State v. Rogers, 899 N.W.2d 626

On Aug. 5, 2015, Lincoln police located a parked vehicle near a residence tied to a person wanted on a federal indictment; the vehicle had three occupants, including Rogers in the back seat.
The lead officer approached a nearby second vehicle, observed the front-seat passenger reach under his seat, and called for backup; within about a minute multiple officers arrived.
The wanted person was not in the vehicle, but the officer recognized the driver as a known narcotics contact and suspected furtive movements by the front-seat passenger.
Officers ordered all occupants out; the front-seat passenger was arrested on an outstanding warrant. While outside the vehicle, officers observed a purse on the back-floorboard with a small plastic bag protruding.
Consent to search was denied; a drug-detection dog alerted on the driver’s side, officers searched the vehicle and purse, recovered a pipe and a bag with residue, tied them to Rogers, and charged her with possession.
Rogers moved to suppress; the district court denied the motion, a jury convicted her, and she was sentenced to 20 months to 5 years. Rogers appealed suppression and sentence; the Supreme Court affirmed.

Issue	Rogers' Argument	State's Argument	Held
Whether officers seized Rogers when they ordered occupants out of the vehicle and whether that detention required reasonable suspicion	Ordering Rogers out after the wanted person was not present amounted to a seizure lacking reasonable suspicion	The encounter escalated from a consensual encounter to a Terry-type detention when occupants were ordered out; officers had articulable facts supporting reasonable suspicion	The court held ordering occupants out was a seizure; police had reasonable suspicion based on furtive movement, driver’s known narcotics connections, and visible baggie in purse, so detention was lawful
Whether the vehicle search and subsequent evidence were admissible	Evidence was fruit of an illegal seizure and should be suppressed	After lawful detention and a dog alert providing probable cause, the search and seized evidence were admissible	The court held the dog sniff and subsequent search were lawful; evidence admissible
Whether Rogers’ sentence (20 months–5 years) was excessive	Trial court failed to meaningfully consider statutory sentencing factors and should have limited maximum exposure to worst offenders	Sentence was within statutory limits and the court considered appropriate factors; no requirement to make detailed findings	The court held the sentence was within statutory bounds and not an abuse of discretion

State v. Milos, 294 Neb. 375 (describes three-tier police-citizen encounter framework)
State v. Tyler, 291 Neb. 920 (analyzing when Fourth Amendment seizure occurs and review standards)
State v. Hedgcock, 277 Neb. 805 (officer request to exit vehicle can be a seizure under totality of circumstances)
Delaware v. Prouse, 440 U.S. 648 (framework for constitutionality of stops and seizures)
State v. Voichahoske, 271 Neb. 64 (furtive movement under seat contributes to reasonable suspicion)
State v. Loding, 296 Neb. 670 (review of suppression rulings and standards)