Case Information
*1 Before B LACKBURNE -R IGSBY , Associate Judge , and P RYOR and K ING , Senior Judges .
K ING , Senior Judge
: After a bench trial, D.M. was convicted of second- degree burglary, felony destruction of property, [2] and second-degree theft. [3] D.M. appeals the trial court‟s denial of his motion to suppress a show-up identification and evidence obtained pursuant to his arrest thereafter. Specifically, he contends his seventy-five minute detention was an unconstitutional seizure because (1) the length of his detention converted a temporary investigatory stop into a de facto arrest, and (2) the police could have used less intrusive means to accomplish their investigation. We disagree that the length of his detention or the possibility that the officers could have accomplished their objective by alternative means made his seizure unreasonable per se . However, concluding the trial court did not have sufficient evidence, as a matter of law, to find that the length of the detention was necessary and that the police acted diligently in pursuing the purpose of the stop, we reverse the order denying D.M.‟s motion.
I.
Shortly after 10:00 a.m., on April 14, 2011, Anthony Pickett was in the kitchen at his mother‟s house on Jay Street, N.E. Through the kitchen window he (…continued) D.C. Code § 22-303 (2008). D.C. Code §§ 22-3211, -3212 (b) (2008).
observed five juveniles behind the next-door neighbor‟s home. He continued to watch as one of the juveniles broke a window on the neighbor‟s back door and enter the home. Two other juveniles, one of whom Pickett would later identify as D.M., followed the first inside. Pickett‟s mother called 911 and Pickett provided a description of the individuals. Pickett testified at D.M.‟s trial that D.M. had “some kind of hat or something across his face, but he took it off” at some point and Pickett could clearly see D.M.‟s face. After a time, D.M. and the other two individuals came back out of the house and all five juveniles ran off down the alley.
Officer Demar Rodgers received a radio call for a burglary in process and responded to the scene. Pickett gave Rodgers a description of the teenaged males, including a description of their clothing. Rodgers broadcasted a lookout for the individuals over his radio. Officers Robert Munn and Calvin Awkward, and Detective Chad Howard, also responded to the radio call. They began to canvas the area, driving past the scene of the burglary on Jay Street, parallel to the alley down which the juveniles had run. As the police officers passed an apartment building directly across from where the alley opened onto Jay Street, they noticed a group of individuals standing out front. Munn and Awkward stopped at the building while Howard doubled back, having passed the building before noticing the group. The individuals looked at the police vehicle and hurried down the steps in the building and out of sight.
Munn and Awkward went into the building and found four young men gathered on the lower landing, D.M. among them. Once they stopped the group, the officers asked their names and some general questions. The officers “didn‟t really do an investigation” at that point, but just stopped the individuals “until the detective did his investigation.” After Howard arrived, he observed that D.M.‟s clothing matched one of the lookout descriptions: a black jacket and tan pants. Howard and the other officers obtained information from each individual about where they lived and went to school. D.M. was detained further while the other juveniles were released to their school because they didn‟t match the lookout description as completely as D.M.
At some point after D.M. was stopped, Howard left the apartment building and returned to the scene of the burglary to contact Pickett. Howard testified that he interviewed Pickett, obtained a “description of whom he saw exiting the house and running down the alley,” placed Pickett in his car and took Pickett to the apartment to perform a show-up identification of D.M. Pickett testified that he had to return from work to meet Howard and perform the show-up identification. Neither Pickett or Howard testified about where Pickett worked, when or how Howard contacted Pickett, or the timetable of events leading up to the show-up identification. Pickett identified D.M. during the show-up as one of the youths who entered the house. Howard confirmed that the juveniles were stopped at 10:37 a.m. and the show-up occurred at 11:52 a.m.
In his pre-trial motions, D.M. argued, inter alia , that the police did not have reasonable suspicion to stop the individuals and that, even if the stop was justified as an investigatory stop, his prolonged detention exceeded the allowable scope of such a stop. Following the testimony of the government‟s witnesses, the trial judge denied D.M.‟s motion concluding that
what Detective Howard said was after stopping [D.M.], he returned to the event location, contacted the witness, got a description of what the witness saw and then took him back to the scene. So the entire time he was diligently pursuing the police investigation. So I do not find that the time was ill-spent or too long under the circumstances, particularly because Mr. Pickett indicated that he had to return to the scene.
II.
Our review of the denial of a motion to suppress is limited.
Womack v.
United States
, 673 A.2d 603, 607 (D.C. 1996). We must “view the evidence
presented at the suppression hearing in the light most favorable to the party
prevailing below, and we draw all reasonable inferences in that party‟s favor.”
Id.
We must also defer to the trial judge‟s factual findings, including resolution of
conflicting testimony, unless “they are clearly erroneous,
i.e
., without substantial
support in the record.”
Lawrence v. United States
,
The Fourth Amendment protects against unreasonable search and seizure.
The touchstone of the Fourth Amendment is reasonableness.
See, e.g.
,
United
States v. Sharpe
, 470 U.S. 675, 682 (1985) (“The Fourth Amendment is not, of
course, a guarantee against
all
searches and seizures, but only against
unreasonable
searches and seizures.” (emphasis in original));
see also Womack
,
673 A.2d at 607 (“The basic question presented is whether, under all the
circumstances, the seizure . . . was reasonable.”). “[C]onsistent with the Fourth
Amendment, the police may briefly detain an individual for investigative purposes,
even if they lack the probable cause to arrest, so long as the officers have a
reasonable and articulable suspicion that the individual has committed or is about
to commit a crime.”
Womack
,
The Supreme Court has articulated a “dual inquiry for evaluating the
reasonableness of an investigative stop” in which we examine: (1) “whether the
officer‟s action was justified at its inception,” and (2) whether the actions were
“reasonably related in scope to the circumstances which justified interference in
the first place.”
Sharpe
,
As we have observed, the “measure of the scope of permissible police action
in any investigative stop depends on whether the police conduct was reasonable
under the circumstances.”
In re M.E.B.
, 638 A.2d 1123, 1127 (D.C. 1993);
see
also Royer
,
D.M. makes no argument regarding to the place of detention or the use of handcuffs or force. [7] D.M.‟s argument focuses on the length of his detention and the investigative methods employed by the officers.
A.
The Supreme Court has made it clear that “an investigative detention must
be temporary and last no longer than is necessary to effectuate the purpose of the
stop.”
Royer
,
D.M. contends that his seventy-five minute detention was beyond the
bounds permitted by
Terry
. He argues that the extreme length of his detention
alone compels this conclusion. We do not agree. The Supreme Court has declined
on multiple occasions to “adopt any outside time limitation for a permissible
Terry
stop,” and so do we.
See Place
, 462 U.S. at 709. “Much as a „bright line‟ rule
would be desirable, in evaluating whether an investigative detention is
unreasonable, common sense and ordinary human experience must govern over
rigid criteria.”
Sharpe
,
D.M. points to the Supreme Court‟s decision in Place to support his argument that a detention over one hour approaches a level of per se unreasonableness. That reliance is misplaced. The Court itself has clarified that, regardless of the specific language used in Place ,
the rationale underlying [the conclusion that a ninety- minute detention was unreasonable] was premised on the fact that the police knew of respondent‟s arrival time for several hours beforehand, and the Court assumed that the police could have arranged for a trained narcotics dog in advance and thus avoided the necessity of holding respondent‟s luggage for 90 minutes.
Sharpe , 470 U.S. at 684-85. No analogy exists on the circumstances presented here. The officers responding to the burglary call could not have prepared in advance for the fluid situation in which they found themselves. Cf. Sharpe , 470 U.S. at 686 (“A court making this assessment should take care to consider whether the police are acting in a swiftly developing situation . . . .”). D.M.‟s detention was not prolonged because the police failed to prepare in advance of his seizure. Thus, he cannot rely on the underlying rationale used in Place .
That said, we have never upheld a seizure for over an hour while police
arranged a show-up identification.
See, e.g.
,
Hicks v. United States
,
(…continued)
the government cites all contain extenuating facts not relevant for comparison here or involve a seizure of luggage while a warrant is sought, a situation we will not analogize to the seizure of a person while an eye-witness is procured for identification. See Buck v. State , 522 S.E.2d 252, 829-30 (Ga. Ct. App. 1999) (concluding officers acted reasonably by detaining the appellant for an hour as their initial contact revealed evidence that he was carrying a pair of women‟s shoes, was acting nervous, and there was evidence of a struggle, torn clothing, and high-heel prints nearby causing “suspicion that a woman may have been a victim of foul play”); Miller v. Commonwealth , 434 S.E.2d 977, 980-81 (Va. Ct. App. 1993) (upholding court‟s determination that an hour-long traffic stop was reasonable because it was pursued “largely with defendant‟s cooperation and agreement” and that the court‟s finding the duration was reasonable was “neither plainly wrong nor without evidence to support it”); see also United States v. Bory , 766 F.2d 304, 307 (7th Cir. 1985) (describing how DEA agents confiscated luggage, wrote the appellant a receipt, and “explained how he could recover the bags should no warrant be obtained or no drugs found”); Limonja v. Commonwealth , 375 S.E.2d 12, 17-18 (Va. Ct. App. 1988) (concluding that the duration of a traffic stop was not unreasonable because “only twenty-two minutes of the detention were without consent, not sixty, as the defendants contend” and listing cases involving “delays necessitated by efforts to obtain a narcotics dog for sniffing luggage or packages, as in this case”).
B.
In addition to examining the length of the detention, a plurality of the
Supreme Court has opined that courts should examine whether “the investigative
methods employed [were] the least intrusive means reasonably available to verify
or dispel the officer‟s suspicion in a short period of time.”
Royer
,
Nevertheless, D.M. argues that his detention was unlawful because there
were less-intrusive means by which the police could have accomplished their
investigation. He posits that because the officers knew his name and where he
went to school they could have found him again later and performed the
identification at that point. We have previously rejected this type of logic because
it “could raise insuperable barriers to the exercise of virtually all search-and-
seizure powers.”
Womack
, 673 A.2d at 613 (quoting
United States v. Martinez-
Fuerte
,
We note that the police in this situation only engaged in general questioning
of the detained minors regarding their identities and why they were in the hallway.
In locating a suspect involved in a consummated crime, “the ability to briefly stop
[a] person, ask questions, or check identification . . . . may be most reasonable in
light of the facts known to the officers at the time.”
Davis
, 498 A.2d at 245
(quoting
United States v. Hensley
,
III.
While the foregoing illustrates that there is no
per se
time limit for detention,
it does not address whether—once the decision was made to conduct a show-up—
the police acted diligently in contacting Pickett and bringing him to the scene, or
whether any delay was necessary for completing the show-up. That the police did
act diligently and that any delay was reasonable and necessary to affect the
investigation are factual matters the government has the burden of proving.
See
Mayes
,
In evaluating the evidence, the trial court must not simply accept conclusory
assertions that would justify the search, “but rather must evaluate the facts
underlying those assertions.”
Sanders v. United States
,
The only testimony offered at the motions hearing relevant to D.M.‟s seventy-five minute detention was a single statement by Pickett and a single statement by Howard. In discussing how he came to identify D.M. during the show-up, Pickett testified:
I had to go to work. So, I had to come all the way back from Deanwood to come back to take care of this. So, when I walked down the street I met the detective right here and we got in the car and he drove I would say where the apartments was and the apartments, this is where the other squad car was with the young man in it.
So, we drove like right here and he stopped and he got out of the car and identified him and then I said yeah, that is him.
Howard‟s sole testimony as to what happened after the minors was stopped:
I contacted the witness. I interviewed the witness, got his description of whom he saw exiting the house and running down the alley, but placed him in the car with me and took him back to the scene w[h]ere we responded and the other individual was stopped to do a show up with each one of those individuals. [11]
Howard never testified that he had to call Pickett at work or that he had to wait for his arrival.
The government provides two justifications for the delayed show-up identification. First, it points out that Pickett had to return from work. The record bears this out, but it does not indicate where Pickett worked, nor how long it took him to return from work, nor when the officers called him to request his presence. [12] Second, the government posits that the police had to “conduct an investigative stop on not one but four juveniles.” The record also shows this to be true. However, there is no evidence in the record about how long it took the four officers present at the scene to obtain identification information, to decide to conduct a show-up, or to contact Pickett.
The reasonable inference from the facts adduced in the hearing is that
Pickett went to work after his initial conversation with the police and had to return
from work before he could participate in the show-up identification. This
inference is not only reasonable on the facts, but is one we are compelled to accept.
See Womack
,
It would be merely speculative on this record to conclude that there was no
unnecessary delay in the show-up identification or that the police acted diligently.
Cf. United States v. Vasquez De Reyes
,
It may well be that D.M.‟s “longer detention was simply the result of a
graduated response to the demands of the particular situation.”
Sharpe
, 470 U.S. at
688 (alterations and ellipses omitted) (quoting
Place
, 462 U.S. at 709 n.10).
However, because of the limited factual record established by witness testimony
the evidence in the record is insufficient to support the trial court‟s factual
conclusion that the police acted diligently.
Cf. Sanders
,
So ordered .
Notes
[1] D.C. Code § 22-801 (b) (2008). (continued…)
[4] The trial court initially heard testimony from the government‟s witnesses for the purpose of ruling on D.M.‟s motion to suppress, and then incorporated that testimony as evidence in D.M.‟s trial.
[5] The government acknowledged the officers did not have probable cause to arrest D.M. before Pickett‟s identification. D.M. does not renew on appeal his argument that the police lacked reasonable suspicion to stop the juveniles.
[6] This list is not exhaustive and we remain cognizant of the fact that the reasonableness of police actions under the totality of the circumstances remains the core measure by which to determine the legality of searches and seizures.
[7] The record indicates that D.M. was detained in the hallway where he was seized until he was moved outside for the show-up identification. There is also no indication that D.M. was handcuffed at any point.
[8] The government has not cited to us any such case in its brief. The cases (continued…)
[9] D.M. compares the case sub judice with Davis , urging that we adopt a rule requiring police in such situations to release the individual for later identification. In Davis , the police released a suspect after detaining him for fifteen minutes while trying—unsuccessfully—to persuade two witnesses to identify him. 498 A.2d at 245. The suspect was later identified from a photo array and lineup. Id. at 244. Davis did not articulate the rule that D.M. would have us implement, instead it merely concludes that under the circumstances of the case, a fifteen minute detention was not “transmute[d] into an arrest.” Id. at 245. While releasing a non- dangerous, known suspect pending later eyewitness identification may be most reasonable in certain situations, we decline to articulate a rule requiring police to do so. Such a rule would impinge the ability of police to reasonably respond to the exigencies of the unique and fluid situations with which they are faced.
[10] D.M.‟s argument is also based on pure conjecture of what the police
“might” have done at the time. For example, D.M. asserts that the police could
have taken his photograph, released him, and asked Pickett to identify him from a
photo array. There is no indication in the record that such a procedure was
possible—no evidence the officers at the scene had the ability to take photographs
or whether a photographer was available to respond to the scene and how long it
would take for a photographer to arrive. Generally, under the circumstances such
as those before us, a show-up identification may be the most efficient investigatory
procedure available to the police.
See Turner v. United States
,
[11] Howard also confirmed on cross-examination the general timeframe of events: the lookout was broadcast at 10:15 a.m., the minors were stopped at 10:37 a.m., and the show-up identification occurred at 11:52 a.m.
[12] Pickett simply testified he had to return from “Deanwood.” Deanwood is the name of the neighborhood where the events occurred. There is no indication whether his work location was close at hand or further removed from his home.
[13] Howard testified that in addition to himself, Detective Wood, Officer Munn, and Officer Awkward were present when the minors were stopped—Munn and Awkward made the initial contact, but Howard only had to double back to the apartment to join the investigation.
[14] The government argues as an alternative ground to support the length of
D.M.‟s detention that the officers could take him into custody for violating the
school attendance requirements of D.C. Code §§ 38-202, -251 (a)(3) (2001).
However, such a seizure only subjects the minor to “a temporary investigative
seizure designed to determine whether he was truant” and then to transport the
truant minor to a truancy center.
See In re A.J.
,
