Commonwealth v. Brown

250 S.W.3d 631, 2008 Ky. LEXIS 99, 2008 WL 1849621
CourtKentucky Supreme Court
DecidedApril 24, 2008
Docket2004-SC-000553-DG, 2006-SC-000160-DG
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 250 S.W.3d 631 (Commonwealth v. Brown) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Kentucky Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. Brown, 250 S.W.3d 631, 2008 Ky. LEXIS 99, 2008 WL 1849621 (Ky. 2008).

Opinions

Opinion of the Court by

Justice CUNNINGHAM.

We granted discretionary review of a decision of the Court of Appeals which held that the stop of Appellee/Cross-Ap-pellant, Lamont Houston Brown, was constitutionally deficient, and that all of the evidence and statements flowing from the stop were therefore tainted and inadmissible. We disagree, and therefore, reverse.

Beginning on March 11, 2002, Detective Keith Ford of the Lexington Police Department began receiving anonymous phone calls from a woman claiming Brown was selling cocaine. The woman gave Brown’s address, and said he drove a black car belonging to his wife. Between March 11, 2002 and September 12, 2002, Ford received approximately seven more calls from the anonymous woman, later dubbed “Lady X.” Lady X claimed that Brown’s drug activities took place during the early evening hours in the Green Acres, Lasalle, and Hollow Creek areas. Ford obtained a picture of Brown and investigated to the extent that he determined Brown lived at the address indicated by the caller, that a black car belonging to Brown’s wife parked at the residence, and that Brown had a criminal record. Ford also drove by Brown’s residence on four or five occasions. Twice the black car belonging to Brown’s wife was there, and the other times it was not. When it was not, Ford attempted to locate the vehicle in the area, but was unsuccessful.

On September 12, 2002, at approximately 5:30 p.m., Ford received a call from Lady X telling him that Brown was “leaving at that moment” in the black car with a quantity of cocaine and was going to make some deliveries of the cocaine in a specified area of town. Ford decided to round up some other officers, including Sergeant Edward Hart, to assist him in locating Brown and investigating the complaint. The officers headed to the area which Lady X had mentioned. While waiting at a stoplight, Sergeant Hart observed a man who looked like Brown driving the black car through the parking lot of a Hollywood Video store. Hart radioed this information to Ford.

Sergeant Hart subsequently located the car in a parking lot behind a Huddle House restaurant near the employee entrance. Hart observed a person wearing a Huddle House apron approach and stand by the car. Based upon the collective information he had received, observations he had made that day, and his own experience, Hart believed that a drug transaction was occurring.1 Hart again radioed Ford [633]*633and informed him about the suspected drug buy going down. Hart waited for Ford to get closer, and then they both pulled into the parking lot. Hart pulled his vehicle in at an angle behind Brown’s car, and Ford parked his vehicle beside Brown’s car.

Brown was in the driver’s seat; a juvenile female later identified as Brown’s fifteen-year-old stepdaughter was in the passenger seat; and a man later identified as Brian York, a Huddle House employee, was leaning into the open window on the driver’s side of the vehicle. The officers exited their cars and approached Brown’s vehicle. As the officers approached, York looked at the police in amazement. He was “very excited” and immediately backed away from the car. Ford approached from the passenger side and Hart approached from the driver’s side. One of the officers observed Brown pull something out of his pocket, and both officers saw Brown put something into his mouth. The officers extracted Brown from the vehicle. They ordered him to spit out what he had put into his mouth, but he did not initially comply. A white paste began forming around Brown’s mouth, a symptom consistent with cocaine ingestion. While being handcuffed, Brown continued to chew and swallow. He soon began exhibiting other medical symptoms consistent with having swallowed cocaine. Emergency medical personnel were called, and Ford rode in the ambulance "with Brown to the hospital. Brown indicated to the paramedics that he had swallowed cocaine. He eventually spit out a piece of paper.

York subsequently told the police officers that he was purchasing $200 worth of cocaine from Brown. No money was discovered on York’s person, but two $100 bills were found in Brown’s vehicle. Other than the packet which Brown had put into his mouth, no other drugs were discovered on Brown’s person or in the black car. The state police lab confirmed that the paper spit out by Brown tested positive for cocaine.

Brown was charged with first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance, tampering with physical evidence, and being a first-degree persistent felony offender. Brown moved to suppress the evidence seized, as well as his incriminating statements, on grounds that all flowed from an illegal stop. The trial court denied the motion to suppress, finding the anonymous tip, combined with the officers having observed Brown in a vehicle while engaged in a possible drug transaction, was sufficient for reasonable suspicion justifying an investigatory stop.

Brown subsequently entered a conditional guilty plea to trafficking in a controlled substance, tampering with physical evidence, and being a persistent felony offender in the first degree. He reserved the right to appeal the trial court’s denial of his suppression motion. In accordance with the plea agreement, Brown was sentenced to ten years imprisonment. The Court of Appeals reversed. Citing Florida v. J.L., 529 U.S. 266, 120 S.Ct. 1375, 146 L.Ed.2d 254 (2000), the court found the anonymous tip was not sufficiently corroborated to provide the requisite reasonable suspicion for the stop.

At the time the officers approached Brown’s vehicle, he was already stopped. The car’s gear was in the parked position, and Brown was talking to the Huddle House employee through the open window. Brown may not have been stopped, but it would appear he was “seized” within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. In [634]*634view of all the circumstances surrounding the incident, a reasonable person would most likely not have felt free to leave. United States v. Mendenhall, 446 U.S. 544, 100 S.Ct. 1870, 64 L.Ed.2d 497 (1980). Thus, the officers were conducting an investigatory stop when they observed Brown swallowing the evidence as they walked up to his vehicle.

An officer may conduct an investigatory stop of a person if he has a reasonable articulable suspicion that criminal activity may be afoot. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968). A reviewing court must weigh the totality of the circumstances in determining whether there was a reasonable articu-lable suspicion. Id. An anonymous tip, standing alone, will rarely exhibit sufficient indicia of reliability to provide reasonable suspicion, because “[ujnlike 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, an anonymous tip alone seldom demonstrates the informant’s basis of knowledge or veracity.” J.L., 529 U.S. at 270, 120 S.Ct. at 1378 (citations and internal quotation marks omitted). “[H]owever, there are situations in which an anonymous tip, suitably corroborated, exhibits ‘sufficient indicia of reliability to provide reasonable suspicion to make the investigatory stop.’ ” Id., quoting Alabama v. White, 496 U.S. 325, 327, 110 S.Ct. 2412, 2414, 110 L.Ed.2d 301 (1990).

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Commonwealth v. Brown
250 S.W.3d 631 (Kentucky Supreme Court, 2008)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
250 S.W.3d 631, 2008 Ky. LEXIS 99, 2008 WL 1849621, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-brown-ky-2008.