STATE OF IDAHO v. SAMANTHA NICOLE COOK
Docket No. 46432
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF IDAHO
July 10, 2019
Boise, February 2019 Term
Karel A. Lehrman, Clerk
Appeal from the District Court of the First Judicial District of the State of Idaho, Kootenai County. Richard S. Christensen, District Judge.
The order of the district court denying defendant‘s motion to suppress is reversed; the judgment of conviction is vacated and remanded.
State Appellate Public Defender‘s Office, Boise, for appellant, Samantha Nicole Cook. Jenny Swinford argued.
Idaho Attorney General‘s Office, Boise, for respondent, the State of Idaho. Ted Tollefson argued.
This appeal is brought by Samantha Cook (Cook) as a result of the denial of her motion to suppress evidence. Cook was pulled over by a police officer after the officer noticed her vehicle lacked both front and rear license plates. As the vehicles slowed to pull over, the officer noticed a piece of paper in the rear window of Cook‘s car. Upon approaching the pulled-over vehicle, the officer noticed that the piece of paper was a temporary registration permit, which was unreadable due to condensation from rain earlier in the evening. The officer then spoke with Cook, detected the smell of marijuana, searched her vehicle, located controlled substances, and arrested her.
Cook filed a motion to suppress the evidence obtained during the stop on the grounds that the officer lacked probable cause to stop her vehicle. The district court denied Cook‘s motion. The district court found, based on State v. Kinch, 159 Idaho 96, 356 P.3d 389 (Ct. App. 2015), that reasonable suspicion existed that Cook had violated
On appeal, Cook argues, among other things, that the district court erred in denying her motion to suppress because
I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
On October 29, 2016, shortly after midnight, a Kootenai County Sheriff‘s Deputy, Ryan Jacobson (Jacobson), was traveling westbound in his patrol vehicle on Highway 53 in rural Kootenai County. It had been raining that evening. As Jacobson drove past Cook, he noticed that her car lacked a front license plate. He did not see a temporary permit displayed as he passed the car. Once Jacobson passed Cook‘s vehicle, he looked in his rearview mirror and noticed that the vehicle also lacked a rear license plate. Jacobson
While following Cook, Jacobson was unable to see either a rear license plate or a temporary permit. Jacobson also believed he witnessed Cook‘s vehicle drive over the right-hand fog line.1 Jacobson activated his emergency lights. As the vehicles pulled over and were nearly stopped, Jacobson observed a piece of paper displayed in the rear window of Cook‘s vehicle. It was difficult to see due to heavy condensation in Cook‘s rear window.
Once both vehicles were stopped, Jacobson walked towards Cook‘s vehicle and only then recognized that the piece of paper in the window was in fact a temporary registration permit. Despite being right next to the temporary permit, Jacobson still could not read the expiration date. Jacobson then contacted Cook, the sole occupant of the vehicle, in order to obtain information from her. Once he collected Cook‘s information, Jacobson walked back to his patrol vehicle but first stopped again at the rear window to examine the temporary permit more closely.
Jacobson had to wipe the condensation off of the rear window in order to read the expiration date. Only then was Jacobson able to determine the piece of paper was a valid temporary permit.
Jacobson returned Cook‘s information to her but asked her to step out of the vehicle and speak with him. Cook obliged. At some point while speaking with Cook, Jacobson noticed that Cook was unusually nervous. More importantly, he had also detected the odor of marijuana. Upon questioning, Cook admitted that others had smoked marijuana in her vehicle earlier that evening. Jacobson then searched the car based on the odor and Cook‘s admission. He found both heroin and methamphetamine. Cook was arrested and more contraband was found on her person, including another controlled substance, Suboxone.
Cook filed a motion to suppress, arguing that Jacobson did not have reasonable suspicion to stop her car. The district court held a hearing on Cook‘s motion. Jacobson was the only witness. The district court later announced its oral decision denying the motion to suppress. The district court reasoned that Cook‘s temporary registration, although properly posted, was not readily legible as required by
After the district court‘s ruling, Cook filed a motion to reconsider. In that motion, Cook requested her previous argument—that
Cook entered a conditional guilty plea to possession of heroin and paraphernalia; in exchange, the State dropped the other two charges, and Cook preserved her right to appeal the denial of her motion to suppress. The district court sentenced Cook to time served on the paraphernalia charge and entered an order withholding judgment with two years of supervised probation for the possession of heroin charge. Cook timely appealed. The Court of Appeals affirmed. This Court granted Cook‘s petition for review.
II. STANDARD OF REVIEW
“When reviewing a case on petition for review from the Court of Appeals this Court gives due consideration to the decision reached by the Court of Appeals, but directly reviews the decision of the trial court.” State v. Schmierer, 159 Idaho 768, 770, 367 P.3d 163, 165 (2016).
We review a district court‘s order granting a motion to suppress evidence using a bifurcated standard of review. State v. Purdum, 147 Idaho 206, 207, 207 P.3d 182, 183 (2009). This Court accepts the trial court‘s findings of fact unless they are clearly erroneous, but may freely review the trial court‘s application of constitutional principles in light of those facts. Id.
State v. Wulff, 157 Idaho 416, 418, 337 P.3d 575, 577 (2014).
“Determinations of reasonable suspicion are reviewed de novo[,]” but “must be based on the totality of the circumstances . . . .” State v. Morgan, 154 Idaho 109, 111, 294 P.3d 1121, 1123 (2013) (citing State v. Munoz, 149 Idaho 121, 127, 233 P.3d 52, 58 (2010)). This Court exercises free review over statutory interpretation issues because they are questions of law. State v. Owens, 158 Idaho 1, 3, 343 P.3d 30, 32 (2015) (citing State v. Dunlap, 155 Idaho 345, 361, 313 P.3d 1, 17 (2013)). Likewise, claims that criminal statutes are unconstitutionally vague are reviewed de novo. State v. Larsen, 135 Idaho 754, 756, 24 P.3d 702, 704 (2001); State v. Cobb, 132 Idaho 195, 197, 969 P.2d 244, 246 (1998).
The void-for-vagueness doctrine is premised upon the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This doctrine requires that a statute defining criminal conduct be worded with sufficient clarity and definiteness that ordinary people can understand what conduct is prohibited and that the statute be worded in a manner that does not allow arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement. Village of Hoffman Estates v. Flipside, Hoffman Estates, Inc., 455 U.S. 489, 102 S.Ct. 1186, 71 L.Ed.2d 362 (1982). It is a basic principle of due process that an enactment is void for vagueness if its prohibitions are not clearly defined. Grayned v. City of Rockford, 408 U.S. 104, 92 S.Ct. 2294, 33 L.Ed.2d 222 (1972). Furthermore, as a matter of due process, no one may be required at the peril of loss of liberty to speculate as to the meaning of penal statutes. United States v. Smith, 795 F.2d 841, 847 n.4 (9th Cir.1986), citing Lanzetta v. New Jersey, 306 U.S. 451, 453, 59 S.Ct. 618, 619, 83 L.Ed. 888, 890 (1939), Smith v. United States, cert. denied, 481 U.S. 1032, 107 S.Ct. 1964, 95 L.Ed.2d 535 (1987).
State v. Korsen, 138 Idaho 706, 711–12, 69 P.3d 126, 131–32 (2003), abrogated on other grounds by Evans v. Michigan, 568 U.S. 313 (2013).
III. ANALYSIS
A. Idaho Code section 49-432(4) is unconstitutionally vague.
Cook argues that her motion to suppress should have been granted because
“The void for vagueness doctrine is an aspect of due process requiring that the meaning of a criminal statute be determinable.” Cobb, 132 Idaho at 197, 969 P.2d at 246 (citing Schwartzmiller v. Gardner, 752 F.2d 1341 (9th Cir. 1984)). “Due process requires that all ‘be informed as to what the State commands or forbids’ and that ‘men of common intelligence’ not be forced to guess at the meaning of the criminal law.” Id. (quoting Smith v. Goguen, 415 U.S. 566, 574, (1974)); Korsen, 138 Idaho at 712, 69 P.3d at 132. “A statute is void for vagueness if it fails to give adequate notice to people of ordinary intelligence concerning the conduct it proscribes, or if it invites arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement.” Cobb, 132 Idaho at 197, 969 P.2d at 246 (citations omitted). A statute may be challenged as unconstitutionally vague on its
To succeed on an “as applied” vagueness challenge, a complainant must show that the statute, as applied to the defendant‘s conduct, failed to provide fair notice that the defendant‘s conduct was proscribed or failed to provide sufficient guidelines such that the police had unbridled discretion in determining whether to arrest him [or her].
Id.2 When analyzing vagueness, “[t]he words of a statute alleged to be unconstitutionally vague should not be evaluated in the abstract, but should be considered in reference to the particular conduct of the defendant challenging the statute.” Larsen, 135 Idaho at 757, 24 P.3d at 705
(citing State v. Hansen, 125 Idaho 927, 877 P.2d 898 (1994); State v. Marek, 112 Idaho 860, 736 P.2d 1314 (1987)). Those words “are given their commonly understood, everyday meanings, unless the legislature has provided a definition.” Id. (citing State v. Richards, 127 Idaho 31, 38, 896 P.2d 357, 364 (Ct. App. 1995)).
We begin our analysis with the statute itself.
(4) A temporary permit shall be in a form, and issued under rules adopted by the [Idaho Transportation] board, and shall be displayed at all times while the vehicle is being operated on the highways by posting the permit upon the windshield of each vehicle or in another prominent place, where it may be readily legible.
We hold that this statute is unconstitutionally vague because it failed to inform Cook what she needed to do in order to comply with the statute. This conclusion is driven by important differences between this statute and those regulating the display of license plates.
Although
In addition,
This Court has held that when an agency is tasked with the responsibility of providing adequate guidance to warn individuals that specific conduct would be subject to punishment, yet fails to do so, the underlying statute may be found unconstitutionally vague as applied to that specific conduct. H & V Eng‘g, Inc. v. Idaho State Bd. of Prof‘l Engineers & Land Surveyors, 113 Idaho 646, 650, 747 P.2d 55, 59 (1987). Accordingly, without clear guidance from the Board or the statute on whether the permit need only be readily legible at the time of posting or whether the permit had to be readable from some distance away, it is impossible for a person of ordinary intelligence to understand that she had not complied with the statute despite posting a valid permit where statutorily directed. Likewise, it was reasonable for Cook to understand she had complied with the statute when: she posted a valid permit that was issued to her, the permit was posted in her rear windshield and was visible and readable when posted, and the permit remained in that location while her vehicle was operated on the highway.
In addition, case law analyzing
Some years later, in 2015, the Court of Appeals applied Salois in State v. Kinch, 159 Idaho 96, 101, 356 P.3d 389, 394 (Ct. App. 2015). In Kinch, an officer could not read the temporary permit while following the vehicle or after walking up to the window in which the permit was displayed. Id. at 97, 99, 356 P.3d at 391, 392. This was because the permit was “bent, somewhat crumpled, and obscured by a layer of condensation on the window . . . .” Id. Due to the officer‘s inability to read the permit, the court found that the presumption in Salois was overcome as the permit was not “readily legible” in its posted location and thus not displayed in accordance with
In so holding, the court implicitly required temporary permits to be “readily legible” from some following distance, since an officer must be able to discern the obvious invalidity of the permit before initiating the traffic stop as per Salois. Id. at 101 n.8, 356 P.3d at 394 n.8 (“[T]he requirement in Salois that the officer must have reasonable suspicion that the temporary permit violates the law before initiating the traffic stop strongly suggests that the permit must be readily legible from the officer‘s vehicle, at least at some distance . . . .“). Despite recognizing this (and interpreting the context and plain language of
Regardless of the court‘s ostensible avoidance of this distance question, the application of Salois (and the court‘s statutory interpretation analysis) makes it clear that the court read
Here, Cook placed a valid temporary permit in her rear windshield, where it was readily legible, and it was in that location while she drove upon the highway. Based on a fair reading of
When all is said and done, the current wording of the statute undermined Cook‘s ability to discern what conduct was required so that she might properly conform her behavior to the law.
IV. CONCLUSION
For the stated reasons, we reverse the district court‘s denial of Cook‘s motion to suppress; we vacate Cook‘s conviction and remand for further proceedings.
Chief Justice BURDICK, Justices BRODY, BEVAN and MOELLER, CONCUR.