Patton v. Commonwealth

430 S.W.3d 902, 2014 WL 1661284, 2014 Ky. App. LEXIS 68
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedApril 25, 2014
DocketNo. 2012-CA-001977-MR
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 430 S.W.3d 902 (Patton v. Commonwealth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Patton v. Commonwealth, 430 S.W.3d 902, 2014 WL 1661284, 2014 Ky. App. LEXIS 68 (Ky. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

JONES, Judge:

Jeremy Patton brings this appeal from a Powell Circuit Court judgment following his entry of a plea of guilty to first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance. The entry of the plea was conditioned on Patton’s right to appeal the circuit court’s denial of his motion to suppress evidence. Having reviewed the record and pertinent law, we affirm.

I. Factual & Procedural Background

On June 20, 2011, Kentucky State Trooper Eversole contacted the Powell County Sheriffs Office regarding his conversations with a confidential informant (the Informant). Trooper Eversole told Powell County Deputy Mark Reed that he had been contacted by the Informant and the Informant indicated that he could purchase narcotics from Patton. Based on this information, Deputy Reed received authorization from the Powell County Sheriffs Office to conduct a sting operation related to Patton.

Thereafter, Deputy Reed obtained cash money to use in the transaction with Patton; he then photocopied the money for subsequent identification. Deputy Reed then met with Trooper Eversole and the Informant in Wolfe County. Deputy Reed specifically inquired as to why the Informant was willing to participate in the sting since he was not under arrest or investigation. Trooper Eversole explained to Deputy Reed that the Informant indicated that Patton had been contacting the Informant in an effort to sell him drugs and the Informant simply wanted the phone calls to stop.

Deputy Reed then had the Informant sign the confidential informant agreements, wired him with a recording device, and supplied him with the money he previously photocopied to use in purchasing the narcotics from Patton. Deputy Reed also obtained a description of the Informant’s vehicle and its tag number. Immediately prior to execution of the sting, Deputy Reed searched the Informant’s person and vehicle for narcotics; he found none.

The Informant then left in his vehicle. While still in Wolfe County, the Informant picked up Patton and a female that was with Patton. Both Patton and the female got into the Informant’s vehicle and the three individuals drove into Powell County. Using various units, law enforcement officers followed the vehicle. The Informant eventually parked the vehicle in David Ratliffs driveway.

Powell County Sheriff Danny Rogers then telephoned one of Ratliffs neighbors who had previously complained to the Sheriffs Office of suspected narcotics trafficking out of Ratliffs home. The neighbor confirmed that the Informant’s vehicle was in front of Ratliffs home, the same home he had previously reported to police.

The Informant’s vehicle remained parked in the driveway for several minutes. Thereafter, the Informant along with Patton and the female pulled out of [905]*905the driveway and back onto the road. Law enforcement officers then stopped the vehicle, as prearranged with the Informant. Law enforcement handcuffed the Informant, Patton, and the female and seated them on the roadside.

Deputy Reed then took the Informant aside and removed the recording device without listening to its contents. The Informant told Deputy Reed that he had given the money to Patton to purchase the narcotics and that Patton went inside Rat-liffs house to do so. The Informant also informed Deputy Reed that after leaving Ratliffs house, Patton indicated that he had successfully purchased the narcotics. The Informant told Deputy Reed that he believed that Patton was still carrying the narcotics he purchased somewhere on his person.

After receiving this information, Deputy Reed approached Patton. Deputy Reed asked Patton if he had anything illegal on his person, frisked him, felt a pill bottle in his pocket, and removed it. Deputy Reed testified that the label on the bottle was partially obscured and difficult to read, but that it was possible that Patton’s name was on the label. Deputy Reed then opened the bottle. Inside the bottle, he found two or three hydrocodone pills and eleven oxy-codone pills. Deputy Reed then placed Patton under arrest. Patton was subsequently charged with trafficking in a controlled substance in the first degree1 and with being a persistent felony offender in the second degree.2 The Powell County Grand Jury returned an indictment on June 20, 2011.

On August 8, 2012, Patton moved the trial court to suppress evidence of the pills Deputy Reed found inside the bottle. Patton argued that he was not under arrest at the time Deputy Reed searched him; Deputy Reed had no reason to suspect that the bottle contained a dangerous weapon; the bottle’s contents were not in danger of being destroyed by Patton because Deputy Reed had possession of the bottle; and there were no other exigent circumstances justifying an immediate search of the bottle’s contents. The Commonwealth countered that Deputy Reed had probable cause to arrest Patton even prior to discovery of the pills and that the search of the pill bottle was conducted incident to a lawful arrest.

The trial court conducted a suppression hearing on September 11, 2012. Deputy Reed was the only witness that testified at the hearing. He testified about his conversation with Trooper Eversole, obtaining the money, his meeting with Trooper Ev-ersole and the Informant, and law enforcement’s surveillance during the sting. He further testified that based on his roadside conversation with the Informant, he felt that Patton purchased the narcotics from Ratliff and still had them on his person.

The trial court denied Patton’s suppression motion by order entered September 17, 2012. The trial court noted that while generally an arrest must precede the search, in some cases a search conducted prior to an arrest is valid if it is conducted contemporaneous with a lawful arrest. Based on Deputy Reed’s testimony, the trial court concluded that Deputy Reed had probable cause to arrest Patton based on the “totality of circumstances” even pri- or to conducting the search of the pill bottle.

[906]*906Patton then entered a conditional guilty plea. This appeal followed.

II. Standard of Review

This Court reviews a trial court’s decision on a motion to suppress by applying a two-step analysis. Goncalves v. Commonwealth, 404 S.W.3d 180, 189 (Ky.2013). First, we must determine if the trial court’s findings of fact are supported by substantial evidence. Id. (citing Adcock v. Commonwealth, 967 S.W.2d 6 (Ky.1998); Peyton v. Commonwealth, 253 S.W.3d 504 (Ky.2008)). If so, the factual findings are conclusive. Id. Next, we conduct a de novo review of the trial court’s application of the law to the facts to determine if the suppression decision was correct as a matter of law. Goncalves, 404 S.W.3d at 189.

In this case, the facts are undisputed. As such, we will proceed to conduct a de novo review of the trial court’s application of those facts to the established law.

III. Analysis

The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures.3

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Bluebook (online)
430 S.W.3d 902, 2014 WL 1661284, 2014 Ky. App. LEXIS 68, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/patton-v-commonwealth-kyctapp-2014.