STATE OF OHIO v. RUFUS BARNETT
Case No. 17 MA 0055
IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO, SEVENTH APPELLATE DISTRICT, MAHONING COUNTY
June 22, 2018
[Cite as State v. Barnett, 2018-Ohio-2486.]
STATE OF OHIO, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. RUFUS BARNETT, Defendant-Appellee.
OPINION AND JUDGMENT ENTRY, Case No. 17 MA 0055
BEFORE: Gene Donofrio, Cheryl L. Waite, Carol Ann Robb, Judges.
JUDGMENT: Affirmed
Atty. Paul Gains, Prosecutor and Atty. Ralph Rivera, Assistant Prosecutor, 21 West Boardman Street, 6th Floor, Youngstown, Ohio 44503, for Plaintiff-Appellant, and Atty. Bradley G. Olson, Jr., 26 Market Street, Suite 508, Youngstown, Ohio 44503, for Defendant-Appellee.
Dated: June 22, 2018
Donofrio, J.
{¶1} Plaintiff-appellant, the State of Ohio, appeals from a Mahoning County Common Pleas Court judgment granting a motion to suppress evidence obtained when officers of the Youngstown Police Department impounded and subsequently searched the vehicle of defendant-appellee, Rufus Barnett.
{¶2} The facts in this case are undisputed. Officers Savnik and Caraway from the Youngstown Police Department were patrolling the south side of the city of
{¶3} When appellee arrived at the intersection of Oak Hill and Mahoning (intersection), Officers Savnik and Caraway were still following him. Oak Hill ends at this intersection. At Mahoning, Oak Hill heading north turns into two lanes, the left lane to travel on Mahoning away from downtown Youngstown and the right lane to travel on Mahoning towards downtown Youngstown. On the right hand side of the intersection on Oak Hill is a traffic sign that indicates the left lane is a left-turn only lane and the right lane is a straight-bound lane. Despite the traffic sign indicating the right lane as a straight-bound lane, a slight right turn must be negotiated when traveling from Oak Hill to Mahoning heading towards downtown Youngstown. Additionally, there is a traffic sign at the intersection facing Oak Hill that reads “No Turn on Red.” When appellee arrived at the intersection, he moved into the right lane and the traffic light was red. Appellee did not have a turn signal on when he arrived at the intersection.
{¶4} After coming to a complete stop at the intersection, when the light turned green, appellee activated his right turn signal and proceeded on Mahoning into downtown Youngstown. Officers Savnik and Caraway initiated a traffic stop of appellee for a violation of
{¶5} Officer Savnik then began talking to appellee. Officer Savnik asked appellee for his operator’s license but appellee could not produce his license and instead gave Officer Savnik his name and date of birth. Officer Savnik checked appellee’s name through the LEADS system which indicated that appellee was under an FRA license suspension. As appellee was the only person in the car, Officer Savnik frisked appellee for weapons, placed appellee in the back of his squad car, had appellee’s car impounded, and called a tow truck to retrieve the car.
{¶6} After appellee’s car was impounded, Officer Savnik performed an administrative inventory search of the car. Officer Savnik discovered a package containing what he believed was heroin in the door panel of the passenger side of appellee’s car. Officer Savnik then arrested and charged appellee with possession of heroin in violation of
{¶7} Appellee filed a motion to suppress evidence obtained from the search of his car. The basis for the motion was that appellee substantially complied with the requirements of
{¶9} At the end of the suppression hearing, the trial court instructed counsel for both the state and appellee to provide the court with additional written arguments
pertaining to appellee’s duty to signal at the intersection. The trial court seemed to want more information regarding appellee’s duty to signal a turn when the posted traffic device indicates the lane is straight-bound. (Supp. Tr. at 55).
{¶10} Appellee then filed a supplemental brief after the suppression hearing. In his supplemental brief, appellee argued that because the signage at the intersection labeled appellee’s lane of travel as a straight-bound lane, appellee was under no obligation to signal a turn.
{¶11} After appellee’s supplemental brief was filed, the state filed a motion to reopen the suppression hearing on the basis that appellee was now raising new arguments not addressed in appellee’s original motion to suppress. The record does not indicate that the trial court ruled on this motion but the state did not raise this issue for appeal.
{¶12} Ultimately, the state did file a supplemental brief arguing again that because appellee had to physically turn his car to the right on Mahoning from Oak Hill, appellee was required to use his turn signal. In the alternative, the state argued that the good faith exception to the exclusionary rule applied because Officers Savnik and Caraway reasonably believed they witnessed appellee commit a traffic violation.
{¶13} The state also filed a motion to admit stipulations of facts. The motion contained two facts to supplement the facts elicited at the suppression hearing. Those facts were: a standard traffic light exists at the intersection where a 45 degree right angle existed on the green light and a “No Turn on Red” sign was present at the intersection. There was no apparent ruling on this motion either, but appellee has never contested these facts.
{¶14} On March 10, 2017, the trial court granted appellee’s motion to suppress and ruled that any and all evidence gathered as a result of appellee’s traffic stop was to be suppressed. The trial court reasoned that appellee was not required to signal a turn because of the street sign indicating that his lane of travel was a straight-bound lane and that the good faith exception did not apply due to the lack of sufficient facts presented by the state. The state timely filed this appeal on March 23, 2017. The state raises one assignment of error.
{¶15} The state’s sole assignment of error states:
THE TRIAL COURT SHOULD HAVE DENIED DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO SUPPRESS BECAUSE YOUNGSTOWN OFFICER JEFF SAVNIK HAD PROBABLE CAUSE TO BELIEVE DEFENDANT VIOLATED
{¶16} The state raises two arguments regarding its sole assignment of error. The first argument is that Officer Savnik had probable cause to initiate the traffic stop of
{¶17} A motion to suppress presents a mixed question of law and fact. When considering a motion to suppress, the trial court assumes the role of trier of fact and is therefore in the best position to resolve factual questions and evaluate witness credibility. State v. Burnside, 100 Ohio St. 3d 152, 2003-Ohio-5372, 797 N.E.2d 71, ¶ 8. The appellate court must accept the trial court’s findings of fact if they are supported by competent and credible evidence. Id. Accepting these facts as true, the appellate court must then independently determine, without deference to the conclusion of the trial court, whether the facts satisfy the applicable legal standard. Id.
{¶18} Addressing the state’s second argument concerning the attenuation doctrine first, the state failed to raise this issue with the trial court in its original response to appellee’s motion to suppress, the suppression hearing itself, or in its response brief after the hearing on the motion to suppress. The general rule is that “an appellate court will not consider any error which counsel for a party complaining of the trial court’s judgment could have called but did not call to the trial court’s attention at a time when such error could have been avoided or corrected by the trial court.” State v. Anwan, 22
Ohio St. 3d 120, 489 N.E.2d 277 (1986) citing State v. Childs, 14 Ohio St. 2d 83, 236 N.E.2d 545 (1968). Because the state did not raise the attenuation doctrine argument with the trial court, such argument will not be considered in this appeal.
{¶19} Concerning the state’s requisite level of suspicion argument, the trial court’s findings of fact during the suppression hearing were previously set forth. As neither the state nor appellee disputes the facts and the trial court’s findings of fact are supported by competent and credible evidence from the record, this Court accepts the trial court’s findings of fact as true.
{¶20} Applying the law to the facts, the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Section 14, Article I of the Ohio Constitution guarantee the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. State v. Mays, 119 Ohio St.3d 406, 2008-Ohio-4539, 894 N.E.2d 1204 ¶ 7. A traffic stop is constitutionally valid only if an officer has reasonable and articulable suspicion that a motorist has committed, is committing, or is about to commit a crime. Id. citing Delaware v. Prouse, 440 U.S. 648, 99 S.Ct. 1391, 59 L.Ed.2d 660 (1979). “The propriety of an investigative stop by a police officer must be viewed in the light of the totality of the surrounding circumstances.” Id. quoting State v. Freeman, 64 Ohio St.2d 291, 414 N.E.2d 1044 (1980).
{¶21} The state’s primary argument is that regardless of the signage at the intersection, appellee had to physically negotiate a right turn on to Mahoning to head to downtown Youngstown. The state cites several cases in support of its argument that regardless of how slight a right turn
{¶22} In State v. Baker, 10th Dist. No. 11AP-170, 2011-Ohio-5769, the Tenth District held that a traffic stop for failing to use a turn signal was reasonable when defendant-appellant Baker veered right at a “Y” intersection. The Ninth District has held similarly to the Baker decision on a similar issue in State v. Hoder, 9th Dist. No. 03CA0042, 2004-Ohio-3083. The state even cites this Court’s decision in State v. Crisafi, 7th Dist. No. 00 CA 0040, 2001-Ohio-3254, where this Court ruled that probable cause for a traffic stop existed when defendant-appellant Crisafi made a “slight-right” turn without signaling. While these cases are informative regarding the duty of a motorist to signal a turn, the case at bar is distinguishable because none of the state’s
cited cases address the issue of a street sign informing the respective motorists that their designated lane of travel was straight-bound.
{¶23} A strict reading of the relevant Revised Code sections is necessary to determine if reasonable suspicion to initiate a traffic stop of appellee existed.
{¶24} Furthermore,
{¶25} If the purpose of traffic control devices, including signs, is to indicate and carry out various traffic infractions, including failure to signal a turn in violation of
{¶26} Furthermore, as the state points out, it is worth noting that there is a second sign at the intersection facing Oak Hill which reads “no turn on red.” There are two signs at the intersection: one that indicates the right lane is straight-bound and one that, potentially, indicates that the right lane is used to turn right. The fact that these conflicting signs exist creates the issue that it is virtually impossible to
{¶27} Additionally, the state argues that the trial court held it to a higher burden of proof than a normal suppression hearing. Citing In re A.J.S., 120 Ohio St. 3d 185, 2008-Ohio-537, 897 N.E.2d 629, the state argues that the burden of establishing probable cause is “to produce evidence that raises more than a mere suspicion of guilt.” The state appears to argue that because the trial court granted appellee’s motion to suppress, the state was held above the standard set forth in J.L.S. This did not happen here.
{¶28} Even in the absence of probable cause, an officer may initiate a traffic stop when the officer has reasonable and articulable suspicion that a crime has been or is being committed. State v. Foster, 1st Dist. No. C-160424, 2017-Ohio-4036, ¶ 16 citing State v. Mays, 119 Ohio St.3d 406, 2008-Ohio-4539, 894 N.E.2d 1204. The propriety of an investigative stop must be viewed in light of the totality of the surrounding circumstances. State v. Ward, 7th Dist. No. 10 CO 28, 2011-Ohio-3183, ¶ 50 citing Mays.
{¶29} Officers Savnik and Caraway followed appellee for about 200 yards. There is no evidence in the record that appellee was driving erratically. There is also no evidence in the record that there was anything wrong with appellee’s car such as broken lights or a missing license plate. The only evidence in the record which explains
why Officers Savnik and Caraway stopped appellee was due to his failure to signal before the intersection. This alone does not rise to the level of reasonable suspicion to initiate a traffic stop.
{¶30} Appellee was traveling in a designated straight-bound lane. Pursuant to
{¶31} The good faith exception does not apply in this case either. In order for the good faith exception to the exclusionary rule to apply, officers must be acting in an objectively reasonable manner. See State v. McGee, 7th Dist. No. 12 MA 123, 2013-Ohio-4165, ¶ 18 citing State v. George, 45 Ohio St.3d 325, 544 N.E.2d 640 (1989), see also State v. Dickman, 10th Dist. No. 14AP-597, 2015-Ohio-1915, ¶ 23. Based on the statute, which mandates a motorist’s duty to signal only when required, and the fact that appellee was in a lane designated as straight-bound, an objectively reasonable officer would not have concluded that appellee’s lack of a turn signal was a violation of
{¶32} Accordingly, the state’s sole assignment of error is without merit and is overruled.
{¶33} For the above reasons, the trial court’s judgment is hereby affirmed.
Waite, J., concurs
Robb, P. J., dissents with dissenting Opinion attached
{¶34} I respectfully dissent from the decision to uphold the trial court’s suppression of evidence. I believe the police officer possessed reasonable suspicion that a traffic violation occurred allowing him to stop Appellee’s vehicle.
{¶35} “[I]f an officer‘s decision to stop a motorist for a criminal violation, including a traffic violation, is prompted by a reasonable and articulable suspicion considering all the circumstances, then the stop is constitutionally valid. State v. Mays, 119 Ohio St.3d
406, 2008-Ohio-4539, 894 N.E.2d 1204, ¶ 8; Delaware v. Prouse, 440 U.S. 648, 663, 99 S.Ct. 1391, 59 L.Ed.2d 660 (1979). In other words, a police officer‘s objectively reasonable belief that a traffic violation has occurred constitutes reasonable suspicion to justify a traffic stop. Heien v. North Carolina, 574 U.S. 54, 135 S.Ct. 530, 536, 190 L.Ed.2d 475 (2014). A court’s decision on the validity of the traffic stop must be “based on the collection of factors, not on the individual factors themselves.” Mays, 119 Ohio St.3d 406 at ¶ 12, quoting State v. Batchili, 113 Ohio St.3d 403, 2007-Ohio-2204, 865 N.E.2d 1282, ¶ 11. The Mays Court explained:
Probable cause is certainly a complete justification for a traffic stop, but we have not held that probable cause is required. Probable cause is a stricter standard than reasonable and articulable suspicion. The former subsumes the latter. Just as a fact proven beyond a reasonable doubt has by necessity been proven by a preponderance, an officer who has probable cause necessarily has a reasonable and articulable suspicion, which is all the officer needs to justify a stop.
(Citations omitted). Mays, 119 Ohio St.3d 406 at ¶ 23.
{¶36} In Mays, the defense argued the officer who stopped him for crossing a lane line had no reason to suspect the defendant failed to ascertain the move could be safely performed or to suspect the defendant failed to stay within his lane as nearly as practicable. See
lot did not invalidate stop of driver who violated the signs as “the fact that appellee could not be convicted of failure to obey a traffic-control device is not determinative of whether the officer acted reasonably in stopping and citing him for that offense.”)
{¶37} As does the majority, I find informative the various appellate cases finding a traffic stop was reasonable where the motorist failed to use a turn signal when changing streets at a T intersection or Y intersection. See, e.g., State v. Barker, 10th Dist. No. 11AP-170, 2011-Ohio-5769, ¶ 12-13 (finding reasonable suspicion to stop where motorist veered right at Y intersection onto a different street without signaling, even though the
{¶38} The fact the vehicle’s movement onto a different street may not require a ninety-degree turn does not eliminate an officer’s reasonable suspicion concerning a turn signal violation. As the state points out, a right turn had to be physically negotiated to leave Oak Hill and turn onto Mahoning Avenue at the Spring Common Bridge. The majority finds the situation here distinguishable from other cases because a street sign near the intersection portrayed the right lane with a straight arrow. (And, the sign portrayed the left lane with an arrow pointing to the left.) The majority concludes Appellee was in a lane designated as a straight lane. Because the street on which Appellee was driving did not continue straight but stopped at the T-like intersection, the majority believes the straight arrow must mean the right turn is considered straight to whatever government agency placed the sign and this in turn constitutionally prohibits an officer from stopping a vehicle who does not use its turn signal to turn right onto the bridge. I disagree.
{¶39} As aforementioned, the officer testified a right-hand turn had to be negotiated from Oak Hill Avenue onto the cross-street of Mahoning Avenue at the
Spring Common Bridge. Appellee made that right turn after stopping for the red light and waiting for it to turn green. The photographs submitted by Appellee depict how an approaching vehicle’s future movement onto the bridge would be a clear turn to the right. As for the lane designation sign on a pole on the side of the road, support is not provided for the proposition that a straight arrow means “straight only.” Otherwise, an intersection with this signage would not allow a right turn at a standard four-way intersection. Whether there is currently a way to proceed straight does not eliminate an officer’s reasonable suspicion to believe a turn signal was required where a vehicle negotiated a right turn onto a different road. I pose the question: what would happen in the case of a road which is blockaded for a short-term event or barricaded for a long-term construction project? Would a driver no longer be required to use his turn signal as long as the situation existed which impeded a driver’s ability to continue straight onto the same street? Contrary to the majority’s concern, this situation does not make it “impossible to completely comply with all Ohio traffic laws * * *.” Using a turn signal to make an obvious right turn onto a different street after waiting for the light to turn green at an intersection is not
{¶40} I do not perceive a meaningful conflict between the straight arrow sign and the street situation; not where the applicable test is whether the officer had reasonable and articulable suspicion for a traffic violation. Regardless, any conflict between the sign and the street situation would be a defense to the traffic offense, as opposed to the per se elimination of reasonable suspicion for a traffic stop. The officer was not required to study the potential defenses to the traffic violation the driver may have available before activating his lights. See Mays, 119 Ohio St.3d 406 at ¶ 17. It is the totality of the circumstances governing reasonable suspicion for a stop, not one individual circumstance. Id. at ¶ 12, quoting Batchili, 113 Ohio St.3d 403 at ¶ 11.
{¶41} I would also note the following facts. After the suppression hearing, the
trial court asked for briefs on the issue of the sign with the straight arrow. The state filed a brief and separately moved to reopen the suppression hearing due to lack of notice there was a suppression issue on the topic of signs. Thereafter, on February 9, 2017, the state filed a “motion to admit stipulation of facts” which facts the parties agreed a reopened hearing would show. The filing refers to a conversation with defense counsel and states “both counsel for the State and counsel for the Defendant do not object to the following facts being admitting into evidence” (apparently in lieu of reopening): (1) the green light section of the traffic signal contained a green arrow pointing in a forty-five-degree angle; and (2) a “No Turn on Red” sign was hanging above the intersection. The filing does not contain defense counsel’s signature. The court’s March 10, 2017 suppression decision does not mention these offered stipulated facts. The state’s brief refers to the “No Turn on Red” sign. Appellee’s brief also cites this filing in relating the fact that there was a “No Turn on Red” sign at the stoplight, essentially inviting this court to consider this fact as well. This fact makes the case for reasonable suspicion even stronger.
{¶42} Finally, a review of the United States Supreme Court’s Heien case is warranted. In Heien, the state trial court denied a motion to suppress finding reasonable suspicion to stop a vehicle due to a faulty brake light. The appellate court reversed and held the statutory language, requiring a car to be “equipped with a stop lamp,” only mandates a single lamp and thus the officer lacked reasonable suspicion for the stop. The North Carolina Supreme Court disagreed, holding that even if the driver did not violate the law, the officer‘s mistaken understanding of the law was reasonable, making the stop valid. The United States Supreme Court agreed finding there was reasonable suspicion justifying the stop under the Fourth Amendment because the officer’s mistake was objectively reasonable. Heien, 574 U.S. 54, 135 S.Ct. at 540.
{¶43} The United States Supreme Court clarified that both a mistake of fact and a mistake of law can justify a stop if the mistake was objectively reasonable. Id. at 539. “Reasonable suspicion arises from the combination of an officer‘s understanding of the facts and his understanding of the relevant law. The officer may be reasonably mistaken on either ground.” Id. at 536. The Court said its pronouncement related to (and validated) the constitutionality of the stop itself (and was not merely
exclusionary rule). Id. at 538-539. The Court explained:
Just as an individual generally cannot escape criminal liability based on a mistaken understanding of the law, so too the government cannot impose criminal liability based on a mistaken understanding of the law. If the law required two working brake lights, [the defendant] could not escape a ticket by claiming he reasonably thought he needed only one; if the law required only one, [the officer] could not issue a valid ticket by claiming he reasonably thought drivers needed two. But just because mistakes of law cannot justify either the imposition or the avoidance of criminal liability, it does not follow that they cannot justify an investigatory stop. And [the defendant] is not appealing a brake-light ticket; he is appealing a cocaine-trafficking conviction as to which there is no asserted mistake of fact or law.
(Emphasis added.) Id. at 540.
{¶44} Even if the officer here was mistaken as to the applicability of the turn signal statute at an intersection such as exists here, any mistake would have been objectively reasonable. For all of the foregoing circumstances, I believe there was reasonable suspicion to stop Appellee after he turned right onto a different street without complying with the turn signal statute. In according, I would reverse the trial court’s decision suppressing the heroin evidence.
For the reasons stated in the Opinion rendered herein, appellant’s sole assignment of error is without merit and is overruled. It is the final judgment and order of this Court that the judgment of the Common Pleas Court, Mahoning County, Ohio, is hereby affirmed. Robb, P.J. dissents with dissenting Opinion attached. Costs taxed against appellant.
A certified copy of this opinion and judgment entry shall constitute the mandate in this case pursuant to Rule 27 of the Rules of Appellate Procedure. It is ordered that a certified copy be sent by the clerk to the trial court to carry this judgment into execution.
NOTICE TO COUNSEL
This document constitutes a final judgment entry.