STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. WILKINSON A. REYES (17-02-0114, UNION COUNTY AND STATEWIDE)

CourtNew Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division
DecidedMarch 20, 2020
DocketA-0182-18T2
StatusUnpublished

This text of STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. WILKINSON A. REYES (17-02-0114, UNION COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) (STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. WILKINSON A. REYES (17-02-0114, UNION COUNTY AND STATEWIDE)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. WILKINSON A. REYES (17-02-0114, UNION COUNTY AND STATEWIDE), (N.J. Ct. App. 2020).

Opinion

NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION This opinion shall not "constitute precedent or be binding upon any court." Although it is posted on the internet, this opinion is binding only on the parties in the case and its use in other cases is limited. R. 1:36-3.

SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY APPELLATE DIVISION DOCKET NO. A-0182-18T2

STATE OF NEW JERSEY,

Plaintiff-Respondent,

v.

WILKINSON A. REYES,

Defendant-Appellant. ________________________

Submitted January 6, 2020 – Decided March 20, 2020

Before Judges Vernoia and Susswein.

On appeal from the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Union County, Indictment No. 17-02-0114.

Joseph E. Krakora, Public Defender, attorney for appellant (Alicia J. Hubbard, Assistant Deputy Public Defender, of counsel and on the brief).

Lyndsay V. Ruotolo, Acting Union County Prosecutor, attorney for respondent (Timothy M. Ortolani, Special Deputy Attorney General/Acting Union County Prosecutor, of counsel and on the brief).

PER CURIAM Defendant, Wilkinson A. Reyes, appeals from his conviction by guilty

plea to simple possession of heroin, contrary to N.J.S.A. 2C:35-10(a). The sole

issue on appeal is whether the trial court erred when it denied defendant's motion

to suppress controlled substances found on his person. Defendant was arr ested

and subjected to a search incident to that arrest after a fold of heroin fell into

view while police were conducting a "Terry"1 frisk for weapons. Defendant

contends the initial stop and ensuing frisk were unlawful.

We have reviewed the record in view of the parties' arguments and

applicable legal principles and conclude that the heroin should have been

suppressed. The police officers were authorized to initiate an investigative

detention based on reasonable suspicion that defendant was involved in criminal

activity. However, the State failed to establish that the officers had reasonable

suspicion to believe defendant was armed with a weapon. The protective pat -

down search, therefore, was unlawful. Because the pat down led to the

discovery of the heroin, that evidence should have been suppressed as a fruit of

the unlawful frisk.

1 Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968). A-0182-18T2 2 I.

A Union County Grand Jury indicted defendant for possession of heroin,

contrary to N.J.S.A. 2C:35-10(a)(1), and possession of that heroin with intent to

distribute, contrary to N.J.S.A. 2C:35-5(a)(1), (b)(3). Defendant filed a motion

to suppress arguing that the police did not have a lawful basis to initiate an

investigative detention or to conduct a protective frisk for weapons. The trial

judge convened an evidentiary hearing after which he denied defendant's

suppression motion in a written opinion.

Thereafter, defendant pled guilty to simple possession of heroin pursuant

to a negotiated agreement in which the State agreed to dismiss the possession -

with-intent-to-distribute charge. Defendant was sentenced in accordance with

the plea agreement to noncustodial probation for a period of eighteen months to

be followed by 180 days incarceration in county jail. The court made

defendant's service of the jail term contingent on his performance on probation.

If defendant performed well on probation, the judge indicated he would vacate

the custodial portion of the sentence.

Defendant appealed the denial of his suppression motion pursuant to Rule

3:5-7(d).

A-0182-18T2 3 II.

Defendant raises the following contentions for our consideration:

THERE WAS NO REASONABLE SUSPICION TO STOP [DEFENDANT], NOR PROBABLE CAUSE TO CONDUCT THE SUBSEQUENT WARRANTLESS SEARCH OF HIS PERSON. THEREFORE, THE EVIDENCE OF THE SEARCH MUST BE SUPPRESSED.

A. THE ENCOUNTER WAS AN UNLAWFUL INVESTIGATIVE STOP NOT PREDICATED UPON REASONABLE SUSPICION.

B. WHETHER OR NOT THE POLICE HAD REASONABLE SUSPICION TO STOP [DEFENDANT], THERE WAS NO PROBABLE CAUSE TO JUSTIFY THE SEARCH AND NO EXCEPTION TO THE REQUIREMENT FOR A WARRANT AND/OR PROBABLE CAUSE.

III.

The following facts were adduced at the suppression hearing. On October

25, 2016, at approximately 8:45 p.m., two detectives and another officer were

in an unmarked police vehicle on patrol in the area of East Sixth Street in

Plainfield. Detective Stephon Knox testified that the neighborhood was a high-

crime area with frequent drug activity. He noted that "[a] few days prior," there

were "shootings throughout the City of Plainfield." As a result of those

A-0182-18T2 4 shootings, officers were on high-visibility patrol and had instructions to

investigate all suspicious behavior.

The officers observed five adult males sitting on the steps in front a

building on East Sixth Street. The men appeared to be talking to one another;

they were not drinking or otherwise engaging in disruptive activity. When the

police vehicle approached, one of the males walked away quickly. Although

that caught the officers' attention, they did not pursue the individual who walked

away.

Detective Knox testified that it is common for individuals to sit on other

persons' property to ingest or sell controlled substances. The detective

acknowledged, however, that in this instance, he did not observe anyone using

drugs, nor did he observe any hand-to-hand drug transactions.

The officers drove up to the four remaining males and, while remaining

in the police vehicle, asked them if they lived there. Defendant answered "no"

but told the officers that a female who lives in the building said they could sit

on the steps. Defendant was not able to provide the name of the woman who he

claimed had given them permission to be on the property.

The building is a multi-family dwelling with two separate front doors.

The officers got out of the police vehicle to investigate whether the males had

A-0182-18T2 5 permission to be sitting on the front steps. The officers knocked on both doors.

No one answered the door on the left, but a woman answered the door on the

right. She stated she did not know the men sitting on the front steps and had not

given them permission to be there.

Now believing that defendant had lied to them, the officers escorted

defendant and the other three males to the police vehicle. Defendant at that

point became "extremely nervous." Detective Knox testified that defendant's

hands were shaking and he started breathing faster. Knox acknowledged that,

from his experience, it is common for people to become nervous around police

even if they have done nothing wrong. Based on defendant's nervousness, the

detective conducted a protective frisk.

As the detective was patting down defendant's outer clothing, he felt a

cardboard box. He asked defendant what it was and defendant answered that it

was just cigarettes. The detective did not remove the box from defendant's

pocket.

During the frisk, defendant was leaning on the car. Knox repeatedly asked

defendant to stop doing so. The detective testified that based on his experience,

people who lean on a car during a frisk are trying to hide contraband. The

detective continued the frisk. When he reached defendant's waist area, a small

A-0182-18T2 6 glassine package, commonly referred to as a "fold," fell to the ground. Knox

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STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. WILKINSON A. REYES (17-02-0114, UNION COUNTY AND STATEWIDE), Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-of-new-jersey-vs-wilkinson-a-reyes-17-02-0114-union-county-and-njsuperctappdiv-2020.