Brooks v. Commonwealth

488 S.W.3d 18, 2016 Ky. App. LEXIS 17
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedFebruary 19, 2016
DocketNO. 2014-CA-001226-MR
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 488 S.W.3d 18 (Brooks v. Commonwealth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brooks v. Commonwealth, 488 S.W.3d 18, 2016 Ky. App. LEXIS 17 (Ky. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

OPINION

D. LAMBERT, JUDGE:

This matter is before the Court on appeal from an order entered by the Montgomery Circüit Court denying the suppression motion of the Appellant and defendant in the action below, Gary Brooks. For the reasons herein described, wé reverse.

I. Factual and Procedural History

On January 3, 2014, Montgomery County Deputy Sheriff Kevin Carr<?ll was on routine patrol when he was flagged down by an unidentified female in a parking lot on Cartwright Road in Jeffersonville, This witness advised Can-oil that she had just seen what appeared to be a domestic dispute taking place between the occupants of a black car, which was traveling on Cartwright Road toward Trimble Trailer Park.. Though the witness did not identify the car in any manner beyond its color, she described ■ the .occupants: . an adult female driver, an . adult male passenger, and two children in- the' back seat*

, Deputy Carroll sought no further information from the witness, including her own identity, and instead proceeded down Cartwright Road toward Trimble Trailer Park to investigate. He stated that Cartwright Road is the only means of access to the main road for Trimble Trailer Park, and so he pulled off Cartwright Road to wait and watch for- the- subject vehicle. After a few minutes, Carroll sighted a black car, with a female driver, a male passenger (Brooks).,- and , two children in the back seat, emerging from the trailer park. He. then pulled behind the subject vehicle, engaged his cruiser’s .light bar and pulled the vehicle over.

.Carroll then approached the vehicle on foot to perform a welfare check on the occupants. He testified both at the preliminary hearing and the suppression hearing that he asked if the occupants had been fighting. He testified that he “couldn’t get a lot out of the driver,” who refused to make eye contact, and spoke in a quieted voice. He further testified that Brooks spoke over the driver, and answered Carroll’s questions for her.

Carroll stated that the female driver’s behavior “threw up a flag to me,” given his training and experience, and it appeared to him' that she was frightened and trying to hide something. He then decided, consistent with his training and- experience, that the better course of action to investigate would be to separate the driver and Brooks to question them separately.

It was about that point in time that a second officer, Deputy Ashton Thornberry, arrived on the scene. Carroll was oh the driver’s side of the vehicle and asked her to step out with him while Brooks would step out and speak with Thornberry. Carroll-testified that, in that instant, he noticed something in Brooks’ right hand. Upon Carroll’.s verbal warning to Thornberry about the item in Brooks’ [21]*21hand, Brooks attempted to surreptitiously drop the object in the floor of the vehicle as he stepped out. . The object in Brooks’ hand turned out .to be a handful of prescription pills, which landed in plain view in the vehicle’s passenger side floorboard. When asked, Brooks denied knowledge of the pills, and was arrested for possession of a controlled substance.

Brooks was subsequently indicted on three counts related to the pills. He was charged with possession of a controlled substance in the first degree, as some of the pills were methadone, a Schedule II controlled, substance. He was charged with possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, as some of the pills were alprazolam, a Schedule IV controlled substance. The final charge of his indictment was possession of a controlled substance not in original container.

Defense counsel,moved to suppress the pills. A suppression hearing took place on April 22, 2014, at which the trial court made oral findings that the stop arid arrest were proper. The written order reflected only the denial of the motion.

Brooks entered a conditional guilty plea on May 23, 2014, reserving the right to appeal the trial court’s ruling on the suppression motion. , He was • sentenced on July 1, 2014, receiving a one-year sentence on the first-degree possession charge, a twelve-month sentence on the third-degree possession charge, and ninety days on the improper container charge. These sentences were probated for two years.

This appeal followed, wherein Brooks argues that the stop was improper, and the pills improperly admitted as fruit of the poisonous tree.

II. Análysis

A. Standard of Review

The standard of review for a trial court’s ruling on a motion to suppress evidence involves-a two-step review. The reviewing court must first determine whether the trial court’s factual findings were supported by substantial evidence. Dixon v. Commonwealth, 149 S.W.3d-426 (Ky.2004). If they were, the factual findings were conclusive, and the reviewing court- must then determine whether the trial court properly applied the law to its findings under, a de novo standard. Orne-las v. United States, 517 U.S. 690, 116 S.Ct. 1657, 134 L.Ed.2d 911 (1996); Commonwealth v. Whitmore, 92 S.W.3d 76 (Ky.2003).

Neither party contests the trial court’s findings of fact; therefore, this Court’s analysis will focus on the second prong-of the test, and review the trial court’s conclusions of law de novo.

B. The Traffic Stop Was Not Supported by Reasonable Suspicion of Criminal Activity

“No right is held more sacred, or more carefully guarded, by the common law, than the-right of . every individual to the possession and control over his own person[.]” Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 9, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 1873, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968). For this reason, warrantless searches are presumed unreasonable unless they fall within a. clearly defined exception to the warrant requirement. Katz v. U.S., 389 U.S. 347, 356-357, 88 S.Ct. 507, 514, 19 L.Ed.2d 576 (1967); Chandler v. Miller, 520 U.S. 305, 117 S.Ct. 1295, 137 L.Ed.2d 513 (1997). The prosecution bears the burden of proving a warrantless search was reasonable. Commonwealth v. McManus, 107 S.W.3d 175,177 (Ky.2003) (citing Vale v. Louisiana, 399 U.S. 30, 34, 90 S.Ct. 1969, 1972, 26 L.Ed.2d 409 (1970)).

The Supreme Court of the- United States has previously held that brief, in[22]*22vestigatory stops are permissible if supported by a reasonable and articulable suspicion. Terry, supra. While Terry dealt specifically with stopping and searching an individual’s person, the rule has also been applied to searches of vehicles. See Piercy v. Commonwealth, 303 S.W.3d 492, 496 (Ky.App.2010). Law enforcement officers are permitted to perform investigatory stops if “an officer [possesses] either probable cause of a civil infraction or reasonable suspicion of criminal activity.” U.S. v. Lyons,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
488 S.W.3d 18, 2016 Ky. App. LEXIS 17, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brooks-v-commonwealth-kyctapp-2016.