Lead Opinion
¶ 1 Aftеr a jury trial, Francisco Urrea was convicted of transportation of a narcotic drug for sale and sentenced to a presumptive five-year prison term. On appeal, he renews arguments rejected by the trial court that the drugs found in his vehicle should have been suppressed and that the court imposed an inadequate sanction after finding a Batson
Factual and Procedural Background
¶ 2 We view the evidence in the light most favorable to upholding Urrea’s conviction. State v. Welch,
¶3 Urrea was indicted on one cоunt of possession of a narcotic drug for sale and one count of transportation of a narcotic drug for sale. He sought suppression of the drugs before trial, arguing the “stop, seizure, search, [and] arrest” had been illegal and sought to preclude a police detective from testifying as an expert for the state. The trial court denied the suppression motion after an evidentiary hearing and heard arguments regarding the state’s expert immediately before Urrea’s trial began. The court ultimately allowed the expert to testify but precluded him from explaining the significance of a baseball cap in Urrea’s car and a tattoo on
¶ 4 During jury selection, Urrea raised a Batson challenge, arguing the state had improperly struck from the venire jurors with “Hispanic ethnic background[s].” After directing the prosecutor to identify the reasons for its strikes, the trial court denied three strikes for which it found the state had failеd to provide adequate race-neutral reasons and reinstated the prospective jurors. Two of the reinstated jurors sat on the jury, which convicted Urrea of both charges after a two-day trial. The state subsequently dismissed the possession count, and the court sentenced Urrea as described above. We have jurisdiction over this appeal pursuant to A.R.S. §§ 12—120.21(A)(1), 13-4031, and 13-4033(A)(1).
Motion to Suppress
¶ 5 Urrea first contends the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence obtained from the warrantless search of his vehicle. We review the court’s rulings on a suppression motion for an abuse of discretion, deferring to factual findings but reviewing de novo constitutional and purely legal issues. State v. Snyder,
¶ 6 At a hearing in July 2015, Deputy Nikola Zovko testified he had stopped Ur-rea’s vehicle after he observed it “merge[] over into the right-hand lane without its ton signal, causing another vehicle to abruptly slam on its brakes.” After obtaining Urrea’s license, registration, and insurance documents, the deputy asked Urrea to step out and wait at his patrol car while he conducted a records check, “[p]rimarily [as] a safety issue.” Urrea complied and throughout the stop was cooperative and friendly.
¶ 7 Before completing the traffic stop, the deputy approached Urrea’s vehicle a second time to check the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) against the registration documents and a report he had received “from dispatch.” While doing so, he observed items in the car that suggested to him Urrea might be transporting drugs, including multiple air-fresheners and symbols on a baseball cap and tattooed on Urrea’s am associated with drug trafficking, and he asked Urrea if there were any drugs in the car. Urrea said there were not and told the deputy he “c[ould] check.” Urrea then signed a “consent to search” fom and was placed in the back of the deputy’s vehicle while the deputy and another officer searched Urrea’s car. The package of cocaine was found concealed behind the spare tire.
¶ 8 Urrea argued to the trial court that the initial stop was invalid, that Deputy Zovko illegally had “extended the detention to cheek federal [VIN] stickers,” and that the search of his vehicle had exceeded the scope of his consent. Ruling from the bench, the court concluded the traffic stop was valid, the subsequent “inspection of a VIN number [wa]s within the nomal discretion of an officer in a routine traffic stop,” and Urrea had consented to a search which “encompasse[d] all voids within the vehiclе.” Although the court found “no unreasonable detention,” it noted it was “admitting the evidence as a consent search and not on any other basis.” On appeal, Urrea renews his arguments that the deputy impemissibly “ ‘detour[ed]’ from the mission of the underlying traffic stop” and the subsequent search of his vehicle was not based on “valid consent.” He does not challenge the validity of the traffic stop,
¶ 9 Regarding the duration of the stop, Urrea contends it was illegally prolonged not when the deputy returned to Urrea’s vehicle to check the VIN numbers, as he argued at the suppression hearing, but when he asked Urrea to “step out of the car and walk back to [the deputy’s] vehicle.” Because Urrea did not make this argument to the trial court, we review only for fundamental error. State v. Brown,
¶ 10 First, Urrea has not explained how his being directed to exit his vehicle while the deputy conducted a records check illegally prolonged the stop. As we have consistently held, “[l]aw enforcement officers are permitted to remove occupants from a vehicle as a safety precaution.” State v. Kjolsrud,
¶ 11 Moreover, even had Deputy Zovko illegally prolonged the traffic stop when he asked Urrea to “step back to his patrol vehicle in order to discuss the reason for the stop,” the ensuing conversation appears to have been entirely consensual. Kjolsrud,
¶ 12 Urrea nevertheless argues his consent was not voluntary because he had not been read his rights pursuant to Miranda,
Batson Remedies
¶ 13 Urrea next contends the trial court should have granted his request for a mistrial after it found the state had struck three Hispanic jurors without a sufficiently race-neutral justification for doing so. He does not, however, explain how the trial court erred in forfeiting the state’s strikes rather than employing the drastic remedy of a mistrial.
¶ 14 In Batson v. Kentucky,
¶ 15 Here, the trial court determined Ur-rea had made a prima facie case of discrimination when the state used five of its six strikes on potential jurors with “Hispanic ethnic background[s].” The state offered race-neutral reasons for the strikes, but failed to convince the court that three of the five challenged strikes were constitutionally valid.
¶ 16 Although discriminatory uses of peremptory challenges were deemed unconstitutional over three decades ago, courts have taken varied approaches to remedy Batson violations. See generally Jason Mazzone, Bat-son Remedies, 97 Iowa L. Rev. 1613 (2012) (setting out cases adopting different responses to Batson incursions). The Batson court itself addressed remedies for the constitutional violation only briefly, stating in a footnote:
In light of the variety of jury selection practices followed in our state and federal trial courts, we make no attempt to instruct these courts how best to implement our holding today. For the same reason, we express no view on whether it is more appropriate in a particular case, upon a finding of discrimination against [improperly struck] jurors, for the trial court to discharge the venire and select a new jury from a panel not previously associated with the ease, or to disallow the discriminatory challenges and resume selection with the improperly challenged jurors reinstated on the venire.
Batson,
¶ 17 The appropriateness of specific remedies has not been expanded upon in subsequent Supreme Court cases, although the federal appellate courts have generally interpreted Batson as “accord[ing] significant latitude” in the trial court’s ability to fashion an appropriate remedy. Koo v. McBride,
¶ 18 State courts, however, have approached remedies to Batson violations in various ways. Trial courts in South Carоlina, for example, are required to select a new jury de novo when Batson violations are found. See State v. Jones,
¶ 19 In contrast, Missouri’s courts have for many years preferred reseating improperly struck jurors. There, Batson challenges are required to be made before the venire’s dismissal “while there remains time to correct the error by disallowing the offending strike” thereby maximizing “[¿judicial time and resources ... because there is no need to quash the jury and call a new venire.” State v. Parker,
¶ 20 The majority of states, however, have allowed the trial court discretion to apply either of the remedies contemplated by the Batson court, See Coleman v. Hogan,
¶ 21 As a matter of first impression in Arizona,
¶ 22 In view of these issues and concerns, we cоnclude it is unnecessary to impose a single, bright-line remedy for Batson violations. The better approach, we think, is to leave it to our trial judges’ discretion to tailor an appropriate remedy to the particulars of the constitutional violation. We therefore hold that when a Batson objection has been sustained, the trial court may impose either of the remedies identified in that seminal case. That is, it is within the court’s discretion to either reseat an improperly challenged venireperson, or to grant a mistrial, depending on the particular circumstances. See Batson,
¶ 23 In so holding, we do not foreclose the possibility of other remedies. Although the Batson court identified only two solutions, it did not suggest they were exhaustive. Id. As stated in Danforth v. Minnesota,
¶ 24 In this case, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in reinstating the improperly struck jurors and forfeiting the state’s invalid challenges. The record indicates that all strikes, justifications for the strikes, and arguments regarding the appropriateness of the remedy were made outside the presence of the jury; thus there was no risk a rejected juror could be offended or harbor animus against the state or justice system. And, although only two of the three reinstated venirepersons were impaneled on Urrea’s jury, the court specifically noted it had not found “any kind of personal misconduct” attributable to the prosecutors.
The Dissent
¶ 26 In his dissent, our colleague proposes grounds for reversal that appear to have little support, particularly in Arizona.
¶27 In support of its assertion that the trial court was “obligated” to seat all improperly struck jurors on the petit jury, the dissent cites a Mississippi case involving the improper denial of a defendant’s Batson challenge. But that decision did not address the scope of an appropriate Batson remedy, focusing only on the trial court’s failure to grant any remedy at all. See Conerly v. State,
¶ 29 The dissent’s speculation that the trial court “impaired Urrea’s right to peremptory challenges under Rule 18.6(g)” because Ur-rea may have struck different jurors knowing that the state could not strike the three reinstated jurors is likewise unwarranted. First, we disagree that the trial court was “required to vacate” Urrea’s fourth, fifth, and sixth peremptory challenges so that he could have another opportunity to re-exercise those strikes. The dissent cites no authority for that proposition, nor is there any evidence to support the presumption that Urrea would have used any of those strikes differently.
¶ 30 Second, that the jury might have been different had the trial court ruled differently did not violate Urrea’s constitutional rights. As the Supreme Court has noted, “peremptory challenges ... are a means to achieve the end of an impartial jury.” Ross v. Oklahoma,
¶ 31 Nor did the trial court’s remedy violate Urrea’s statutory right to peremptory strikes. The Supreme Court held in United States v. Martinez-Salazar,
¶32 Lastly, the dissent’s suggestion that “failing to remedy a Batson violation constitutes structural error” appears to be based on a misapplication of case law and the conflation of a non-remedied “Batson violation” with a theoretical failure to strictly comply with the procedural outlines of Rule 18.5(g). The cases applying structural error review to issues of jury selection do so either because a juror was wrongly placed on the jury, see, e.g., United States v. McFerron,
¶ 33 Our supreme court held in Hickman that impairment of a defendant’s statutory right to peremptory strikes only requires reversal upon a showing of prejudice.
Profile Testimony
¶ 34 Urrea lastly claims the trial court erroneously admitted improper expert testimony at triаl.
¶35 Drug courier profile evidence has been described as “an ‘informal compilation of characteristics’ ... typically displayed by persons trafficking in illegal drugs.” State v. Lee,
¶ 36 Urrea broadly asserts the trial court erred in allowing the state’s expert to testify “concerning the manner in which drug[] transactions occur and the role of individuals in these transactions.” But, as noted above, such generalized testimony has been found to be admissible modus operandi evidence, rather than inadmissible profile evidence. See Gonzalez,
¶37 Arguments made for the first time on appeal are reviewed for fundamentаl error. State v. Henderson,
Disposition
¶ 38 For аll the foregoing reasons, Urrea’s conviction and sentence are affirmed.
Notes
. Batson v. Kentucky,
. Miranda v. Arizona,
. The state has not challenged the court’s Batson rulings on appeal, contending only that the remedy imposed was adequate.
. Reseating improperly struck jurors was subsequently upheld as a permissible remedy where a party continues to improperly exercise peremptory challenges on subsequent venires. See State v. Franklin,
. See also State v. Morales,
. The appropriateness of a Batson remedy has been addressed in only a handful of Arizona cases. In unpublished decisions, this court has upheld the reinstatement of improperly struck jurors to their original positions, State v. Martinez, No, 1 CA-CR 06-0936, ¶¶ 9-10,
. Ariz. R. Crim. P. 18.5(g) directs the courtroom cleric to "strike the jurors on the bottom of the list until only the number to serve, plus alternates, remain" if parties fail to exercise the full number of peremptory challenges. A similar process has been approved in the civil context. See Ariz. R. Civ. P. 47 cmt. to 1995 amend, (describing purpose of amendments to allow for the "struck” juror selection method, in which for-cause challenges are made after the jury panel has been examined, peremptory strikes are then made and legal issues therefrom resolved, and "the clerk calls the first eight names remaining on the list").
. The dissent cites three Arizona cases to suggest reversal is required in this case. However, State ex rel. Romley,
.As for the dissent's suggestion the trial court "truncat[ed] the proceeding with an inadequate remedy” because of concerns about time, the Supreme Court has recognized that judges' decisions in jury selection "are fast paced, made on the spot and under pressure” and even a wrong decision does not always require reversal. United States v. Martinez-Salazar,
. Urrea additionally renews his claim that Detective Felix was untimely disclosed and should have been precluded from testifying. His failure to develop or support this argument, however, waives the issue and we do not address it further. See State v. Moody,
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting:
¶ 39 I agree with my colleagues that a trial court has broad discretion to fashion an appropriate remedy for a Batson violation, and we will not disturb its ruling absent an abuse of discretion. I also agree that imposing either of the two remedies the Supreme Court mentioned in Batson is not an abuse of discretion. Those two remedies are: (1) “disc-harg[ing] the venire and seleet[ing] a new jury from a panel not previously associated with the case,” or (2) “disallow[ing] the discriminatory challenges and resum[ing] selection with the improperly challenged jurors reinstated on the venire.” Batson,
¶ 40 Each party is allowed six peremptory challenges in a noncapital сase tried in superior court, such as the present case. See Ariz. R. Crim. P. 18.4(c)(l)(ii). The procedure for the use of peremptory challenges is set forth in Rule 18.5(g). After examining the jurors, the prosecutor and the defendant take turns exercising their peremptory challenges on the clerk’s list, beginning with the prosecutor. Id. Either party may waive its remaining challenges on one of its turns, but the other party is nevertheless entitled to use all of its remaining challenges if desired. Id. “If the parties fail to exercise the full number of challenges allowed them, the clerk shall strike the jurors on the bottom of the list until only the number to serve, plus alternates, remain” (here, nine total).
¶ 41 Here, the trial court found the state’s fourth, fifth, and sixth peremptory challenges violated Batson.
¶43 Instead of employing any of these permissible alternatives,
¶44 In announcing its ruling, the trial court stated, “we’re running out of time” and “[w]e can’t just sit here and talk about it for two days.” Although the court’s frustration with the lack of Arizona case law guidance was understandable, simply truncating the proceeding with an inadequate remedy was not sufficient, particularly where it was simple and efficient to permit another round of peremptory challenges. The original challenges took the attorneys no more than eighty-one minutes including their lunch break. A second round would have taken half that time and would not have inconvenienced the jury panel, which was on break. See also Andrews,
¶ 46 The majority’s reliance on Martinez-Salazar, Ross, and Hickman for the proposition that harmless error review applies is misplaced. In each of those cases, the defendant used a peremptory challenge to strike a juror whom the court should have dismissed for cause. Martinez-Salazar,
¶ 47 Even assuming for the sake of argument that a Batson violation constitutes technical error, which would not require reversal in the absence of prejudice to the dеfendant, the error was not harmless here. The practical result of the trial court’s incomplete remedy was that improperly struck juror O.C. did not serve on the jury. By merely striking the bottom three names from a list that included the reinstated jurors, rather than ordering that the improperly struck jurors serve on the jury and then reinitiating the Rule 18.5(g) procedure, the court effectively ratified one of the prosecutor’s unconstitutional strikes.
¶ 48 Accordingly, I would reverse and remand for a new trial.
. A non-capital criminal case in which the sentence authorized by law is less than thirty years requires a jury of eight, and typically, as here, the court will qualify one alternate juror as well for a total of nine. See A.R.S, § 21—102(A)—(B); Ariz. R, Crim. P. 18.1(a), 18.2, 18.4(c)(l)(ii), 18.5(b), (h).
. A Batson violation necessarily includes a finding of discriminatory intent. Hernandez v. New York,
. However, reinstatement may not always be possible. See, e.g., Chin,
. The majority indicates that the nature of remedy must be matched against the severity of the violation, citing Milliken,
.The practice of peremptory challenges is not without its critics. See, e.g., State v. Medina,
. The majority suggests Thompson is no longer authoritative because it cited a treatise since changed, but does not contend it has been abrogated or overruled. See also Hickman,
. Although the majority is correct that peremptory challenges are not of a constitutional dimension, Batson, of course, is. Batson,
. The majority is correct that Urrea had no right to a particular jury, Morris,
. Because the suppression and profile testimony issues would be likely to recur on remand, I would address those issues and reach the same conclusions as my colleagues. See State v. May,
