In re V.C.R.

742 S.E.2d 566, 227 N.C. App. 80, 2013 WL 1876772, 2013 N.C. App. LEXIS 484
CourtCourt of Appeals of North Carolina
DecidedMay 7, 2013
DocketNo. COA12-1127
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 742 S.E.2d 566 (In re V.C.R.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re V.C.R., 742 S.E.2d 566, 227 N.C. App. 80, 2013 WL 1876772, 2013 N.C. App. LEXIS 484 (N.C. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinions

McCullough, Judge.

BACKGROUND

This case stems from an encounter between then fifteen-year-old juvenile, V.C.R., and Officer D.L. Bond of the Raleigh Police Department on 9 June 2010. On that date, Officer Bond seized some marijuana from V.C.R.’s person. This led to the State filing misdemeanor simple possession of marijuana charges against V.C.R. on 19 November 2010. Counsel for V.C.R. filed a motion to suppress on 17 February 2011, requesting the trial court

suppress any and all evidence seized and obtained from the illegal detention, search, and seizure of the Juvenile.
The Juvenile contends that the exclusion of the evidence and statements is required by the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution [81]*81and by Article I, Sections 20 and 23 of the North Carolina Constitution.

On 21 March 2011, the trial court held an adjudicatory hearing where both Officer Bond and V.C.R. testified. Following this hearing, the trial court denied the motion to suppress and entered a dispositional order placing V.C.R. on probation for six months and imposing five 24-hour periods of intermittent confinement in a delinquency facility. The juvenile appealed, arguing that the evidence was the unlawful product of two seizures and a search that each violated the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 20 of the North Carolina Constitution.

In that initial appeal, in an unpublished opinion, this Court remanded the case to the lower court so that appropriate findings of fact and conclusions of law could be entered, stating:

[T]he record before [this Court was] inadequate to permit meaningful appellate review of the questions of law raised by V.C.R.’s appeal. Accordingly, we remandfed] the case to the Wake County District Court for written findings of fact and conclusions of law “sufficient to resolve all issues raised by the motion to suppress.”

In re V.C.R., No. COA11-1108, slip op. at 3-4 (N.C. Ct. of App. 3 April 2012) (citation omitted).

In the first appeal, our Court summarized the facts as follows:

Sergeant D.L. Bond (Bond) of the Raleigh Police Department was patrolling the Thornton’s Square town home community on 9 June 2010 when he spotted a group of juveniles walking down the sidewalk. As Bond approached in his patrol car, he observed V.C.R. smoking a cigarette. Bond stopped and asked V.C.R. how old she was. V.C.R. responded that she was 15 years old. Bond asked V.C.R. to put out her cigarette and give him the pack of cigarettes she was holding. V.C.R. complied with both requests.
Bond began to drive away. When he was about ten to twenty yards away, he heard a female voice say “What the f — , man.” In response, Bond stopped his vehicle, got out, and approached the group. He ordered all of the juveniles to keep walking except V.C.R., whom he ordered to stay with him. He then asked V.C.R. for her identification. At [82]*82one point during their conversation, V.C.R. raised her arms in the air, revealing what appeared to be a round bulge in her right front pocket. Bond instructed V.C.R. to empty her pockets and turn them inside out. V.C.R. emptied her pockets, revealing a bag of marijuana.

Id.

On remand, the district court entered a written order on 23 May 2012, again denying juvenile’s motion to suppress. Juvenile now appeals from the denial of that motion, as well as the resulting dispositional and adjudication orders.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

Our review of a trial court’s denial of a motion to suppress is “strictly limited to determining whether the trial judge’s underlying findings of fact are supported by competent evidence, in which event they are conclusively binding on appeal, and whether those factual findings in turn support the judge’s ultimate conclusions of law.” State v. Cooke, 306 N.C. 132, 134, 291 S.E.2d 618, 619 (1982). “The trial court’s conclusions of law . . . are fully reviewable on appeal.” State v. Hughes, 353 N.C. 200, 208, 539 S.E.2d 625, 631 (2000).

DISCUSSION

On appeal, V.C.R. again argues that the lower court erred in denying her motion to suppress. Upon remand, the juvenile court entered the following order:

FINDINGS OF FACT
1. On March 21, 2011, the State of North Carolina called for trial the matter of State of North Carolina vs. V.C.R.
2. The State was represented by Assistant District Attorney Kathryn Pomeroy-Carter. The Juvenile was represented by Michael Frickey.
3. In the night-time hours of June 9, 2010, the Juvenile was walking down the sidewalk with several other juveniles in a residential community within the City of Raleigh, smoking a cigarette. Sergeant D.L. Bond of the Raleigh Police Department, while on routine patrol, saw her and pulled over to ask her age.
4. After the Juvenile responded that she was fifteen years old, Sergeant Bond told her to put out her [83]*83cigarette and hand over her remaining cigarettes, which she did.
5. As Sergeant Bond drove away, he heard a female voice say, “What the [f — ], man?” Since he believed that it was this juvenile who had said these words, Sergeant Bond stopped his patrol car, got out, and walked back to the Juvenile to speak with her.
6. As he spoke with the Juvenile about her foul language, he noticed a round bulge in her right front pocket. Based on his training and experience, Sergeant Bond believed that the object in her pocket was a bag of marijuana, so he asked her to empty her pockets, and she did so, revealing a small bag of marijuana.
7. Sergeant Bond subsequently filed a petition against this Juvenile for Simple Possession of Marijuana.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. While the Juvenile objected to Sergeant Bond’s initial stop of her (the “cigarette stop”), this objection is moot as it ended without any delinquent allegations being filed against her.
2. The Juvenile further objected to Sergeant Bond’s second stop of her (the “marijuana stop”).
3. N.C.G.S. 14-288.4(a)(2) makes it a Class 2 misdemeanor to intentionally cause a public disturbance by making or using “any utterance, gesture, display or abusive language which is intended and plainly likely to provoke a violent retaliation and thereby cause a breach of the peace.” A “public disturbance” is defined by our General Statutes as “[a]ny annoying, disturbing, or alarming act or condition exceeding the bounds of social toleration normal for the time and place in question which occurs in a public place[.]” N.C.G.S. 14-288.1(8) (2009).
4. The Juvenile’s abusive and foul language, directed at Sergeant Bond after he made her extinguish her cigarette and hand over her unsmoked cigarettes, certainly exceed the bounds of social toleration.
[84]*845.

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Bluebook (online)
742 S.E.2d 566, 227 N.C. App. 80, 2013 WL 1876772, 2013 N.C. App. LEXIS 484, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-vcr-ncctapp-2013.