People v. Taylor

2012 COA 91, 296 P.3d 317, 2012 WL 2045754, 2012 Colo. App. LEXIS 926
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 7, 2012
DocketNo. 09CA2681
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 2012 COA 91 (People v. Taylor) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Colorado 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. Taylor, 2012 COA 91, 296 P.3d 317, 2012 WL 2045754, 2012 Colo. App. LEXIS 926 (Colo. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinions

Opinion by

Judge GRAHAM.

' 1 Defendant, Donald Eugene Taylor, appeals the judgment of conviction entered on a jury verdict finding him guilty of conspiracy to distribute a scheduled II controlled substance. In part, defendant appeals an order refusing to suppress evidence discovered during a warrantless search of the call history contained in his cellular telephone on his person at the time of his arrest,. We conclude the search of defendant's cell phone was a lawful search incident to arrest, and, therefore, discern no error in the trial court's refusal to suppress that evidence. We reject defendant's remaining contentions and affirm the judgment of conviction.

I. Background

T2 The material facts are not in dispute. On November 20, 2008, undercover officers C.S. and J.W. of the Aurora Police Department were conducting sting operations on the East Colfax corridor. Detective C.S. and Investigator J.W. were patrolling in an undercover police car when they observed defendant making gestures at them consistent with initiating a drug transaction.

T3 The officers approached defendant and Investigator J.W. asked if he "could get a hookup." Defendant asked, "[Hlook you up with what?" to which Investigator J.W. replied, "[Florty hard," street slang for $40 worth of crack cocaine. Defendant responded that he did not sell drugs, but he indicated that he could call someone to sell them the drugs. Defendant then instructed the officers to park across the street.

€ 4 The officers observed defendant make a phone call on his cellular telephone, and soon thereafter a female approached and entered the car. Investigator J.W. purchased $40 of erack cocaine from the woman. After the controlled purchase, both defendant and the woman were arrested.

T5 After defendant was arrested, he was searched and his cell phone was seized. One of the arresting officers, Sergeant R., opened the call log history of defendant's cell phone, noting a call was recently placed to the woman's phone.

T6 Defendant was charged with distribution of a controlled substance and conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. Following a jury trial, defendant was convicted of conspiracy to distribute and the jury deadlocked on the distribution count. The court dismissed the distribution count, and sentenced defendant to eight years in community corrections.

IIL. Motion to Suppress

T7 Defendant contends he was subject to an unlawful search when the police reviewed his cellular telephone's call log without obtaining a warrant.1 We disagree and conclude the search of the cell phone's call history was a lawful search incident to arrest, and, therefore, we affirm the denial of the suppression motion.2

[321]*32118 The issue before an appellate court in a suppression case is one of mixed law and fact. People v. Alameno, 193 P.3d 830, 834 (Colo.2008). We must defer to the trial court's findings of fact if those findings are supported by competent evidence in the record, but we review the trial court's legal conclusions de novo. People v. Gothard, 185 P.3d 180, 183 (Colo.2008). At a suppression hearing, a defendant has the burden of demonstrating that he is entitled to protection under the Fourth Amendment.3 People v. Galvadon, 103 P.3d 923, 927-28 (Colo.2005). "Evidence that the police did not have a warrant authorizing their search and seizure satisfies that burden." People v. Syrie, 101 P.3d 219, 222 (Colo.2004).

T9 At the suppression hearing, the trial court ruled the seizure of defendant's cell phone was lawful. The court then ruled the search of the call log was lawful, first, because it was a search incident to arrest and second, because the call log was in plain view. Based upon an objection by defense counsel, the trial court further ruled that the search of the call history was also proper based upon exigent cireumstances.

110 For present purposes we assume, as apparently did the trial court, two propositions: First, defendant had a reasonable expectation of privacy in his cellular telephone's call history4 and second, the officer's review of the call history constituted a warrantless search within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment.

T11 Under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and article II, section 7 of the Colorado Constitution, warrantless searches are per se unreasonable unless they fall under a specifically established and well-delinesated exception to the warrant requirement. City of Ontario v. Quon, - U.S. -, -, 130 S.Ct. 2619, 2630, 177 L.Ed.2d 216 (2010) ("Although as a general matter, warrantless searches 'are per se unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment, there are 'a few specifically established and well-delineated exceptions' to that general rule.") (quoting Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 357, 88 S.Ct. 507, 19 L.Ed.2d 576 (1967)); People v. Revoal, 2012 CO 8, ¶ 10, 269 P.3d 1238. "The burden of proof ... always remains with the prosecution to establish that a warrantless search falls within one of the narrowly defined exceptions to the warrant requirement." Syrie, 101 P.3d at 222; see People v. Winpigler, 8 P.3d 439, 443 (Colo.1999).

112 One specifically established exception to the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement is "a search incident to lawful [322]*322arrest." United States v. Robinson, 414 U.S. 218, 224, 94 S.Ct. 467, 38 L.Ed.2d 427 (1973); Syrie, 101 P.3d at 222. This exception "allows law enforcement officers, when making a lawful arrest, to search an arrestee's person and the area within the arrestee's immediate control." Gothard, 185 P.3d at 184. When searching the arrestee's person, the "search require[(s] no independent justification, such as a reasonable suspicion or belief that the defendant might be armed or in possession of contraband." People v. Tottenhoff, 691 P.2d 340, 345 (Colo.1984); People v. Bischofberger, 724 P.24 660, 664 (Colo.1986). "These searches incident to a lawful arrest must be contemporaneous with or immediately following the arrest and confined to an area into which the defendant might reach or grab for weapons or evidence." Gothard, 185 P.3d at 184.

{13 Neither the United States Supreme Court nor the Colorado Supreme Court has directly considered the issue of whether a search incident to arrest may include a search of a cell phone's contents, and if it does, how thorough the search might be. We conclude, under the cireumstances present in this case, that the search of defendant's cell phone's call history was a lawful search incident to arrest.

T 14 In Robinson, 414 U.S. at 235, 94 S.Ct. 467, the Supreme Court explained the basis for searches incident to arrest:

A police officer's determination as to how and where to search the person of a suspect whom he has arrested is necessarily a quick ad hoc judgment which the Fourth Amendment does not require to be broken down in each instance into an analysis of each step in the search.

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Bluebook (online)
2012 COA 91, 296 P.3d 317, 2012 WL 2045754, 2012 Colo. App. LEXIS 926, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-taylor-coloctapp-2012.