OPINION
1 Appellant William Henry Johnson was tried by jury and convicted of Trafficking in Illegal Drugs (63 O.S. Supp.2007 § 2-415) in the District Court of Beckham County, Case No. CF-2011-16. The jury recommended as punishment eight (8) years imprisonment and a $50,000.00 fine. The trial court sentenced accordingly. It is from this judgment and sentence that Appellant appeals.
T2 Appellant raises the following propositions of error in support of his appeal:
I. The ordinance Appellant is alleged to have violated did not require him to use a turn signal under the cireum-stances. Therefore, no violation occurred and the stop was unconstitutional.
Officers prolonged the detention of Appellant well beyond the time necessary to effectuate the purpose of the stop. Because Officer Buckley was unable to articulate reasonable suspi-clon to justify the delay, the detention was unreasonable and violated Appellant's Fourth Amendment rights.
The State committed prosecutorial misconduct by making improper statements during closing argument which highly prejudiced Appellant and the trial court's abuse of disceretion in denying Appellant's request for a mistrial require a reversal.
T3 After thorough consideration of these propositions and the entire record before us on appeal including the original record, tran-seripts, and briefs of the parties, we have determined that neither reversal nor modification of sentence is warranted under the law and the evidence.
T4 On January 8, 2011, Officer Buckley, Elk City Police Department, was searching local motel parking lots for a truck involved in a vandalism incident unrelated to this case. In one of these parking lots, Officer Buckley observed Appellant standing beside a high-end Chrysler Premium 300 model car. Although the officer observed Appellant acting suspiciously, he drove past him on his way to check another parking lot. Later, as Officer Buckley traveled eastbound on Highway 66, approaching Highway 34 he encountered the Chrysler traveling west on the Highway 66 access road toward Highway 34. The Chrysler stopped at the intersection of Highway 66 and Highway 34, and then turned left onto Highway 34 without using a turn signal. The Chrysler turned left again to travel east on Highway 66. The Chrysler was now in front of Officer Buckley who had stopped at a red light at the intersection of Highways 66 & 34. When the intersection cleared, the officer drove through, got behind the Chrysler and pulled it over.
T5 Appellant was alone in the Chrysler. Officer Buckley asked for his driver's license and proof of insurance. Appellant was very nervous. His hands were shaking "almost uncontrollably" and he had sweat dripping down his face. He would not make eye contact with the officer. Appellant gave the officer his driver's license and a rental car agreement. Officer Buckley told Appellant he had stopped him because he failed to signal his left turn and he was going to give him a warning.
16 Officer Buckley returned to his patrol car. Concerned about Appellant's nervousness and the fact that he did not relax when told he was only receiving a warning, Buckley decided to ask for assistance from an officer more experienced in working the highways. The first officer he called was unavailable but his second call brought Agent Goodman, a member of the District II Drug Task Force and certified K-9 handler. Agent Goodman was close by and while on his way, Officer Buckley radioed dispatch to check Appellant's license. When Goodman arrived he and Buckley determined that
T 7 Appellant's car was running, but he did not immediately drive away. Officer Buckley paused, then asked Appellant if he could ask him a few questions. Appellant replied, "yes." This consensual encounter led to Agent Goodman retrieving his drug dog and running him around the perimeter of the car. The dog alerted on the trunk of the car. A subsequent search yielded five pisces of matching luggage. Three of the pieces contained bundles of vacuum sealed "space saver" bags, which contained compressed bricks of marijuana. In addition, there was one plastic bag containing a small amount of loose hydroponic marijuana-a higher grade marijuana than in the other bags. The bags were coated with dishwashing liquid-commonly used by drug traffickers in an attempt to mask the odor of the drugs. In total, there were 54 bricks of marijuana weighing a total of 95 pounds. Officers also found a wadded up receipt from a California Wal-mart for the purchase, four days earlier, of the luggage, vacuum sealed storage bags and dishwashing liquid. The receipt was signed by Appellant.
T8 In Proposition I, we find the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying the motion to suppress as the record supports a finding that Officer Buckley's initial stop of Appellant was legal. See Gomez v. State,
9 The particular provision of the Elk City Highway Traffic Code, Chapter 22, Article I, is identical to 47 O.S.2011, § 11-604. The statute provides in pertinent part:
A. No person shall turn a vehicle at an intersection, a public or private road, or a driveway, unless the vehicle is in proper position upon the roadway as required in Section 11-601 of this title, or move right or left upon a roadway unless and until such movement can be made with reasonable safety. No person shall so turn any vehicle without giving an appropriate signal as provided in subsection B of this section, in the event any other traffic may be affected by such movement.
B. A signal of intention to turn right or left as required by law shall be given continuously during not less than the last one hundred (100) feet traveled by the vehicle before turning.
(emphasis added).
110 A fundamental rule of statutory construction is to ascertain and give effect to the intention of the Legislature as expressed in the statute. Coddington v. State,
¶ 11 If the purpose of § 11-604 is to prevent traffic accidents, then the term "affected" must be read somewhat broadly. The Legislature's choice of the phrase "may be affected" as opposed to "is affected," "will be affected," or "most likely will be affected" implies an intent to provide § 11-604 with a broad reach. A traffic law that punishes only those who actually cause accidents through their misconduct does little to promote prudent driving. We believe that the apparent purpose of 47 O.S.2011, § 11-604 is for drivers to notify other motorists in the immediate area of their intention to make a turn or lane change, in order to prevent
In the present case, Officer Buckley testified there were other cars on the road at the time Appellant failed to signal his left turn and that Appellant's failure to signal his turn affected the other traffic. The State does not need to prove any actual effect on other traffic in order to prove a violation of § 11-604. The evidence in this case was sufficient to show a reasonable possibility that the other traffic may have been affected by Appellant's failure to signal his left turn. This traffic violation provided sufficient probable cause for Officer Buckley to legally stop Appellant's vehicle. See Dufries v. State,
¶ 13 In Proposition II, we find the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying the motion to suppress as the traffic stop was not unreasonable in seope or duration. "The scope and duration of [a traffic stop] must be related to the stop and must last no longer than is necessary to effectuate the stop's purpose." Seabolt v. State,
1 14 Officer Buckley stopped Appellant at approximately 11:12 am.
{ 15 We find the few minutes Officer Buckley took to call for assistance served a legitimate purpose and created only a minimal intrusion on Appellant's liberty interest under the totality of the circumstance. See U.S. v. Sharpe,
{16 In Proposition III, we find Appellant was not denied a fair trial by prose-cutorial misconduct. Both instances of misconduct raised on appeal were met with contemporaneous objections by defense counsel. In both instances, the trial court sustained the objections, striking the comment in one instance. The court's action cured any error. Hanson v. State,
1 17 Accordingly, this appeal is denied.
DECISION
{18 The Judgment and Sentence is AFFIRMED. Pursuant to Rule 8.15, Rules of the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, Title 22, Ch.18, App. (2013), the MANDATE is ORDERED issued upon the delivery and filing of this decision.
Notes
. The times testified to are approximations and it is evident not all of the clocks were synchronized. The actual warning reflects a time of 11:10 a.m. (Defendant's Exhibit 4).