Hampton v. Commonwealth

231 S.W.3d 740, 2007 WL 2403401
CourtKentucky Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 4, 2007
Docket2006-SC-000122-MR
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 231 S.W.3d 740 (Hampton v. Commonwealth) 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
Hampton v. Commonwealth, 231 S.W.3d 740, 2007 WL 2403401 (Ky. 2007).

Opinion

Opinion of the Court by

Justice NOBLE.

Appellant, Leroy Hampton, was convicted of multiple drug charges, found to be a first-degree persistent felony offender (PFO), and was sentenced to twenty years in prison. On appeal, he argues that his conviction should be reversed because (1) the police improperly searched him and seized evidence from his person in violation of his Fourth Amendment rights, (2) he was entitled to a directed verdict as to the drug charges, and (3) his prosecution for possession of both a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia on which the controlled substance was found violated the constitutional proscription against double jeopardy. Finding no reversible error, Appellant’s conviction is affirmed.

I. Background

On April 30, 2005, Police Officer Erik Woodward received a tip around 4:00 a.m. of possible drug activity at a house in Bowling Green. Officer Woodward, along with Officer Jeff Eversoll and several other officers from the Bowling Green Police Department, proceeded to the home to investigate the tip. Officers Woodward and Eversoll parked a block from the residence and proceeded to the house on foot. At this time, eight to ten people came out of the house and began getting into their cars.

Appellant had just gotten into the rear passenger seat of one of the cars when Officer Eversoll walked up to it and opened the passenger-side door. He saw Appellant put something in his shoe, though he could not identify the object. Officer Eversoll ordered Appellant out of the car. After several minutes, Appellant consented to a search of his person, which led to the discovery of a pipe in Appellant’s shoe. He was arrested and taken to jail.

At the jail, Appellant was asked if he had any contraband on his person, and answered that he did not. A subsequent search of Appellant revealed a second pipe in one of Appellant’s pockets. Scientific tests of the two pipes indicated that both had cocaine residue on them.

Appellant was charged with first-degree possession of a controlled substance (second offense) for the cocaine residue on the pipes, first-degree promoting contraband for attempting to bring the second pipe with residue into the jail, possession of *744 drug paraphernalia, and being a first-degree persistent felony offender (PFO). At trial, he presented no evidence in his own defense, and was found guilty on all counts. The jury recommended ten years for the possession of a controlled substance charge (enhanced to twenty years for the PFO), five years for the contraband charge (also enhanced to twenty years for the PFO), and twelve months and a $500 fine for the possession of drug paraphernalia charge. The sentences were ordered to run concurrently for a total of twenty years. Appellant now appeals to this Court as a matter of right. Ky. Const. § 110(2)(b).

II. Analysis

A. Suppression of the Cocaine and Pipe Evidence

Appellant first claims that the pipes should have been suppressed as the product of an illegal search and seizure. Specifically, he argues that the police had no reasonable, articulable suspicion that criminal activity was afoot, as required by Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968), and its progeny, when they had him get out of the car to be searched. He also argues that the officer’s opening of the car door without first asking him to step out of the car exceeded his authority during the Terry stop. Finally, he claims that his consent to the search of his person was involuntary and coerced.

1. Reasonable and Articulable Suspicion

Officers must have a reasonable and articulable suspicion that a crime is occurring before they may perform a temporary investigative stop of a person on foot, id. at 21, 88 S.Ct. at 1879-80, or driving a car. Delaware v. Prouse, 440 U.S. 648, 663, 99 S.Ct. 1391, 1401, 59 L.Ed.2d 660, 673 (1979). Whether the information the police have is sufficient to give rise to such a suspicion is evaluated under the totality of the circumstances. Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 241-42, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 2334, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983). Appellant claims the officers in this case had no such suspicion because the tip on which they relied in initially approaching the house was unreliable and uncorroborated, and because the additional evidence of people running from the house and prior reports of drug activity at the house were insufficient.

The tip that Appellant complains about came from a man riding a bike in the neighborhood. The man told the officers that drug activity was going on at a nearby house, though he did not say whether he had been inside it. He did not give an address, but he described the appearance of the house and its specific location in relation to a nearby intersection. The man did not describe Appellant, nor did he describe any of the vehicles at the house.

The officers did not know the name of the man, though they were familiar with him, having spoken with him previously and having received tips from him on several occasions. They also testified that they knew the man rode his bike at such an odd hour because he claimed to have insomnia. Officer Woodward testified that he had talked with the man on a regular basis and that he had given three to five tips that had proven reliable. Officer Ev-ersoll, however, testified that he had not been able to follow-up on the man’s tips in the past.

In light of this testimony, the trial court made specific factual findings about the tip:

THE COURT FINDS that on April 30, 2005, Officer Woodward received a tip from a man with whom he was familiar and who had provided reliable infor *745 mation regarding illegal activity on several occasions over the past year. The man, according to Officer Woodward’s testimony!,] rides his bike at night because of insomnia and provided Officer Woodward on the night in question with a tip that drug activity was occurring at 741 East 11th Street. Based on this tip, Officers Woodward and Eversoll, as well as other police officers, approached the house within 15 minutes of receiving the tip.

Appellant complains that the “tip” was tantamount to one from an anonymous informant, and that it was unreliable because it was not corroborated, and therefore could not serve as the basis of a reasonable and articulable suspicion. A truly anonymous tip must bear some increased indicia of reliability such as independent verification before the police may rely on it. See Florida v. J.L., 529 U.S. 266, 276,120 S.Ct. 1375, 1381, 146 L.Ed.2d 254 (2000) (holding that anonymous tip corroborated only as to the readily observable location and appearance of a suspect was insufficient to give reasonable, articu-lable suspicion); Alabama v. White, 496 U.S. 325, 332, 110 S.Ct.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
231 S.W.3d 740, 2007 WL 2403401, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hampton-v-commonwealth-ky-2007.