State of Arizona v. Michael Anthony Salcido

362 P.3d 508, 238 Ariz. 461, 726 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 19, 2015 Ariz. App. LEXIS 281
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedNovember 16, 2015
Docket2 CA-CR 2015-0008
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 362 P.3d 508 (State of Arizona v. Michael Anthony Salcido) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State of Arizona v. Michael Anthony Salcido, 362 P.3d 508, 238 Ariz. 461, 726 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 19, 2015 Ariz. App. LEXIS 281 (Ark. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

OPINION

HOWARD, Judge:

¶ 1 Following a jury trial, appellant Michael Salcido was convicted of possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of dangerous drugs, possession of dangerous drugs for sale, and transportation or importation of dangerous drugs for sale. On appeal, Salcido argues the trial court erred by denying his motion to suppress evidence obtained at a traffic stop because the officer lacked reasonable suspicion of a traffic violation. Because the state concedes that two of Salcido’s convictions violate double jeopardy, and we agree, we vacate Salcido’s convictions for possession and possession for sale of dangerous drugs, but otherwise affirm.

Factual and Procedural Background

¶ 2 In reviewing a trial court’s ruling on a motion to suppress, “we consider only the evidence presented at the suppression hearing and view the facts in the light most favorable to sustaining the ... ruling.” State v. Gonzalez, 235 Ariz. 212, ¶ 2, 330 P.3d 969, 970 (App.2014).

¶ 3 In March 2014, Detective Danny Rice of the Gila County Sheriffs Department received an anonymous tip from a “concerned citizen” that Salcido and another person would be driving through Miami, Arizona in a particular vehicle with a large quantity of methamphetamine. Based on this information, Rice began surveillance along the route that the informant had stated Salcido would be taking. Within four hours, Rice spotted Salcido’s vehicle and began to follow it. Salcido was in the number one, or fast lane, and Rice was in the number two, or slow lane, about a ear length behind him. Salcido immediately moved unsafely from the number one into the number two lane without signaling, cutting off Rice, and rode on the shoulder over the fog line for ten to twelve seconds before driving back across lane two into lane one. Rice then stopped Salcido for the violations.

¶ 4 Shortly thereafter, other detectives arrived on the scene, one of whom was accompanied by a drug canine. Rice asked Salcido to consent to an open air sniff of his vehicle by the drug canine, and Salcido agreed. During the sniff, the canine alerted to the presence of narcotics in the vehicle, and the officers conducted a follow-up search. They discovered several items used to ingest drugs — a plastic straw and pieces of aluminum foil with a “burnt residue” on them. Rice consequently arrested Salcido for possession of drug paraphernalia. During the search incident to that arrest, Rice found approximately three ounces of methamphetamine and $905 cash in Salcido’s pockets.

¶ 5 Before trial, Salcido moved to suppress the drug evidence, arguing it was the fruit of an illegal traffic stop. The trial court denied the motion. The jury convicted Salcido of the possession and transportation counts, but *464 found him not guilty of money laundering. The court sentenced him to mitigated, concurrent prison terms, the longest of which is five years. We have jurisdiction over Salcido’s appeal pursuant to A.R.S. §§ 12-120.21(A)(1) and 13-4033(A)(1).

Legality of the Traffic Stop

¶ 6 Salcido first argues the trial court erred by denying his motion to suppress evidence because, even assuming Rice’s testimony regarding Salcido’s driving was accurate, his conduct did not constitute a traffic violation. “We review a denial of a motion to suppress for an abuse of discretion, but review constitutional issues de novo,” Gonzalez, 235 Ariz. 212, ¶ 7, 330 P.3d at 971, and “[i]nterpretation of a statute is a question of law, which we review de novo,” State v. Starr, 222 Ariz. 65, ¶ 14, 213 P.3d 214, 218 (App.2009).

¶ 7 A traffic stop must be based on an officer’s articulable, reasonable suspicion that the person has committed a traffic violation. Id. ¶ 11. As relevant here, A.R.S. § 28-754 states:

A A person shall not ... move right or left on a roadway unless and until the movement can be made with reasonable safety. A person shall not so turn any vehicle without giving an appropriate signal in the manner provided by this article in the event any other traffic may be affected by the movement.
B. A signal of intention to turn right or left when required shall be given continuously during not less than the last one hundred feet traveled by the vehicle before turning.

¶ 8 The phrase “ ‘other traffic [that] may be affected by the movement’ ” means that although “ § 28-754 does not require drivers to signal every time they [change lanes,]” they must signal whenever they perform a movement that “could reasonably be considered a part of the [other] driver’s decision-making calculus.” Starr, 222 A’iz. 65, ¶¶ 19-20, 25, 213 P.3d at 219-21 (first alteration in Starr). The state need not show that the failure to signal a lane change caused “an actual change in movement” by other traffic. Id. ¶ 24. In Starr, we explicitly left open the question whether the police officer’s vehicle could constitute “other traffic,” but cited People v. Logsdon, 164 Cal.App.4th 741, 79 Cal. Rptr.3d 379, 381 (2008), for the proposition that “California courts hold that the presence of the patrol ear itself, traveling behind the target vehicle, is enough.” Starr, 222 Ariz. 65, ¶¶ 23, 25, 213 P.3d at 221; see also People v. Miranda, 17 Cal.App.4th 917, 21 Cal. Rptr.2d 785, 792 (1993).

¶ 9 Salcido contends Rice’s vehicle could not constitute “other traffic” because the legislature knew that the officer’s ear must be present in order to effectuate the traffic stop. “In determining the legislature’s intent, we initially look to the language of the statute itself.” Bilke v. State, 206 Ariz. 462, ¶ 11, 80 P.3d 269, 271 (2003). If the language of a statute is clear, “the court must ‘apply it without resorting to other methods of statutory interpretation,’ unless application would lead to impossible or absurd results.” Id., quoting Hayes v. Cont’l Ins. Co., 178 Ariz. 264, 268, 872 P.2d 668, 672 (1994).

¶ 10 Here, the statute applies when “other traffic may be affected.” § 28-754. Section 28-601(28), A.R.S., defines “traffic” as “pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles and other conveyances either singly or together while using a highway for purposes of travel.” The plain meaning of the phrase “other traffic” does not exclude a specific class of vehicle — law enforcement or otherwise. The inclusion of law enforcement vehicles into the phrase would not bring about “impossible or absurd results.” Bilke, 206 A’iz. 462, ¶ 11, 80 P.3d at 271.

¶ 11 A survey of other traffic laws bolsters a plain meaning interpretation. The legislature has used the phrase “other traffic” in other statutes which must have been intended to include police vehicles. See

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Bluebook (online)
362 P.3d 508, 238 Ariz. 461, 726 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 19, 2015 Ariz. App. LEXIS 281, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-of-arizona-v-michael-anthony-salcido-arizctapp-2015.