989 S.W.2d 605 | Mo. Ct. App. | 1999
Jeffrey Thomas, Defendant, appeals from his convictions in a court-tried case on two counts of possession of controlled substances with intent to distribute, in violation of Section 195.211 RSMo 1994. He was sentenced to terms of five years imprisonment on each count, to be served concurrently.
Defendant’s Jeep vehicle, with Defendant and three other occupants in it, was spotted by a patrol officer at 1:18 in the morning, with its motor running and lights off, parked behind a strip mall shopping center in an area generally not utilized by the public and where there had been multiple past reports of property damage and vandalism. After getting out of his, patrol car the officer approached the vehicle on foot and asked the occupants what they were doing. Defendant replied that they were talking about going to a party. The officer asked the occupants for their driver’s licenses, which they gave him. He went back to his patrol car, ran a computer check, determined that there were no outstanding warrants for any of the vehicle occupants, checked the vehicle registration and found Defendant was the owner, then
Defendant filed a motion to suppress the seized evidence as well as Defendant’s post-arrest statements, claiming that they resulted from an illegal search and seizure in violation of his Fourth Amendment rights. After a hearing the court denied the motion.
On appeal, Defendant contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress. Although he concedes that the initial brief investigatory stop of the vehicle and its occupants was a valid Terry stop,
We have reviewed the briefs of the parties, the legal file and transcript, and find this claim of error to be without merit. Under-the appropriate standard of review, we view the facts and all reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom in the light most favorable to the trial court’s ruling, and review the findings only to see if they are supported by substantial evidence. Stevens, 845 S.W.2d at 128; State v. Talbert, 873 S.W.2d 321, 323 (Mo.App. S.D.1994). We may not reverse if the trial court’s ruling is “plausible in light of the record viewed in its entirety;” and this is true even where we believe we would have weighed the evidence differently if we had been sitting as the trial court. Id. Although Defendant argues that the officer’s police report and his testimony at the motion to suppress hearing indicate that his “sole” purpose in making the stop was merely to ascertain the identities of the vehicle occupants and see if they needed any help, careful review of the record persuades us that that is not precisely what the officer stated, and further that there was other testimony of the officer from which the trial court could have reasonably concluded that part of his purpose was in fact to investigate whether the occupants of the vehicle were involved in the type of vandalism activity that had previously occurred in the area. The officer never testified that seeing who the vehicle occupants were and whether they needed any help was the sole reason for conducting the Terry stop; rather, he testified at one point that that was why he first approached the vehicle.
Thus, the trial court here had an ample basis for its implicit finding that the consent search was not the product of an illegal seizure or detention. The record also supports a finding that Defendant’s consent to search the vehicle was not involuntary. The judgment is affirmed.
. Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966).
. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968).
.Strictly speaking, the Terry "stop” did not begin until the officer told the vehicle occupants that he would have to check their drivers license ID's; prior to that point in time the occupants were not detained, even briefly, and hence the interaction was simply an "encounter” short of a stop. State v. Talbert, 873 S.W.2d at 323.