D.H. v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)

Indiana Court of Appeals·Decided July 17, 2020·No. 19A-JV-2403·Published

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION Pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 65(D), this Memorandum Decision shall not be FILED regarded as precedent or cited before any Jul 17 2020, 10:15 am

court except for the purpose of establishing CLERK Indiana Supreme Court

the defense of res judicata, collateral Court of Appeals and Tax Court

estoppel, or the law of the case.

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE Ash O. Kulak Curtis T. Hill, Jr. Lawrence County Attorney General of Indiana Public Defender Agency Sierra A. Murray

Bedford, Indiana Deputy Attorney General Indianapolis, Indiana

IN THE

COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA

D.H., July 17, 2020 Appellant-Respondent, Court of Appeals Case No.

19A-JV-2403

v. Appeal from the Lawrence Circuit Court

State of Indiana, The Honorable Nathan G. Nikirk, Appellee-Plaintiff, Judge Trial Court Cause No.

47C01-1811-JD-377

Robb, Judge.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 19A-JV-2403 | July 17, 2020 Page 1 of 18

Case Summary and Issues

[1] D.H. appeals his adjudication as a delinquent child for what would be

possession of marijuana, a Class B misdemeanor if committed by an adult. D.H. raises multiple issues for our review, which we consolidate and restate as whether the juvenile court abused its discretion by admitting evidence obtained in violation of D.H.’s rights under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article 1, section 11 of the Indiana Constitution. Concluding D.H.’s rights were not violated under either constitutional provision and the juvenile court did not abuse its discretion, we affirm D.H.’s adjudication.

Facts and Procedural History 1

[2] On October 2, 2018, seventeen-year-old D.H. left a friend’s house and was headed to his grandmother’s house located in a trailer park when he met two other friends and the three began walking down the street. At the same time, Captain Morgan Lee of the Bedford Police Department (“BPD”) was patrolling the area in full uniform and in a marked police vehicle. Captain Lee saw D.H. and his friends walking east and as he passed them going west, “they all kind of stopped and looked at [him] and gave [him]. . . a funny look.” Transcript of Evidence, Volume 2 at 7. Captain Lee watched the boys in his rearview mirror

1 The facts in this case are comprised of testimony from the factfinding hearing held on July 23, 2019, as well as evidence from the suppression hearing held on July 2 that is not in direct conflict with evidence introduced at the factfinding hearing. See Kelley v. State, 825 N.E.2d 420, 426 (Ind. Ct. App. 2005).

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 19A-JV-2403 | July 17, 2020 Page 2 of 18 and noticed that they “seemed to start walking off real fast” as if “they were trying to avoid [him].” Id. at 7, 42.

[3] Captain Lee hit his brakes, turned around, and noticed that D.H. and his friends “hurried off” into the trailer park. Id. at 42. Captain Lee drove into the trailer park to locate them. Captain Lee did not activate any lights or sirens on his police vehicle. When Captain Lee located D.H. and his friends, he “stopped right there with all three of them.” Id. at 44. Captain Lee asked why they were “acting so suspiciously[,]” requested their identification, and called dispatch to have their information run through the police system. Id. at 42. By this time, BPD Major Jeremy Bridges had arrived on the scene in full uniform after receiving a call from Captain Lee for backup.

[4] While Captain Lee was waiting on dispatch to return information concerning the juveniles,2 Major Bridges was standing next to the juveniles and identified an odor of raw marijuana. Major Bridges was closest to D.H. and believed the odor came from his direction. Major Bridges then conducted a patdown of D.H.’s outer garments and felt “a baggie with what [he] believe[d] to be a plant- like material.” Id. at 20. From his training and experience, Major Bridges believed it to be marijuana. When Major Bridges asked what it was, D.H. responded, “I don’t know. Probably a little bag of weed or something.” Id. at 57. Major Bridges reached inside D.H.’s left pants pocket and found a baggy

2 No reports were returned about D.H., but dispatch reported that one of the other juveniles was a runaway.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 19A-JV-2403 | July 17, 2020 Page 3 of 18 containing a plant-like material, which later field-tested positive for marijuana. The officers arrested D.H. and transported him to BPD.

[5] On November 9, 2018, the State filed a delinquency petition, alleging D.H. committed possession of marijuana, a Class B misdemeanor if committed by an adult. D.H. filed a motion to suppress alleging that the marijuana was obtained from an unlawful investigatory stop, search, and seizure. A hearing was held on that motion on July 2, 2019, and the juvenile court denied D.H.’s motion to suppress from the bench. Specifically, the juvenile court concluded,

The individuals were in a group. The officer turned around. I don’t know why he went back, but he did and he went and talked with them. The individuals at that time were free to leave. They were not in custody at that point. And I heard no testimony today . . . that the officers told the boys during the initial contact that they were compelled to stay there, that they had to stay. The testimony is pretty clear that . . . during the conversation between the officer and the boys, the officer smelled marijuana, that creates the reasonable suspicion at that point. It sounds like a patdown was then conducted. Marijuana was found. There’s probable cause for the arrest.

Id. at 34-35.

[6] At the factfinding hearing, the juvenile court admitted into evidence pictures of the marijuana over D.H.’s objection. D.H. was adjudicated a delinquent child and on September 10, 2019, the juvenile court entered its dispositional order, ordering D.H. to pay court costs and fees. D.H. now appeals his adjudication.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 19A-JV-2403 | July 17, 2020 Page 4 of 18

Discussion and Decision

[7] D.H. argues that evidence concerning his possession of marijuana should have

been excluded from his factfinding hearing because it was obtained in violation of his rights under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article 1, section 11 of the Indiana Constitution. Two warrantless encounters merit discussion in this case: (1) the initial encounter between D.H. and Captain Lee and (2) the patdown of D.H. by Major Bridges.

I. Standard of Review

[8] D.H. brings this appeal following his factfinding hearing, rather than as an

interlocutory appeal of the denial of his motion to suppress and therefore, we review this appeal as a challenge to the juvenile court’s admission of evidence at the factfinding hearing. Clark v. State, 994 N.E.2d 252, 259 (Ind. 2013). A juvenile court’s decision to admit or exclude evidence is reviewed for an abuse of discretion. Young v. State, 980 N.E.2d 412, 417 (Ind. Ct. App. 2012). A juvenile court abuses its discretion when its decision is clearly against the logic and effect of the facts and circumstances or when the court has misinterpreted the law. Id. We do not reweigh the evidence, and we consider conflicting evidence most favorable to the trial court’s ruling. Patterson v. State, 958 N.E.2d 478, 482 (Ind. Ct. App. 2011). We also consider uncontested evidence favorable to the defendant. Id. The constitutionality of a search is a question of law, which we review de novo. Kelly v. State, 997 N.E.2d 1045, 1050 (Ind. 2013).

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 19A-JV-2403 | July 17, 2020 Page 5 of 18

Similarly, determinations of reasonable suspicion and probable cause are reviewed de novo. Myers v. State, 839 N.E.2d 1146, 1150 (Ind. 2005).

II. The Fourth Amendment

[9] The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees:

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