Defendant appeals a judgment convicting him of one count of possession of heroin, arguing that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence discovered during an extension of a traffic stop.
We state the facts consistently with the trial court’s explicit and implicit findings. State v. Ehly,
A few minutes later, Morrison located the Subaru on the road he was on, heading in the opposite direction. He did a U-turn to come up behind it, and defendant, who was driving, quickly turned the car into the parking lot of a motel without signaling his turn. In Morrison’s experience, that particular motel was a frequent site of drug activity. Having observed defendant’s failure to signal, a traffic violation, ORS 811.335(l)(b), (3), Morrison turned on the overhead lights on his marked patrol car in order to stop defendant for the violation.
Defendant did not stop his car immediately. Instead, he drove through the motel parking lot for approximately 35 yards at a very slow speed, which indicated to Morrison that defendant knew that Morrison was there. Defendant passed numerous open parking
Morrison parked his car behind defendant’s, blocking him in, then went up to the car and identified himself. He told defendant that he had stopped him for not signaling his turn into the parking lot. Defendant responded that he had turned suddenly because he believed the driveway he had turned into was the only entrance to the motel. Morrison asked why defendant was at the motel, and defendant responded that he was staying at the motel for the night. Then Morrison asked defendant “if he had any weapons in the car or drugs or anything of that nature inside the car.” Defendant responded, “I don’t think I have any drugs.” Morrison responded, “Hey. That doesn’t sound very convincing. Do you or do you not have drugs in the car?” The record does not reveal defendant’s response to that question.
During the conversation that followed, Morrison asked defendant if he and the passenger were from the area. They responded that they were, and Morrison explained to defendant that, in his experience, a lot of people go to that motel to use drugs or engage in illegal activities. At some point, Morrison also obtained defendant’s license, registration, and insurance information.
Morrison asked defendant for consent to a search of the car for “drugs, weapons, anything of that nature.” Defendant asked, “Hey. What happens if I say no; if I say no to consent to the vehicle [search]?” Morrison responded that “that was well within his rights.” Defendant asked again what would happen if he did not consent. Morrison explained, “I could do a number of things. I could apply for a search warrant, I could call for a drug dog, or I could just drive away.” Defendant asked what would happen if Morrison found drugs, and Morrison explained, “I’d investigate that and proceed accordingly.”
Defendant was hesitant, so Morrison gave him a card advising him of his rights. He explained, “I’ll just have you read the card and if you agree with it then you can give consent. If not then we can move on.” After reading the card, defendant told Morrison that he did not want to consent to a search. Then he asked what Morrison was going to do next. Morrison told him, “I was going to go fill out a traffic warning complaint for the turn signal and see if a drug dog was working at the time.” Defendant asked what the dog was going to do, and Morrison explained that the dog would walk around the car, and “if he alerted to the odor of a drug then we would proceed forward with that.”
Morrison left to go back to his car. As he was going to his car, defendant stuck his arm out and hailed Morrison, who went back toward defendant. Defendant asked to read the consent-to-search card again and then signed the card, giving consent.
At that point, defendant and the passenger got out of the car, and the passenger left the scene. Morrison called Miller, who came to help search the car. During the search, Morrison and Miller found the disputed physical evidence, and, when questioned about the evidence, defendant made incriminating statements.
Defendant was arrested and charged with one count of possession of heroin and one count of distribution of heroin. He moved to suppress the evidence discovered during the search and his statements, arguing that Morrison unlawfully extended the traffic stop without reasonable suspicion that defendant possessed drugs and, alternatively, that defendant’s consent to the search was involuntary. The trial court denied the motion, concluding that Morrison had reasonable suspicion to detain defendant while he conducted a drug investigation and that defendant’s consent was voluntary. After a bench trial, the court convicted defendant of possession of heroin and acquitted him of distribution. This appeal followed.
Article I, section 9, protects individuals against unreasonable searches and seizures.
Valid consent provides an exception to the warrant requirement. Hall,
As noted above, the trial court held, and the parties agree, both that Morrison lawfully stopped defendant for the traffic violation and that Morrison extended the traffic stop by asking whether there were any weapons or drugs in the car. The parties disagree as to whether the extension of the stop was lawful. To be lawful, an extension of a traffic stop to conduct a criminal investigation must be justified by reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. State v. Ashbaugh,
Because Morrison’s suspicion was based, in part, on information that he received from the detectives, we apply the collective knowledge doctrine in answering that question. See State v. Holdorf,
We turn to the reasonable suspicion determination. “A stop of a person by a police officer is supported by reasonable suspicion when the officer subjectively believes that the person has committed or is about to
Defendant’s argument that Morrison lacked reasonable suspicion consists only of the unelaborated assertion that Morrison “failed to present ‘particularized’ conduct by defendant to warrant questioning defendant about anything other than the traffic stop.” As explained below, we disagree. Morrison’s suspicion that defendant possessed drugs was based on (1) the information that one of the two men in the Subaru had gone to an apartment that was under surveillance for suspected heroin distribution and quickly returned to the car; (2) the information that the two men then engaged in possible drug activity before leaving; (3) the fact that, after defendant turned into the motel parking lot and after Morrison turned on his overhead lights, defendant slowly drove to the very back of the parking lot while he watched the passenger fumble under the seat, leading Morrison to suspect that the men were hiding something, perhaps drugs; and (4) the fact that defendant and the passenger were staying at the motel, which was a common location for drug activity.
Before the trial court, defendant argued that this case was similar to, and controlled by, State v. Bertsch,
The defendant was convicted after her motion to suppress the evidence was denied, and she appealed. Id. at 132. We held that the sergeant lacked reasonable suspicion to extend the stop to investigate whether the defendant possessed drugs. We explained:
“We have repeatedly said that a person’s presence in a location associated with drug activity is insufficient to support an objectively reasonable belief that that person is himself or herself engaged in drug activity. See, e.g., [State v.] Rutledge, 243 Or App [603,] 610 [,260 P3d 523 (2011)] (facts were insufficient to establish reasonable suspicion where the defendant ‘had just left a motel that the police believed was involved in drug activity, was in a car with a person suspected of drug activity, and acted nervously when asked about her purse’); State v. Zumbrum,221 Or App 362 , 369-70,189 P3d 1235 (2008) (officers lacked reasonable suspicion that the defendant was involved with methamphetamine where he was staying in an apartment building with a high incidence of methamphetamine production and another individual staying in the apartment with the defendant was involved in drug dealing).”
Id. at 134.
Accordingly, we held that
“[i]t was not reasonable to infer that defendant, merely because she entered a residence associated with drug activity, was herself involved in criminal activity. The fact that defendant’s presence at that location was brief, as opposed to some longer duration, does not alter that conclusion. See State v. Broughton, 221 Or App 580 , 584,193 P3d 978 (2008), rev dismissed,348 Or 415 (2010); State v. Loud,149 Or App 250 , 254,942 P2d 814 , rev den,326 Or 58 (1997) (circumstances did not give rise to reasonable suspicion where the defendant had a ‘brief visit’ with a suspicious person in an area known for drug sales).”
Id.
This case differs from Bertsch in a significant way. In Bertsch, we explained that a defendant’s mere presence in a location associated with drug activity, even if it is of short duration, does not indicate that the person him- or herself is engaged in drug activity. Here, however, Morrison knew more than just that defendant had been present at a location associated with drug activity; he also knew that, immediately after leaving the apartment that the detectives were monitoring for heroin dealing, defendant and his companion had sat in the car and engaged in what the detectives identified as possible drug activity. That additional information casts defendant’s brief trip to the apartment in a different light. In contrast to the situations in Bertsch and the cases cited in the quotes from Bertsch, above, where the defendants’ presence in places and with people associated with drugs did not independently allow the inference that the defendants were themselves engaged in drug activity, here, the detectives’ observation of possible drug activity made it more likely that defendant’s trip to the apartment involved drug activity.
Defendant’s conduct after Morrison turned on his overhead lights to stop the car also made it more likely that defendant’s visit to the apartment was related to drugs and that defendant possessed drugs. Defendant’s slow driving through the motel parking lot while watching the passenger fumble under the seat after it was apparent that Morrison was signaling for him to stop suggested that defendant and the passenger had something in the car that they did not want Morrison to see. Under the circumstances, that conduct both strengthened the inference that defendant and his companion had, in fact, bought drugs at the apartment and engaged in drug activity in the car and supported an inference that they still had drug-related evidence — as Morrison inferred, maybe drugs — in the car. See State v. Rudnitskyy,
The fact that defendant and his companion were staying at the motel, which Morrison knew to be a frequent site of drug activity, contributes only minimally to our analysis. See, e.g., State v. Valdez,
We turn to defendant’s contention that his consent was not voluntarily given. Defendant argues that he merely acquiesced to a search of the car, rather than affirmatively
Even assuming that defendant is correct in characterizing Morrison as having conveyed to him that he would be detained until a search occurred, we disagree with defendant that that was unlawful and, accordingly, unduly coercive. As explained above, defendant gave his consent to a search of the car soon after Morrison told him that he was returning to his patrol car to write a traffic citation and find out if a drug dog was working. From his discussion with Morrison, defendant knew that a drug dog would sniff the outside of the car and, if it alerted to the presence of drugs in the car, Morrison would investigate further. Given that, as we have concluded, Morrison had reasonable suspicion that defendant possessed drugs, Morrison could detain defendant for some period of time to investigate that suspicion. See Maciel,
Defendant points to no other reason for concluding that his consent was not voluntarily given. Therefore, the trial court did not err in determining that defendant’s consent was voluntary.
Because defendant’s consent was not tainted by a prior illegality and was not involuntarily given, the trial court did not err in denying defendant’s motion to suppress.
Affirmed.
Notes
Defendant was also acquitted of one count of distribution of heroin. That disposition is not at issue on appeal.
Because, as explained below,
Defendant did not contend below, and does not contend on appeal, that Morrison needed, and lacked, additional justification to extend the stop by asking about weapons. Accordingly, we do not consider that question.
Article I, section 9, provides, in part, that “[n]o law shall violate the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable search, or seizure!.]”
The collective knowledge doctrine also applies in situations, unlike this one, where an officer who lacks individualized suspicion stops, searches, or arrests a suspect at the behest of another officer who does have either reasonable suspicion or probable cause, whichever is required to justify the intrusion. State v. Soldahl,
In a few cases involving informants, we have held that the question for determining whether reasonable suspicion exists is “whether the information possessed collectively by [an officer and a dispatcher] gave rise'to a reasonable suspicion that defendant had committed a crime.” State v. Black,
To the extent that, in those cases, we considered the question as one unmoored from the knowledge or belief of any individual officer and, instead, simply considered all of the facts known to all law-enforcement personnel to decide whether they amounted to reasonable suspicion, our approach was at odds with the Supreme Court’s then-existing and more recently reasserted view of the collective knowledge doctrine. See State v. Groda,
Accordingly, to the extent that, in Black, Walsh, and Mesenbrink, we applied an understanding that a criminal stop is justified if all the facts known to all law-enforcement personnel, considered as a whole, amount to reasonable suspicion, that understanding does not survive the Supreme Court’s subsequent decisions in Soldahl and Holdorf.
To the extent that defendant challenges the trial court’s finding that Morrison subjectively believed that defendant possessed drugs when he extended the traffic stop to investigate drug possession, we reject that challenge because there is ample evidence in the record to support the finding.
Defendant does not contend that anything in the record suggests that calling for a drug dog would have taken so long that it would have been unreasonable to detain him until it arrived and sniffed the car. Accordingly, we need not, and do not, consider the length of any temporal limit on a reasonable detention for investigation.
