Salt Lake City v. Smoot

921 P.2d 1003, 293 Utah Adv. Rep. 3, 1996 Utah App. LEXIS 71, 1996 WL 337506
CourtCourt of Appeals of Utah
DecidedJune 20, 1996
Docket950550-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 921 P.2d 1003 (Salt Lake City v. Smoot) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Utah primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Salt Lake City v. Smoot, 921 P.2d 1003, 293 Utah Adv. Rep. 3, 1996 Utah App. LEXIS 71, 1996 WL 337506 (Utah Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

OPINION

GREENWOOD, Judge:

Defendant Donald Phillip Smoot appeals his jury conviction on one count of Interfering with an Officer, a violation of Salt Lake City Code § 11.04.030 (1989). Defendant argues that the police had no right to run a warrants cheek on him and that the jury was improperly instructed. We affirm.

*1005 BACKGROUND

In January of 1994, a series of armed robberies occurred at several downtown bars and restaurants in Salt Lake City. Defendant testified that he had become concerned about these robberies because he was a resident of the area and had friends who worked in nearby bars and restaurants. Because of his concern, defendant began a personal investigation into the robberies. In furtherance of this pursuit, defendant testified he visited some of his favorite downtown establishments, asking questions about the robberies.

Late in the evening of January 29, employees and patrons of the Cinema Bar/Spanky’s (Spanky’s), a bar and private club in downtown Salt Lake City, were discussing the recent robberies, including one that had occurred a few hours earlier. Defendant joined in this conversation. Spanky’s owner, Jason Brooks, became suspicious of defendant because he was asking a lot of questions and seemed to have information about the robberies that was not general knowledge. Brooks called the police to report his suspicion.

Officer Jeff Payne of the Salt Lake Police responded to the call at approximately 12:45 a.m. and spoke with Brooks at Spanky’s. At this point defendant was no longer at Spanky’s, having walked half a block down the street to the Zephyr, another downtown private club. Officer Payne then walked to the Zephyr to search for the as-yet-unidentified suspicious person. Officer Payne was unable to locate the suspect in the crowded club and decided to leave. As Officer Payne was leaving, Officer David Warner, who had responded as backup, told him that the suspect had been located. The officers, were able to locate defendant with the assistance of a Zephyr patron, Ramon Cardenas. Cardenas went into the Zephyr, found defendant, and asked him to come outside and speak with the police.

Defendant voluntarily left the Zephyr and came outside to talk to Officers Warner and Payne. Officer Payne asked defendant for identification, which he provided, and gave it to Officer Warner who stepped aside to' call in a warrants check on defendant with his hand-held radio. While Officer Warner ran the warrants check, Officer Payne continued questioning defendant. Up to this point, there is no suggestion that the encounter was other than consensual.

According to various testimony, Officer Payne questioned defendant for five to twenty minutes while Officer Warner conducted the warrants check. Officer Warner then informed Officer Payne that defendant had several outstanding bench warrants. The officers discussed the warrants briefly and decided to serve them. The officers then informed defendant they were going to serve the warrants.

Although the various accounts of what happened next differ in some of the details, they are substantially in agreement on the salient facts. When the officers told defendant they planned to serve the warrants, he responded angrily, stating either “no you’re not” or “screw this.” He then turned around and began to leave. As he turned, defendant, either intentionally or inadvertently, came into physical contact with the officers. Defendant took only a few steps before the officers grabbed him and pulled him to the ground. Defendant continued to struggle and kept pushing up, attempting to escape. Finally, unable to subdue defendant, Officer Warner struck him two or three times in the head, at which point defendant stopped struggling and allowed himself to be handcuffed. Officer Payne called for an ambulance and more backup. Defendant was transported to the hospital for treatment of injuries he received during the struggle, and then booked into jail.

Defendant was charged with three criminal violations of Salt Lake City Ordinances: Interfering with an Officer, a class B misdemeanor; Disturbing the Peace, an infraction; and Public Intoxication, a class C misdemeanor. Defendant filed a motion to suppress, challenging the legality of his detention and arrest. The trial court denied the motion. On the first day of trial, on the City’s motion, the trial court dismissed the charge of Disturbing the Peace. A jury found defendant guilty of Interfering with an Officer but not guilty of Public Intoxication. Defendant now appeals.

*1006 ISSUES ON APPEAL

Defendant raises three issues on appeal: (1) did the trial court err in determining that the officers acted lawfully in conducting the warrants check; (2) did the trial court err in refusing to give certain of defendant’s proposed jury instructions; and (3) was the instruction given by the court regarding resisting arrest correct.

STANDARDS OF REVIEW

The trial court’s determination regarding reasonable suspicion is reviewed for correctness, affording a measure of deference due to the fact-specific nature of the inquiry. State v. Chapman, 921 P.2d 446, 449 (Utah 1996); State v. Pena, 869 P.2d 932, 939 (Utah 1994); see also Ornelas v. United States, — U.S. -, 116 S.Ct. 1657, 134 L.Ed.2d 911 (1996) (holding legal determination of reasonable suspicion is reviewed de novo whereas underlying facts are reviewed for clear error).

We review the trial court’s instructions to the jury for correctness, affording no deference. Ames v. Maas, 846 P.2d 468, 471 (Utah App.1993). When conducting this analysis, we review the instructions in their entirety to determine whether the instructions, when considered as a whole, fairly instruct the jury on the applicable law. Id. “We reverse a trial court’s decision on the basis of an instruction improperly submitted to the jury only where the party challenging the propriety of the instruction ‘demonstrates prejudice stemming from the instructions viewed in the aggregate.’ ” Id. (quoting State v. Hasten, 811 P.2d 929, 931 (Utah App.1991), rev’d on other grounds, 846 P.2d 1276 (Utah 1993)).

ANALYSIS

Propriety of the Warrants Check

Defendant argues that the police’s detention of him exceeded the bounds of a Terry stop and thus violated the laws of this state and the state and federal constitutions. 1 We disagree. Under Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968), and its progeny, there are three levels of police-citizen encounters, each requiring a different degree of justification under the Fourth Amendment. State v. Munsen,

Related

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2024 UT App 193 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2024)
State v. Mogen
2002 UT App 235 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2002)
State v. Hansen
2000 UT App 353 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2000)
State v. Alonzo
932 P.2d 606 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 1997)
State v. Patefield
927 P.2d 655 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 1996)

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Bluebook (online)
921 P.2d 1003, 293 Utah Adv. Rep. 3, 1996 Utah App. LEXIS 71, 1996 WL 337506, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/salt-lake-city-v-smoot-utahctapp-1996.