State of Washington v. Tracey Kimberly Bailey

CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedSeptember 10, 2019
Docket36648-1
StatusUnpublished

This text of State of Washington v. Tracey Kimberly Bailey (State of Washington v. Tracey Kimberly Bailey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State of Washington v. Tracey Kimberly Bailey, (Wash. Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

FILED SEPTEMBER 10, 2019 In the Office of the Clerk of Court WA State Court of Appeals, Division III

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON DIVISION THREE

STATE OF WASHINGTON, ) No. 36648-1-III ) Respondent, ) ) v. ) UNPUBLISHED OPINION ) TRACEY KIMBERLY BAILEY, ) ) Appellant. )

FEARING, J. — We review a common question of whether a law enforcement

officer possessed reasonable articulable suspicion when conducting a Terry stop. We

hold the officer had reasonable suspicion and affirm appellant Tracey Bailey’s

conviction. We remand for correction of her offender score and the striking of some

legal financial obligations.

FACTS

Since Tracey Bailey challenges her seizure by a law enforcement officer, we

garner our facts from a motion to suppress hearing. On June 29, 2014, at 1:30 a.m.,

David Brown called Thurston County’s 911 service to report an unwanted person at his No. 36648-1-III State v. Bailey

home. Brown identified his address. Emergency dispatch immediately sent Thurston

County Sheriff Deputy James Esslinger to Brown’s residence. Brown continued to speak

to dispatch, and dispatch forwarded the information to Deputy Esslinger.

David Brown reported to emergency dispatch that a black female named Tracey,

approximately five foot ten inches and wearing a multi-colored sweater, arrived, with

mattress in hand, at his residence via taxi. Brown added that he had earlier allowed

Tracey to stay at his residence, but that she was no longer welcome. Brown then reported

that Tracey had left the vicinity, but soon thereafter commented that “she’s back in the

house.” Report of Proceedings (RP) (Aug. 14, 2017) at 9. Brown also claimed that

Tracey had once crawled in a window to gain access to the residence. Brown never

suggested that Tracey was violent.

Deputy James Esslinger last heard that Tracey had left the property by foot. As he

proceeded, he deemed himself investigating a trespass and perhaps a domestic violence

incident or a burglary. He sometimes delivers trespass warnings to citizens.

Two-tenths of a mile from David Brown’s residence, Deputy James Esslinger

observed a person, matching the description Brown gave to dispatch, walking along the

road. The road lacked sidewalks but maintained dirt shoulders. Deputy Esslinger

stopped his vehicle. He does not remember if he stopped in front of the woman or behind

her. The deputy’s front headlights shined. Deputy Esslinger stepped from his patrol car

2 No. 36648-1-III State v. Bailey

and asked the woman: “Are you Tracey?” RP (Aug. 14, 2017) at 18. The woman replied

affirmatively, so Esslinger asked her to come to him.

When Tracey approached Deputy James Esslinger, he asked her for identification.

Tracey indicated she lacked any identification. She volunteered her full name, Tracey

Bailey, and date of birth. Deputy Esslinger returned to his patrol car, and he entered the

information Bailey provided into his computer. Bailey remained illuminated by the car’s

headlights, as she stood in front of the patrol vehicle, such that she kept within

Esslinger’s line of sight. Deputy James Esslinger did not then place Bailey in handcuffs

nor otherwise restrain her freedom of movement. Esslinger had not directed Bailey to

remain in front of the car or told her she could not leave.

Deputy James Esslinger’s computer search revealed two outstanding warrants for

Tracey Bailey. Deputy Esslinger asked dispatch to confirm the warrants. He then exited

his car and spoke again to Bailey.

Thurston County Sheriff Deputy Micah Rose responded to the scene while Deputy

James Esslinger waited for confirmation from dispatch of the arrest warrants. Dispatch

confirmed one of the warrants, so Deputy Esslinger placed Tracey Bailey under arrest.

Esslinger searched Bailey’s person incident to the arrest. In Bailey’s right rear pants

pocket, Deputy Esslinger found wadded bills, inside which lay a small Ziploc “baggie”

3 No. 36648-1-III State v. Bailey

containing a white powdery substance. A crime lab analyst later identified the substance

as methamphetamine.

Deputy James Esslinger asked Deputy Micah Rose to travel to the reported

address, speak with David Brown, and ascertain whether a trespass occurred. The sheriff

deputies later concluded that Tracey Bailey had not committed a crime against Brown.

PROCEDURE

The State of Washington charged Tracey Bailey with unlawful possession of a

controlled substance, methamphetamine. The State brought no charges for trespass.

Bailey moved the court to suppress the evidence recovered from her seizure by Deputy

James Esslinger and to dismiss the charge of unlawful possession of a controlled

substance.

At the suppression motion hearing, the State asserted that Deputy James Esslinger

conducted a Terry stop, rather than a community caretaking encounter. The parties

disagreed on whether reasonable suspicion supported the Terry stop. The trial court

concluded that Deputy Esslinger held reasonable suspicion to contact Tracey Bailey and

denied the motions to suppress and dismiss.

In response to the motion to suppress, the superior court entered findings of fact

under CrR 3.6. One finding reads:

4 No. 36648-1-III State v. Bailey

2. On June 29, 2014, dispatch received a 911 call to report an unwanted person in the 5600 block of Old Highway 410. Dispatch reported the unwanted person an African-American female, 5 foot, 10 inches, named “Tracey,” and wearing a multi-colored sweater. The report was that she had arrived at the reporting party’s house via a taxi, carrying a mattress. The reporting party stated he had asked Tracy [sic] to leave, then after she had left, she returned. The reporting party also stated, she had entered his house via a window in the past.

Clerk’s Papers (CP) at 105 (emphasis added).

At trial, Tracey Bailey testified that she did not know she possessed the

methamphetamine. The trial court instructed the jury on the defense of unwitting

possession. The jury found Bailey guilty.

Based on an offender score of eight, the trial court sentenced Tracey Bailey to a

standard range sentence of sixteen months’ confinement. The sentencing court imposed

legal financial obligations, including a $200 criminal filing fee and a $100 DNA

collection fee. Earlier, in 2015, the court had ordered Bailey to pay a $100 warrant

service fee. The trial court found Bailey indigent and allowed her to appeal at public

expense.

LAW AND ANALYSIS

Tracey Bailey challenges her conviction and her sentence. We address her

conviction first.

5 No. 36648-1-III State v. Bailey

Validity of Stop

In an effort to reverse her conviction for possession of a controlled substance,

Tracey Bailey argues that Deputy James Esslinger unlawfully seized her. Therefore,

according to Bailey, the discovery of the methamphetamine flowed from an unlawful

seizure such that the superior court should have suppressed the evidence. Bailey does not

deem her arrest after Deputy Esslinger learned of the arrest warrant to constitute the

unlawful seizure. She instead identifies Esslinger’s approaching her and asking her

questions as the unlawful seizure.

We question whether Deputy James Esslinger ever seized Tracey Bailey within

the meaning of the state and federal constitutions. Esslinger never told Bailey she could

not leave his presence and never took from Bailey any identification card while

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Related

Terry v. Ohio
392 U.S. 1 (Supreme Court, 1968)
State v. Vandover
822 P.2d 784 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1992)
State v. Larson
611 P.2d 771 (Washington Supreme Court, 1980)
State v. Armenta
948 P.2d 1280 (Washington Supreme Court, 1997)
State v. Mitchell
906 P.2d 1013 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1995)
State v. Seagull
632 P.2d 44 (Washington Supreme Court, 1981)
State v. Anderson
755 P.2d 191 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1988)
State v. McCorkle
945 P.2d 736 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1997)
State v. Poirier
664 P.2d 7 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1983)
State v. Knox
939 P.2d 710 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1997)
State v. Hansen
994 P.2d 855 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2000)
State v. Argo
915 P.2d 1103 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1996)
State v. Kennedy
726 P.2d 445 (Washington Supreme Court, 1986)
State v. Glover
806 P.2d 760 (Washington Supreme Court, 1991)
State v. Williams
689 P.2d 1065 (Washington Supreme Court, 1984)
State v. Watson
784 P.2d 1294 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1990)
State v. Doughty
239 P.3d 573 (Washington Supreme Court, 2010)
State v. Calhoun
257 P.3d 693 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2011)
State v. Harrington
222 P.3d 92 (Washington Supreme Court, 2009)
State v. Wakeley
628 P.2d 835 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1981)

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State of Washington v. Tracey Kimberly Bailey, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-of-washington-v-tracey-kimberly-bailey-washctapp-2019.