In Re the Welfare of T.L.S.

713 N.W.2d 877, 2006 Minn. App. LEXIS 66, 2006 WL 1229164
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedMay 9, 2006
DocketA05-861
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 713 N.W.2d 877 (In Re the Welfare of T.L.S.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re the Welfare of T.L.S., 713 N.W.2d 877, 2006 Minn. App. LEXIS 66, 2006 WL 1229164 (Mich. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

*879 OPINION

ROSS, Judge.

In this appeal from an adjudication of delinquency on one count of possession of a dangerous weapon, appellant T.L.S. contends that the district court erroneously denied her motion to suppress the knife that officers found when they searched her purse. T.L.S. maintains that because the arresting officers lacked probable cause to arrest her, and bécause the offenses for' which they might have had probable cause do not permit a custodial arrest, the search violated her constitutional rights. We affirm.

FACTS

Two St. Paul police officers responded to a call from Area Learning Center (ALC) about a former student who was acting disorderly and refusing to leave the school building. That, former student, appellant T.L.S., went to ALC seeking readmission, and a school administrator told.her that she had been transferred to another school. T.L.S.. became upset and began yelling. A school administrator asked T.L.S. to leave, but she refused. The administrator warned T.L.S. that if she did not leave, he would call the police. T.L.S. still refused.

When uniformed police officers arrived, the school administrator directed them to T.L.S. They found her in the school administrative office. T.L.S. responded to the officers by declaring that she was not going to leave. An officer ordered T.L.S. to leave the building and wátaed that if she refused, she would be taken into custody and delivered to' the truancy center. T.L.S. said that she'wanted to call her mother. She ignored the instruction to leave and picked up a telephone. One Of the officers took the telephone 'from T.L.S., and T.L.S. began shouting profanities. As the district court would later find, T.L.S. “was shrieking at the officer,” and the noise was “disruptive to the running of the school and purposes of the school.” T.L.S..continued to refuse to leave, so the officers seized her- and escorted her from the building.

T.L.S.’s “loud shrieking” continued, and she shouted profanities at the officers as they removed her. Outside, the officers tried unsuccessfully to calm her. T.L.S.’s hostility continued, and the officers handcuffed her. T.L.S. refused to identify herself upon the officers’ request, shouting, “Yop dumb mother f — ing b — h ass cop you figure it out since you. know every f— ing thing!” The officers placed T.L.S. in a patrol car, searched her purse, and found a seven-inch steak knife.

The' state filed a juvenile-delinquency petition charging T.L.S. with possession of a dangerous weapon on school property, in violation of Minn.Stat. § 609.66, subd. ld(a) (2004), and disorderly conduct, in violation of Minn.Stat. § 609.72, subd. 1(3) (2004). T.L.S. moved to suppress admission of the knife, but the district court denied the motion. The state and T.L.S. agreed to submit the case to the court for a decision on the merits based on the testimony presented at the suppression hearing and on the documentary record. The district court found T.L.S. delinquent for possession of a dangerous weapon on school property, acquitted her of the disorderly conduct charge, and placed her on supervised probation. This appeal follows.

ISSUE

Did the district court err by denying T.L.S.’s motion to suppress evidence seized during a search incident to arrest for disorderly conduct, when probable cause- for the misdemeanor violation is based on the manner of delivering constitutionally protected speech, and on an uncharged trespassing violation?

*880 ANALYSIS

T.L.S. argues that the search of her purse was constitutionally infirm and, therefore, that the district court erred by denying her motion to suppress. See Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 484, 83 S.Ct. 407, 416, 9 L.Ed.2d 441 (1963) (explaining that “evidence seized during an unlawful search [ean]not constitute proof against the victim of the search”); State v. Harris, 590 N.W.2d 90, 97 (Minn.1999). When the facts underlying a pretrial motion to suppress are undisputed, this court independently reviews the record to determine, as a matter of law, whether the district court erred by denying the motion. State v. Othoudt, 482 N.W.2d 218, 221 (Minn.1992). A determination of “probable cause as it relates to warrantless searches” is also subject to de novo review. In re Welfare of G.M., 560 N.W.2d 687, 690 (Minn.1997).

The federal and state constitutions prohibit unreasonable searches and seizures. U.S. Const. Amend. IV; Minn. Const, art I, § 10. Under both constitutions, a warrantless search is unreasonable unless it fits within one of the narrow exceptions to the warrant requirement. State v. Dickerson, 481 N.W.2d 840, 843 (Minn.1992), aff'd 508 U.S. 366, 113 S.Ct. 2130, 124 L.Ed.2d 334 (1993). A search incident to an arrest is an exception to the warrant requirement. United States v. Robinson, 414 U.S. 218, 235, 94 S.Ct. 467, 477, 38 L.Ed.2d 427 (1973). If a police officer has probable cause to arrest, the officer may search an arrested person for weapons or evidence. State v. Varnado, 582 N.W.2d 886, 892 (Minn.1998). Probable cause to arrest exists when “the objective facts are such that under the circumstances, a person of ordinary care and prudence would entertain an honest and strong suspicion that a crime has been committed.” G.M., 560 N.W.2d at 695. We first determine whether the officers had probable cause to believe T.L.S. engaged in disorderly conduct in violation of Minnesota Statutes § 609.72.

T.L.S. argues that the officers did not have probable cause to arrest her for disorderly conduct because swearing at police officers cannot alone constitute disorderly conduct, relying on In re S.L.J., 263 N.W.2d 412 (Minn.1978). She misreads S.L.J. In S.L.J., the supreme court held that the prohibition of “offensive, obscene, or abusive language” in the disorderly conduct statute violates the First Amendment, and it construed the provision to proscribe “only ... the use of 'fighting words.’ ” Id. at 418-19. The statute does not limit disorderly conduct to fighting words; it also includes “abusive, boisterous, or noisy conduct.” Minn.Stat. § 609.72, subd. 1(3) (2004). So in light of the holding of S.L.J., it is certain that T.L.S.’s words alone did not constitute disorderly conduct based on their content, despite their rude and offensive nature. But the S.L.J. court addressed only that portion of the statute that criminalized “offensive, obscene, or abusive language.” Id. In construing the statute to limit speech-based disorderly conduct to fighting words, the S.L.J.

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Bluebook (online)
713 N.W.2d 877, 2006 Minn. App. LEXIS 66, 2006 WL 1229164, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-welfare-of-tls-minnctapp-2006.