State of Arizona v. Nathan Douglas Kinney

CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedOctober 28, 2010
Docket2 CA-CR 2010-0004
StatusPublished

This text of State of Arizona v. Nathan Douglas Kinney (State of Arizona v. Nathan Douglas Kinney) 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. Nathan Douglas Kinney, (Ark. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

FILED BY CLERK OCT 28 2010 COURT OF APPEALS DIVISION TWO IN THE COURT OF APPEALS STATE OF ARIZONA DIVISION TWO

THE STATE OF ARIZONA, ) 2 CA-CR 2010-0004 ) DEPARTMENT A Appellee, ) ) OPINION v. ) ) NATHAN DOUGLAS KINNEY, ) ) Appellant. ) )

APPEAL FROM THE SUPERIOR COURT OF PIMA COUNTY

Cause No. CR20090511001

Honorable Teresa Godoy, Judge Pro Tempore Honorable Richard S. Fields, Judge

AFFIRMED

Terry Goddard, Arizona Attorney General By Kent E. Cattani and Amy M. Thorson Tucson Attorneys for Appellee

Robert J. Hirsh, Pima County Public Defender By David J. Euchner and Yana Krassilnikova, Tucson a student certified pursuant to Rule 38(d), Attorneys for Appellant Ariz. R. Sup. Ct., 17A A.R.S.

H O W A R D, Chief Judge. ¶1 After a jury trial, appellant Nathan Kinney was convicted of possession of a

deadly weapon by a prohibited possessor. The trial court suspended the imposition of his

sentence and placed Kinney on two years of probation. On appeal, Kinney argues the

court erred in denying his motion to suppress a statement he made to a police officer after

he was arrested. And, he contends, without that statement, there was insufficient

evidence to support his conviction. For the following reasons, we affirm.

Factual and Procedural Background

¶2 In reviewing the denial of a motion to suppress evidence, we consider only

the evidence that was presented at the suppression hearing, which we view in the light

most favorable to sustaining the trial court‟s ruling. State v. Wyman, 197 Ariz. 10, ¶ 2, 3

P.3d 392, 394 (App. 2000). In January 2009, two police officers went to a residence to

look for Bobby Balentine, who was the subject of a felony warrant. Upon arriving at the

residence, they found a person matching Balentine‟s description standing in the street

near a truck. This person was later determined to be Kinney.

¶3 After repeatedly asking Kinney to show his hands, one officer drew a

weapon. In response, Kinney reached into the cab of the truck and the officers responded

by moving to take “control of him.” As Kinney was moved toward the back of the truck,

a weapon was observed in a bag on the front seat and Kinney was then handcuffed.

Kinney was escorted to a waiting patrol car and, when asked, responded that his name

was Nathan Kinney and gave permission to check his wallet to verify his identity.

2 ¶4 One of the officers read Kinney the Miranda1 warning, advising him of his

constitutional rights and Kinney indicated he was “willing to waive those rights.” The

officer asked Kinney if the weapon belonged to him and whether he had any prior

convictions. Kinney responded that he had a prior conviction for armed bank robbery

and that he had the weapon in the truck because he was going to sell it for a friend.

Kinney also stated he did not believe his civil rights had been restored after the

conviction. Kinney‟s conviction was confirmed and he subsequently was transported to

the police station where he was interviewed by Detective Leikem.

¶5 Before trial, Kinney moved to suppress evidence obtained at the time of his

arrest, claiming the arrest had been illegal. The trial court granted his motion,

suppressing “all statements made by . . . Kinney in connection with his . . . arrest.”

Kinney also moved in limine to preclude the state from mentioning that his prior felony

conviction was for bank robbery. At a hearing on the motion in limine, Kinney‟s

attorney asserted that, while at the station after his arrest, Kinney had made additional

statements to Leikem about his prior conviction; counsel asked the court to suppress the

statements as unduly prejudicial. The court denied counsel‟s oral motion to suppress and,

because Kinney did not admit the prior conviction, permitted the state to introduce his

statement to Leikem. The court further agreed to sanitize the prior conviction. During

the first trial, a witness testified that Kinney had been sentenced previously to fifteen

years in prison. Because the length of the sentence had been excluded, the court then

1 Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966). 3 granted Kinney‟s motion for mistrial. Kinney was convicted and sentenced after a

second jury found him guilty of the charged offense. This appeal followed.

Motion to Suppress

A. Proper Standard of Review

¶6 Kinney first argues the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress

his statement to Leikem, claiming the police officers lacked reasonable suspicion to

detain him after they had asked him his name and determined he was not Balentine.

Thus, Kinney contends, his subsequent statement to Leikem at the police station should

have been suppressed because it was tainted by his prolonged detention in violation of the

Fourth Amendment. See U.S. Const. amend. IV; Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S.

471, 484-86 (1963) (evidence obtained directly or indirectly in violation of Fourth

Amendment not admissible against victim of illegal search or seizure).

¶7 To preserve an argument for review, the defendant must make a sufficient

argument to allow a trial court to rule on the issue.2 See State v. Fulminante, 193 Ariz.

2 Kinney argues in his supplemental brief that we “should not raise issues . . . that benefit the State at the expense of the defendant.” We have discretion to address a significant, albeit waived, issue. See State v. Aleman, 210 Ariz. 232, ¶ 24, 109 P.3d 571, 579 (App. 2005) (“[W]aiver is a procedural concept that courts do not rigidly employ in mechanical fashion.”); see also State v. Smith, 203 Ariz. 75, ¶ 12, 50 P.3d 825, 829 (2002) (appellate court may address argument otherwise waived); State v. Payne, 223 Ariz. 555, n.8, 225 P.3d 1131, 1145 n.8 (App. 2009) (“„If application of a legal principle, even if not raised below, would dispose of an action on appeal and correctly explain the law, it is appropriate for us to consider the issue.‟”), quoting Evenstad v. State, 178 Ariz. 578, 582, 875 P.2d 811, 815 (App. 1993); cf. State v. Lopez, 217 Ariz. 433, n.4, 175 P.3d 682, 687 n.4 (App. 2008) (exercising discretion to address issues first raised in reply brief). And to consider the issue properly, we granted both parties supplemental briefing on the issue. See State v. Lopez, 223 Ariz. 238, ¶ 6, 221 P.3d 1052, 1054 (App. 2009) (“„The rule that issues not clearly raised in the opening brief are waived‟ serves „to avoid 4 485, ¶ 64, 975 P.2d 75, 93 (1999) (“An objection is sufficiently made if it provides the

judge with an opportunity to provide a remedy.”). “And an objection on one ground does

not preserve the issue [for appeal] on another ground.” State v. Lopez, 217 Ariz. 433, ¶ 4,

175 P.3d 682, 683 (App. 2008).

¶8 In his initial motion, Kinney specifically identified “the gun, the heroin, the

paraphernalia and the fact . . . Kinney was a prohibited possessor” but did not refer to any

statements among the items of evidence he sought to suppress. He relied on Wong Sun,

371 U.S. 471, as authority for the suppression of the named items but did not cite any

authority that would have alerted the trial court that he was seeking suppression of the

statements he made at the police station. In its response to the motion to suppress, the

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Related

Wong Sun v. United States
371 U.S. 471 (Supreme Court, 1963)
Miranda v. Arizona
384 U.S. 436 (Supreme Court, 1966)
Terry v. Ohio
392 U.S. 1 (Supreme Court, 1968)
Florida v. Royer
460 U.S. 491 (Supreme Court, 1983)
United States v. Hensley
469 U.S. 221 (Supreme Court, 1985)
United States v. Sharpe
470 U.S. 675 (Supreme Court, 1985)
Ornelas v. United States
517 U.S. 690 (Supreme Court, 1996)
Missouri v. Seibert
542 U.S. 600 (Supreme Court, 2004)
United States v. David Lee Green
111 F.3d 515 (Seventh Circuit, 1997)
State v. Valverde
208 P.3d 233 (Arizona Supreme Court, 2009)
State v. Cox
174 P.3d 265 (Arizona Supreme Court, 2007)
State v. Henderson
115 P.3d 601 (Arizona Supreme Court, 2005)
State v. Stroud
103 P.3d 912 (Arizona Supreme Court, 2005)
State v. Dean
76 P.3d 429 (Arizona Supreme Court, 2003)
State v. Smith
50 P.3d 825 (Arizona Supreme Court, 2002)
State v. Christiansen
163 P.3d 1175 (Idaho Supreme Court, 2007)
State v. Hunter
688 P.2d 980 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1984)
State v. Bible
858 P.2d 1152 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1993)
State v. Fulminante
975 P.2d 75 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1999)
State v. Flores
986 P.2d 232 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1999)

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