C.D.M. v. State

63 So. 3d 1285, 2010 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 96, 2010 WL 4380245
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Alabama
DecidedNovember 5, 2010
DocketCR-09-1337
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 63 So. 3d 1285 (C.D.M. v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
C.D.M. v. State, 63 So. 3d 1285, 2010 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 96, 2010 WL 4380245 (Ala. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

WISE, Presiding Judge.

The appellant, C.D.M., entered a guilty plea and was adjudicated delinquent based on the underlying charges of carrying a pistol without a license, a violation of § 13A-ll-73(a)(l), Ala.Code 1975, and unlawful possession of marijuana, a violation of § 13A-12-214, Ala. Code 1975. The juvenile court ordered him to complete gun court and to spend fourteen days in detention followed by electronic monitoring. C.D.M. did not file any post-judgment motions. This appeal followed.

During the suppression hearing, Officer Justin Rossomme testified that, around 5:00 p.m. on May 21, 2010, he received a call from dispatch; that it was a “signal 52” call, which is a call involving a firearm; that dispatch told him that, at 305 Lawson Road, there was a black male wearing dark jeans and a short-sleeved polo shirt that looked like a school uniform shirt; that dispatch told him that the male was seen walking into an abandoned house and that the caller then heard gunfire from inside of the house; that he was about two minutes away from that location and responded to the call; that, when he and his partner approached the location, he saw C.D.M. walking down Lawson Road; that C.D.M.’s clothing matched the description of the subject in the call; that C.D.M. was between one and two blocks from the address given by the caller; and that there was not anyone else on Lawson Road at that time. He also testified that he and his partner pulled over, and he got out of their vehicle; that they “were going to conduct a field interview to find out either ... if he was the person that was involved [1286]*1286in that call, or if he had known anything about the call, if he had heard gunshots, if he had seen someone matching the description like that”; that they asked C.D.M. if he had any weapons, and he said, “No”; that they patted down C.D.M. for officer safety; and that, during the pat-down, they found a pistol. (R. 10, 11.) Finally, Rossomme testified that he did not receive any information from dispatch regarding the identity of the caller.

C.D.M. argues that the juvenile court erroneously denied his motion to suppress the pistol and marijuana law enforcement officers seized from his person. Specifically, he contends that the juvenile court should have suppressed the pistol because the officers did not have reasonable suspicion to believe that he was armed and dangerous when they conducted the pat-down search. Relying on the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Florida v. J.L., 529 U.S. 266, 120 S.Ct. 1375, 146 L.Ed.2d 254 (2000), and this court’s decision in B.J.C. v. State, 992 So.2d 90 (Ala.Crim.App.2008), he asserts that the anonymous call in this case did not justify the patdown search because it did not include any predictive information; because the officers could have possibly corroborated the information that a gun had been fired inside the abandoned house, but did not; and because the officers corroborated only his “‘readily observable location and appearance.’ ” (C.D.M.’s brief at p. 12.)

In J.L., law enforcement authorities received an anonymous tip stating that a young black male wearing a plaid shirt was carrying a gun and was at a particular bus stop. The facts in that case indicated that officers went to the bus stop and saw three black males; that J.L. was at the bus stop and was wearing a plaid shirt; and that, at that time, the officers approached the three black males, frisked them, and found a gun in J.L.’s pocket. The United States Supreme Court addressed the issue of whether law enforcement officers were justified in stopping and frisking J.L. based on the anonymous tip as follows:

“Our ‘stop and frisk’ decisions begin with Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968). This Court held in Terry:
“ ‘[Wjhere a police officer observes unusual conduct which leads him reasonably to conclude in light of his experience that criminal activity may be afoot and that the persons with whom he is dealing may be armed and presently dangerous, where in the course of investigating this behavior he identifies himself as a policeman and makes reasonable inquiries, and where nothing in the initial stages of the encounter serves to dispel his reasonable fear for his own or others’ safety, he is entitled for the protection of himself and others in the area to conduct a carefully limited search of the outer clothing of such persons in an attempt to discover weapons which might be used to assault him.’ Id., at 30.
“In the instant case, the officers’ suspicion that J.L. was carrying a weapon arose not from any observations of their own but solely from a call made from an unknown location by an unknown caller. Unlike a tip from a known informant whose reputation can be assessed and who can be held responsible if her allegations turn out to be fabricated, see Adams v. Williams, 407 U.S. 143, 146-147 (1972), ‘an anonymous tip alone seldom demonstrates the informant’s basis of knowledge or veracity,’ Alabama v. White, 496 U.S. [325], at 329 [ (1990) ]. As we have recognized, however, there are situations in which an anonymous tip, suitably corroborated, exhibits ‘sufficient indicia of reliability to provide reasonable suspicion to make the investiga[1287]*1287tory stop.’ Id., at 327. The question we here confront is whether the tip pointing to J.L. had those indicia of reliability.
“In White, the police received an anonymous tip asserting that a woman was carrying cocaine and predicting that she would leave an apartment building at a specified time, get into a car matching a particular description, and drive to a named motel. Ibid. Standing alone, the tip would not have justified a Terry stop. 496 U.S., at 329. Only after police observation showed that the informant had accurately predicted the woman’s movements, we explained, did it become reasonable to think the tipster had inside knowledge about the suspect and therefore to credit his assertion about the cocaine. Id., at 332. Although the Court held that the suspicion in White became reasonable after police surveillance, we regarded the case as borderline. Knowledge about a person’s future movements indicates some familiarity with that person’s affairs, but having such knowledge does not necessarily imply that the informant knows, in particular, whether that person is carrying hidden contraband. We accordingly classified White as a ‘close case.’ Ibid.
“The tip in the instant case lacked the moderate indicia of reliability present in White and essential to the Court’s decision in that case. The anonymous call concerning J.L. provided no predictive information and therefore left the police without means to test the informant’s knowledge or credibility. That the allegation about the gun turned out to be correct does not suggest that the officers, prior to the frisks, had a reasonable basis for suspecting J.L. of engaging in unlawful conduct: The reasonableness of official suspicion must be measured by what the officers knew before they conducted their search. All the police had to go on in this case was the bare report of an unknown, unaccountable informant who neither explained how he knew about the gun nor supplied any basis for believing he had inside information about J.L. If White

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
63 So. 3d 1285, 2010 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 96, 2010 WL 4380245, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cdm-v-state-alacrimapp-2010.