse (testing positive for amphetamines), and arrested Rogers for possession.
Rogers’s pretrial motion to suppress was denied; she was convicted after trial and sentenced to 20 months to 5 years. She appealed the suppression ruling and the sentence.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether passengers were seized when ordered out of the vehicle and whether continued detention was supported by reasonable suspicion	Rogers: the encounter became a seizure once officer determined the wanted person was not present; no reasonable suspicion existed—only a hunch about the driver	State: the encounter escalated lawfully from tier-one to tier-two when passengers were ordered out given number of officers, furtive movement, known narcotics contact, and observed bag; those facts supplied reasonable suspicion	Court: ordering passengers out under surrounding circumstances was a seizure; officers possessed reasonable suspicion (furtive movement, driver’s narcotics links, visible bag), dog sniff timely, canine alert provided probable cause—suppression denied
Whether Rogers’s sentence (20 months to 5 years) was excessive	Rogers: court failed to meaningfully consider mitigating factors or explain reasons, and should reserve top sentence for worst offenders	State: sentence within statutory limits and court considered relevant factors; broad discretion permitted	Court: sentence within statutory limits and not an abuse of discretion; no requirement for detailed on-the-record factual findings

State v. Milos, 294 Neb. 375 (discussing tiered police-citizen encounters and seizure analysis)
State v. Van Ackeren, 242 Neb. 479 (tier-one encounter description)
State v. Hedgcock, 277 Neb. 805 (when stepping out of a vehicle becomes a seizure under totality of circumstances)
Delaware v. Prouse, 440 U.S. 648 (limitations on vehicle stops and seizures)
State v. Voichahoske, 271 Neb. 64 (furtive movements as a factor contributing to reasonable suspicion)
State v. Tyler, 291 Neb. 920 (framework for analyzing suppression rulings)
State v. Loding, 296 Neb. 670 (review of reasonable suspicion and suppression issues)