People v. Steele

806 N.W.2d 753, 292 Mich. App. 308
CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 14, 2011
DocketDocket No. 299641
StatusPublished
Cited by90 cases

This text of 806 N.W.2d 753 (People v. Steele) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Steele, 806 N.W.2d 753, 292 Mich. App. 308 (Mich. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

FITZGERALD, PJ.

The prosecution appeals by leave granted the trial court’s order granting defendant’s motion to suppress both his statements to the police and the evidence seized from his vehicle following an investigative stop. We reverse and remand.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On March 11, 2010, a Blackman Township Public Safety desk sergeant received a telephone call from Carol Williams, a loss-prevention officer employed by the Meijer store in Jackson. Williams had been trained to identify and monitor customers who might be purchasing precursors for the manufacture of methamphetamine. Williams informed the sergeant that a man had purchased packages of Sudafed and one gallon of Coleman fuel, both of which are known precursors for methamphetamine. Williams followed the person out of the store and observed him get into a Ford Taurus and drive off.

The desk sergeant contacted Blackman Township road patrol officer Brent Doxtader and provided him with the information relayed by Williams. According to Officer Doxtader, Williams had been trained by Black-[311]*311man Township Public Safety and the Jackson County Narcotics Enforcement Team regarding the precursors for methamphetamine. Williams would contact officers to advise them of suspicious activities at Meijer involving the purchase or theft of methamphetamine precursors. During his employment, Officer Doxtader had had contact with Williams regarding methamphetamine investigations on more than 10 occasions, and the information that Williams provided had “always been spot on.”

After receiving the information from the sergeant, Officer Doxtader located the Ford Taurus on US-127 and conducted an investigative stop. He requested defendant’s driver’s license and vehicle paperwork. Defendant responded that he did not have a driver’s license. Officer Doxtader asked defendant to get out of the vehicle and, as a safety precaution, had him place his hands on the roof of the car. Officer Doxtader then informed defendant that he possessed information that there were controlled substances in the vehicle and asked defendant whether that information was accurate. Defendant responded that there was methamphetamine in the vehicle’s door. Officer Doxtader proceeded to engage in a brief conversation with defendant during which defendant answered affirmatively when asked if he used or “cooked” methamphetamine. Defendant also indicated that there were materials for manufacturing methamphetamine in the vehicle.

After this conversation, Officer Doxtader arrested defendant for possession of methamphetamine and for driving without a valid driver’s license. Officer Doxtader handcuffed defendant and placed him in the backseat of his patrol car. Officer Doxtader subsequently searched defendant’s vehicle and retrieved the methamphetamine that defendant had indicated was in the door.

[312]*312Officer Doxtader transported defendant to the Black-man Township Public Safety Department and placed him in an interview room. After activating the room’s recording system, Officer Doxtader advised defendant of his Miranda1 rights. Defendant indicated that he understood and waived those rights. Officer Doxtader then interviewed defendant, who essentially repeated the statements he had made during the roadside questioning approximately 45 minutes earlier.

Defendant later moved to suppress both the evidence found in his vehicle and the statements to Officer Doxtader. Defendant claimed that the evidence was obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures because the police lacked the requisite particularized suspicion necessary to conduct an investigative stop. Defendant also asserted that Officer Doxtader had subjected him to custodial interrogation at the location of the stop without first advising him of his Miranda rights. Finally, defendant asserted that the statements he made at the police station were inadmissible as the fruit of an illegal stop and an illegal roadside interrogation.

At the suppression hearing, the prosecutor argued that Officer Doxtader had a reasonable suspicion to stop defendant’s vehicle based on the combination of the officer’s training and experience and the tip from a trained and experienced loss-prevention officer who had knowledge of the precursors of methamphetamine and who had provided reliable information to the police in the past. The prosecutor also argued that even if defendant’s initial roadside statement had been obtained in violation of Miranda, Officer Doxtader’s subsequent questioning of defendant at the police station [313]*313constituted a new and different experience from the roadside interrogation.

The trial court suppressed the evidence and defendant’s statements. The court opined that “the purchase of only one package of Sudafed and camping fuel is not enough to meet the standard of a particularized suspicion.” Thus, the court found that the traffic stop was illegal and that the evidence obtained from defendant’s vehicle was the fruit of an illegal search. The court also found that defendant was in custody for purposes of Miranda during the roadside interrogation and, therefore, that his statements were illegally obtained. Lastly, the court found that defendant’s statements at the police station were the fruit of an illegal roadside custodial interrogation because “there were no intervening circumstances to purge the taint between the statements made at the side of the road to the statements made in-house.”

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

This Court reviews de novo a trial court’s ruling on a motion to suppress. People v Williams, 472 Mich 308, 313; 696 NW2d 636 (2005). Although this Court engages in a de novo review of the entire record, it will not disturb a trial court’s factual findings unless those findings are clearly erroneous. People v Jenkins, 472 Mich 26, 31; 691 NW2d 759 (2005). A factual finding is clearly erroneous if it leaves the Court with a definite and firm conviction that the trial court made a mistake. People v Akins, 259 Mich App 545, 564; 675 NW2d 863 (2003).

III. LEGALITY OF THE INVESTIGATIVE STOP

The prosecution argues that Officer Doxtader had a reasonable suspicion that criminal activity was afoot [314]*314when he stopped defendant’s vehicle and that the investigative stop of the vehicle therefore did not violate the Fourth Amendment. In contrast, defendant argues that the mere purchase of methamphetamine precursors does not create a reasonable suspicion that criminal activity is afoot.

The stop of defendant’s vehicle implicated defendant’s right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. Both the United States and Michigan Constitutions guarantee protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. US Const, Am IV; Const 1963, art 1, § 11; People v Kazmierczak, 461 Mich 411, 417; 605 NW2d 667 (2000). The Fourth Amendment search and seizure protections also apply to brief investigative detentions. See People v Green, 260 Mich App 392, 396; 677 NW2d 363 (2004), overruled on other grounds by People v Anstey, 476 Mich 436; 719 NW2d 579 (2006). However, in Terry v Ohio, 392 US 1, 30-31; 88 S Ct 1868; 20 L Ed 2d 889 (1968), the United States Supreme Court held that the Fourth Amendment permits a police officer to make a brief investigative stop (a “Terry

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
806 N.W.2d 753, 292 Mich. App. 308, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-steele-michctapp-2011.