State v. Beito

147 Wash. App. 504
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedNovember 18, 2008
DocketNo. 26379-7-III
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 147 Wash. App. 504 (State v. Beito) 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 v. Beito, 147 Wash. App. 504 (Wash. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

Brown, J.

¶1 Officers contacted Curtis N. Beito while he was a passenger in a vehicle parked outside a convenience store. When asked, he provided his name and birth date. Officers ran this information through their database and discovered Mr. Beito had a warrant for his arrest. In a search incident to arrest, officers found a stolen credit card. The State charged Mr. Beito with second degree possession of stolen property. He requested dismissal, arguing the initial contact was unconstitutional. The trial court agreed and dismissed the charge. The State appeals, contending the initial contact was not an unlawful seizure. We affirm.

[507]*507FACTS

¶2 At 3:40 a.m., Airway Heights Police Officer Paul Brasch and Reserve Officer Robert Schmitter drove past an open convenience store and noticed a car parked in the parking lot with two individuals standing nearby. Four minutes later, they drove past the store again and noticed the individuals sitting inside the car. Out of concern for the individuals’ welfare and premises’ safety, the officers decided to make contact.

¶3 The officers parked directly behind the vehicle; they did not activate their emergency equipment. Officer Schmitter approached the driver and Officer Brasch approached the passenger, Mr. Beito. Mr. Beito told the officer he was okay and just waiting for a friend. Mr. Beito told Officer Brasch he thought his friend’s name was Ryan. Mr. Beito claims the driver then received a call from Ryan and asked to leave, but Officer Brasch said no.

¶4 Officer Brasch observed several suitcases and bags in the back of the vehicle. Mr. Beito told the officer they just finished doing laundry and wanted to keep their clothes separate. Officer Brasch told Mr. Beito he found his stories about the friend and the laundry suspicious and asked for identification. Mr. Beito did not have identification on him. Officer Brasch then asked Mr. Beito for his name and birth date. A police database search showed Mr. Beito had a warrant for his arrest. In a search incident to arrest, the officers found a stolen gas card in Mr. Beito’s rear pants pocket.

¶5 The State charged Mr. Beito with second degree possession of stolen property. Mr. Beito filed a motion to dismiss, arguing the initial contact violated his constitutional rights under article I, section 7 of the Washington Constitution. The court granted the motion, concluding the incident in question was an unlawful seizure. The State appealed.

[508]*508ANALYSIS

¶6 The issue is whether the trial court erred by abusing its discretion in dismissing Mr. Beito’s second degree possession charge.

¶7 The State contends there was no illegal seizure, and even if there was, the officers were not precluded from using Mr. Beito’s identification information to subsequently arrest him on an unrelated warrant.

¶8 This court reviews a trial court’s decision to allow or dismiss criminal charges for abuse of discretion. State v. Michielli, 132 Wn.2d 229, 240, 937 P.2d 587 (1997). “ ‘Discretion is abused when the trial court’s decision is manifestly unreasonable, or is exercised on untenable grounds or for untenable reasons.’ ” Id. (quoting State v. Blackwell, 120 Wn.2d 822, 830, 845 P.2d 1017 (1993)). Dismissal is an extraordinary remedy, appropriate only in truly egregious cases. State v. Flinn, 119 Wn. App. 232, 247, 80 P.3d 171 (2003), aff’d, 154 Wn.2d 193, 110 P.3d 748 (2005).

¶9 Under the Washington Constitution, no person “shall be disturbed in his private affairs . . . without authority of law.” Const. art. I, § 7. Article I, section 7 provides greater protection of a person’s right to privacy than the Fourth Amendment. State v. Simpson, 95 Wn.2d 170, 178, 622 P.2d 1199 (1980). The person asserting an unconstitutional seizure bears the burden of proving that there was a seizure. State v. Young, 135 Wn.2d 498, 509-10, 957 P.2d 681 (1998). A seizure under article I, section 7 occurs when, due to an officer’s use of physical force or display of authority, an individual’s freedom of movement is restrained and the individual would not believe that he is free to leave or decline a request. “This determination is made by looking objectively at the actions of the law enforcement officer.” State v. Mote, 129 Wn. App. 276, 282-83, 120 P.3d 596 (2005). Whether an encounter with police is permissive or a seizure is a mixed question of law [509]*509and fact, but whether the facts may be characterized as a seizure is a legal question this court reviews de novo. State v. Rankin, 151 Wn.2d 689, 709, 92 P.3d 202 (2004).

¶10 Police officers are permitted to approach citizens and permissively inquire into whether they will answer questions as part of their “community caretaking” function. State v. Nettles, 70 Wn. App. 706, 712, 855 P.2d 699 (1993). “ ‘Where an officer commands a person to halt or demands information from the person, a seizure occurs. But no seizure occurs where an officer approaches an individual in public and requests to talk to him or her, engages in conversation, or requests identification, so long as the person involved need not answer and may walk away.’ ” State v. O’Neill, 148 Wn.2d 564, 577-78, 62 P.3d 489 (2003) (emphasis, footnote, and citations omitted) (quoting State v. Cormier, 100 Wn. App. 457, 460-61, 997 P.2d 950 (2000)).

¶11 A police encounter may ripen into a seizure in circumstances, for example, where the police officer retains the identification such that the defendant is not free to leave or becomes immobilized. In State v. Thomas, 91 Wn. App. 195, 200-01, 955 P.2d 420 (1998), a seizure occurred when an officer, while retaining the defendant’s identification, took three steps back to conduct a warrants check on his hand-held radio. Similarly, in State v. Dudas, 52 Wn. App. 832, 834, 764 P.2d 1012 (1988), a seizure occurred under the Fourth Amendment when the deputy took the defendant’s identification card and returned to the patrol car. In State v. O’Day, 91 Wn. App. 244, 252, 955 P.2d 860 (1998), the court found that a passenger was seized when the officer ordered her out of the car, placed her purse out of reach, asked if she had drugs or weapons, and asked if she would consent to a search. In each of these cases, the officer removed the defendant’s identification or property from the defendant’s presence, effectively immobilizing the defendant.

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Bluebook (online)
147 Wash. App. 504, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-beito-washctapp-2008.