State v. Blackstone

410 P.3d 354, 289 Or. App. 421
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedDecember 20, 2017
DocketA159279
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 410 P.3d 354 (State v. Blackstone) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Blackstone, 410 P.3d 354, 289 Or. App. 421 (Or. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

AOYAGI, J.

*423Defendant appeals his conviction for possession of methamphetamine and felon in possession of a restricted weapon. Late one night, two police offers were parked in a *356patrol car on Coburg Road in Eugene, watching for two young males on foot who had fled at the sight of a police car approximately a half hour earlier, carrying bulky pillowcases that suggested a possible residential burglary. Defendant rode toward the patrol car on a bicycle. One of the officers stepped out of the patrol car and stopped defendant. He did so for two reasons-because defendant was bicycling without a headlight, which is a traffic violation, and because he suspected defendant of burglary based on defendant "vaguely" matching the description of one of the males seen earlier. The stop lasted six minutes. During the stop, defendant began reaching into his pockets repeatedly. That behavior led the officer to conduct an officer safety patdown, which in turn led to the seizure of a methamphetamine pipe and a butterfly knife. Before trial, defendant moved to suppress that evidence on the ground that, at the time of the patdown, the officer had unlawfully extended a lawful traffic stop to investigate another crime, burglary, without reasonable suspicion. The trial court denied the motion to suppress. Defendant was subsequently convicted. We conclude that the trial court erred in denying the motion to suppress and therefore reverse and remand.

I. STANDARD OF REVIEW

We review the denial of a motion to suppress for errors of law. State v. Ehly , 317 Or. 66, 75, 854 P.2d 421 (1993). In doing so, we are bound by the trial court's express and implicit factual findings, so long as there is constitutionally sufficient evidence in the record to support them. Id . We state the facts in accordance with that standard.

II. FACTS

Around 1:40 a.m. on a December night, Officer Meador drove by two young males standing on the sidewalk at the corner of Coburg Road and Jeppesen Acres Road in Eugene. That area is primarily residential, but there also are businesses up and down Coburg Road. The two young males *424were carrying pillowcases that appeared to be full of objects, and, upon seeing Meador, they sprinted away. No crimes had been reported in the area, but Meador suspected a possible burglary. On the police radio, Meador described the two suspects and, believing they might be hiding in a backyard in the area, requested that other officers assist in setting up a perimeter to try to locate them. Meador described the two suspects as white males in their late teens or early 20s. He described the first suspect as being of medium build and wearing a black beanie cap, a light grey or white t-shirt, and unknown pants. He did not get a good view of the second suspect and described him only as wearing a "darker jacket or hoody."

Officer Salsbury heard Meador's request and his description of the two young males over the radio. Within one to five minutes of hearing the call, Salsbury parked his patrol car at the corner of Coburg Road and Elysium Street, about a block away from where Meador had seen the suspects. Another officer, Lindsay, was with him in the car.

About thirty minutes later, at 2:14 a.m., Salsbury and Lindsay saw defendant riding a bicycle down Elysium Street toward Coburg Road, directly toward their patrol car. Salsbury thought that defendant "vaguely" matched the description of the second suspect. He was a white male, looked "at a distance at night" like he was "in his 20s," and was wearing "dark clothing."

Salsbury got out of the car and stopped defendant. Salsbury testified that he had two "clear" reasons for stopping defendant, both of which he told defendant immediately. One was that Salsbury thought that defendant matched the description of one of the burglary suspects. The other was that defendant was bicycling without a headlight, which is a traffic violation.1 According to Salsbury, the stop proceeded as follows. Salsbury introduced himself and told defendant "what was going on in the area." He explained that he had *425stopped defendant on "suspicion of potentially being [one] of *357the two subjects that took off in addition to the traffic violation." Salsbury asked defendant for identification, which is standard procedure "for potentially writing a traffic citation," and defendant provided it. After checking defendant's identification, Salsbury "continued to talk to [defendant], explain to him further what was going on and the activity in the area with all the police vehicles."

It was during this time, as Salsbury tried to "explain to [defendant] about the reason for the stop, all the cops in the area, what we were looking for," that defendant began putting his hands into his pockets. The first time, Salsbury told defendant to take his hands out of his pockets for officer safety, and defendant did so. A few seconds later, however, defendant put his hands into his pockets again. Salsbury again told him to remove his hands from his pockets, and defendant did so. Salsbury resumed talking about "the stop and what was going on in the area," only to have defendant reach into his pockets a third time.

Concerned for his safety, Salsbury conducted an officer safety patdown. He felt an object in defendant's pocket that he suspected was a methamphetamine pipe, due to the item's unique shape and his own perception that defendant might be under the influence of controlled substances. Defendant was handcuffed at 2:20 a.m., six minutes after the stop began. Salsbury advised defendant of his rights, questioned him about the contents of his pockets, and ultimately seized a methamphetamine pipe (that later tested positive for methamphetamine) and a butterfly knife from defendant's pockets.

The state charged defendant with possession of methamphetamine, ORS 475.894, and felon in possession of a restricted weapon, ORS 166.270. Before trial, defendant moved to suppress the evidence. He argued that Salsbury had probable cause to stop him for a traffic violation but did not have reasonable suspicion to stop him for burglary. Accordingly, defendant argued, the evidence seized as a result of the unlawful extension of the traffic stop had to be suppressed under Article I, section 9, of the Oregon Constitution, notwithstanding valid officer safety concerns *426that arose during the unlawful extension. In response, the state argued that there was no extension because Salsbury had reasonable suspicion that defendant had committed burglary or, alternatively, had not yet actually questioned defendant about the burglary at the time of the patdown.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
410 P.3d 354, 289 Or. App. 421, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-blackstone-orctapp-2017.