City of St. John v. Brockus

434 S.W.3d 90, 2014 WL 2109108, 2014 Mo. App. LEXIS 587
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 20, 2014
DocketNo. ED 99644
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 434 S.W.3d 90 (City of St. John v. Brockus) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of St. John v. Brockus, 434 S.W.3d 90, 2014 WL 2109108, 2014 Mo. App. LEXIS 587 (Mo. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

KURT S. ODENWALD, Judge.

Introduction

The matter on appeal presents a challenge to the validity of a municipal traffic regulation where state law addresses the same conduct regulated by the municipal ordinance. More specifically, we are asked to determine whether a municipal ordinance is void due to an alleged conflict with state law. In this case, Thomas Broc-kus (“Brockus”) appeals from the judgment of the trial court finding him guilty of violating four municipal ordinances in the City of St. John (“City”). Brockus was [92]*92stopped by a City police officer while driving his car for the sole reason that he was not wearing a seatbelt in violation of St. John Ordinance § 375.030 (“City’s seatbelt ordinance”). As a result of the traffic stop, Brockus was subsequently charged with driving without a seatbelt, driving while revoked, possession of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia. On appeal, Brockus argues that trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress all evidence arising out of the traffic stop because the stop was unlawful. Specifically, Brockus alleges that City’s seatbelt ordinance conflicts with state law and is therefore invalid. Because we find no conflict between City’s ordinance and state law, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.

Factual and Procedural History

The parties submitted this ease to the trial court on the following stipulated facts. City’s seatbelt ordinance is a “primary enforcement” ordinance, which allows law enforcement to stop and charge an individual for a violation of the City seatbelt ordinance without probable cause to believe any other ordinance or law has been violated. On May 24, 2011, a City police officer observed Brockus operating his motor vehicle without wearing a seatbelt. For this reason alone, the officer initiated a traffic stop. When the officer asked Brockus to produce his driver’s license and insurance information, Brockus replied that his license had been revoked. The officer then ran a computerized record check to verify the status of Brockus’s driving privileges and confirmed that Brockus’s Illinois Operator’s License was revoked.

■While talking to Brockus during the stop, the officer noticed a strong odor of burnt marijuana coming from within Broc-kus’s vehicle. Brockus admitted to the officer that he had been smoking marijuana just before the traffic stop and had thrown his “dugout” and “battie” on the passenger’s floorboard. The officer placed Brockus under arrest for driving with no seatbelt and driving while revoked. Thereafter, in conjunction with the towing of Brockus’s car, the officer conducted an inventory search of Brockus’s vehicle and found a wooden “dugout” pipe with green vegetation inside and a metal marijuana-smoking pipe on the passenger’s floorboard.

Brockus was subsequently charged with driving without a seatbelt in violation of St. John Ordinance § 375.030, driving while revoked in violation of St. John Ordinance § 390.160, possession of marijuana in violation of St. John Ordinance § 210.390, and possession of drug paraphernalia in violation of St. John Ordinance § 210.390.1 On March 21, 2012, Brockus filed a motion to suppress all evidence arising from the traffic stop and motion to dismiss alleging that the traffic stop and his subsequent arrest violated the Fourth Amendment. On January 30, 2013, Brockus filed a substitute motion to suppress and motion to dismiss alleging that, in addition to violating the Fourth Amendment, the traffic stop was unlawful because it was predicated upon an unconstitutional ordinance. Brockus argued that City’s seatbelt ordinance conflicts with state law because Section 307.178.22 prohibits police officers from initiating traffic stops solely for a seatbelt violation.

[93]*93The trial court heard argument on Broc-kus’s motion to suppress and motion to dismiss on January 30, 2013. At the hearing, the parties stipulated to a bench trial and agreed that if the trial court denied Brockus’s motion to suppress, the evidence and testimony would show that Brockus was guilty of the charges against him. Finding that City’s seatbelt ordinance does not conflict with state law, the trial court denied Brockus’s motion to suppress and thereafter entered its judgment finding Brockus guilty of all four charges. Broc-kus was sentenced to pay fines for each offense totaling $320.00, plus court costs. This appeal follows.

Point on Appeal

In his sole point on appeal, Brockus argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress all evidence arising out of the traffic stop because the traffic stop was predicated on an unconstitutional ordinance. Brockus contends that City’s seatbelt ordinance conflicts with Section 307.178 and is therefore unconstitutional and invalid.

Standard of Review

“When a case is tried on stipulated facts, the only issue we review on appeal is whether the trial court reached the proper legal conclusions from the stipulated facts.” Bowan ex rel. Bowan v. General Sec. Indemn. Co. of Arizona, 174 S.W.3d 1, 5 (Mo.App.E.D.2005). We will affirm the trial court’s decision unless there is no substantial evidence to support it, it is against the weight of the evidence, or it erroneously declares or applies the law. Murphy v. Carron, 536 S.W.2d 30, 32 (Mo. banc 1976). We review the interpretation of a municipal ordinance de novo. City of Bellefontaine Neighbors v. Scatizzi, 302 S.W.3d 730, 732 (Mo.App.E.D.2010).

Discussion

In his sole point on appeal, Brockus alleges that all evidence arising from the May 24, 2011 traffic stop should have been excluded from trial because the evidence was obtained as the result of an unlawful search. Brockus argues that the traffic stop was predicated on an unconstitutional ordinance because City’s primary enforcement seatbelt ordinance conflicts with state law, which is commonly referred to as a secondary enforcement law. Because the state statute addressing the wearing of seatbelts contains self-limiting language that does not extend beyond the enforcement of the state statute, we reject Broc-kus’s argument and find the municipal ordinance at issue valid and enforceable. As a result, the stop of Brockus’s car by City police was not unlawful, and the trial court properly denied Brockus’s motion to suppress evidence.

Municipal ordinances are generally presumed to be valid and lawful. McCollum v. Dir. of Revenue, 906 S.W.2d 368, 369 (Mo. banc 1995). If, however, an ordinance conflicts with the general laws of the state, the ordinance is void and unenforceable. Id.; Unverferth v. City of Florissant, 419 S.W.3d 76, 97 (MoApp.E.D.2013). “The test for determining if a conflict exists is whether the ordinance ‘permits what the statute prohibits’ or ‘prohibits what the statute permits.’ ” Page W., Inc. v. Cmty. Fire Prot. Dist. of St. Louis Cnty., 636 S.W.2d 65, 67 (Mo. banc 1982) (internal citation omitted).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
434 S.W.3d 90, 2014 WL 2109108, 2014 Mo. App. LEXIS 587, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-st-john-v-brockus-moctapp-2014.