Sam v. State

2008 WY 25, 177 P.3d 1173, 2008 Wyo. LEXIS 26, 2008 WL 603090
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 6, 2008
DocketS-07-0057
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 2008 WY 25 (Sam v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wyoming Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sam v. State, 2008 WY 25, 177 P.3d 1173, 2008 Wyo. LEXIS 26, 2008 WL 603090 (Wyo. 2008).

Opinions

HILL, Justice.

[¶ 1] Appellant, Steven Ace Sam (Sam), entered a plea of guilty to possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. That plea was part of a negotiated plea bargain wherein he reserved his right to challenge the constitutionality of the search of his motor vehicle, which uncovered the evidence that incriminated him. The district court conducted a hearing in response to Sam’s motion to suppress the fruits of that search, which the State justified on the basis that it was conducted incident to his arrest for violation of a protection order and for driving while his license was suspended. The search at issue did not uncover any evidence associated with the crimes for which he was arrested, but rather evidence of drug crimes. The district court concluded that the search was proper under the governing law and, thus, did not suppress the incriminating evidence. We hold that the district court did not err in declining to suppress the evidence at issue and, therefore, we affirm.

ISSUES

[¶ 2] Sam raises this issue:

Did the district court err in denying [Sam’s] motion to suppress evidence, as his vehicle was improperly searched “incident to arrest” in violation of the Wyoming Constitution?

The State identifies the issue in only slightly different words:

Did the district court properly deny [Sam’s] motion to suppress upon concluding officers were entitled to search under the front seat of his vehicle incident to his arrest?

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

[¶ 3] Sam presented his issue to the district court properly supported by cogent argument and pertinent authority. The State, of course, had the initial burden to demonstrate that the search was reasonable because it was conducted without the benefit of a warrant. The State called the arresting officer, Police Sergeant Jonathan Christopher Beck of the Cody Police Department, as the only witness in support of the search at issue here.

[¶ 4] The district court denied the motion to suppress in a terse order that included no written findings. At the conclusion of the suppression hearing, the district court made these findings:

I find that as of the date of the arrest Officer Beck knew that the protection or[1175]*1175der had been issued, and he had received evidence that the defendant had violated the order. He had also received a report that the defendant’s driver’s license was suspended. He then recognized the defendant and the vehicle he was in.
Accordingly, the defendant was legally placed under arrest for driving while under suspension and for violation of the protective order. The officer then was entitled to conduct a search incident to the arrest, including a search of the defendant and the vehicle of which he had been an occupant. Pursuant to that search of the vehicle, the evidence in question was seized. Therefore, the search was legal and the motion to suppress is denied.

[¶ 5] The facts that were available to the district court, and which support the factual prong of the issue we are called upon to resolve, can be found in Sergeant Beck’s testimony at the suppression hearing.

[¶ 6] On August 2, 2005, Sergeant Beck of the Cody Police Department became aware of an order of protection in favor of Candie Hinton, as well as her daughter Casandra Hinton. That order protected them from Sam and, inter alia, prohibited Sam from calling them on the phone. Although the protection order does not appear in the record, the parties do not dispute that this was one of the terms of the protection order. Beck was aware that the Hintons had complained of phone harassment by Sam on August 2-3, 2005. On August 5, 2005, Sergeant Beck received information that Sam had violated the terms of the protection order again by calling Candie Hinton on her cell phone. Based upon this information, Beck was preparing to seek a warrant for Sam’s arrest. Sergeant Beck was also aware that he was authorized to make a warrantless arrest if he was aware of a specific instance of a violation of the protection order.

[¶7] However, before Beck was able to obtain an arrest warrant, he was contacted by the Crisis Intervention office and told that both Candie and Casandra Hinton were there and that Sam had been calling Casandra’s cell phone. Candie also advised that while she was at the Crisis Intervention office, she had seen Sam drive by. Candie was able to describe that car and its occupants. While the Hintons were waiting for Sergeant Beck to arrive, the Hintons observed Sam drive by the Crisis Intervention office again. Sergeant Beck related in his testimony:

I went to Crisis Intervention, and I spoke to Casandra and to Candie Hinton myself, where I reviewed the protection order a second time. And they related the same story to me, that Mr. Sam had called Casandra, that she — I mean that they had lived with Mr. Sam for several years before the break-up and the domestic violence protection order. Casandra related to me that she knew Mr. Sam’s voice and that she had spoke to him on the phone, and that he continued to call her, and that they both recognized the female passenger to be a Kayla, that it definitely was Steve Sam that had followed them to Crisis Intervention, and that he had drove by a second time.

After these initial confrontations, Sergeant Beck stayed in the area of Crisis Intervention and he observed Sam drive by for a third time. At that point Beck stopped Sam:

When I stopped him, I walked up to the vehicle, and I explained to him why I had stopped him, confirmed who he was, to be Mr. Steve Sam. And I asked him at that point in time if he had made phone calls to Casandra, and he said yes. I also asked him if he would confirm his cell phone number, which he did. I don’t recall the exact number now. It was a Montana number. But if I remember correctly, he said it was 861-ouch, which was what was on my initial report from when he had been calling Candie on the 2nd and the 3rd of August.

[¶ 8] Based on Sam’s statements that he had called both Candie and Casandra, Sergeant Beck concluded that Sam had violated the protection order, and he arrested him on that basis. Beck also determined that Sam was driving with a suspended driver’s license, and he was arrested for that reason as well. Incident to the arrest for violation of the protection order, Officer Beck searched Sam’s ear for evidence relating to his violation of the protection order. The search of that car produced methamphetamine and [1176]*1176crystal methamphetamine in significant quantities, although it did not produce any evidence of Sam’s violation of the protection order.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

[¶ 9] In this instance, the district court conducted a hearing and took evidence concerning the search and seizure at issue. In reviewing a trial court’s ruling on a motion to suppress evidence, we do not interfere with the trial court’s findings of fact unless the findings are clearly erroneous. We view the evidence in the light most favorable to the trial court’s determination because the trial court has an opportunity at the eviden-tiary hearing to assess the credibility of the witnesses, weigh the evidence, and make the necessary inferences, deductions, and conclusions. The constitutionality of a particular search is a question of law that we review de novo. Fenton v. State, 2007 WY 51, ¶ 5, 154 P.3d 974, 976 (Wyo.2007) (quoting

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2008 WY 25, 177 P.3d 1173, 2008 Wyo. LEXIS 26, 2008 WL 603090, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sam-v-state-wyo-2008.