State v. Bricker

2006 NMCA 052, 134 P.3d 800, 139 N.M. 513
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 1, 2006
Docket24,719
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 2006 NMCA 052 (State v. Bricker) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Bricker, 2006 NMCA 052, 134 P.3d 800, 139 N.M. 513 (N.M. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

OPINION

SUTIN, Judge.

{1} Defendant John Bricker appeals the denial of his motion to suppress evidence found in his wallet as he was being booked at the police station. He was taken to the police station after having been arrested for driving on a suspended license. The arresting officer observed Defendant driving and knew that Defendant’s license had been suspended. After stopping Defendant, the officer confirmed that the license had been suspended.

{2} We first address whether the custodial arrest was lawful. A New Mexico Statute requires a citation and release under the circumstances here. We hold that the custodial arrest was unlawful. We then address whether the unlawful custodial arrest was a constitutionally unreasonable seizure, requiring suppression of the evidence obtained from the search of Defendant’s wallet. We hold that the seizure was unreasonable under the New Mexico Constitution and, therefore, the ensuing search during booking was unlawful and the evidence from the search should have been suppressed as the fruit of an unreasonable seizure.

BACKGROUND

{3} Believing that Defendant’s driver’s license had been suspended, Officer Izzy Johnson stopped Defendant on suspicion of driving with a suspended license. Defendant could not produce a driver’s license and Officer Johnson was informed by radio dispatch that the license was suspended. The officer arrested Defendant for driving on a suspended license and took him to the police station for booking. 1 Booking procedures included taking Defendant’s personal property. While removing and going through Defendant’s wallet, the detention officer found a loaded syringe. The contents tested positive for methamphetamine and Defendant was charged with possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia.

{4} Defendant moved to suppress the evidence as fruit of an unreasonable seizure under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article II, Section 10 of the New Mexico Constitution. At the suppression hearing, Defendant argued that under NMSA 1978, §§ 66-8-122 (1985) and 66-8-123 (1989), Officer Johnson was not authorized to arrest him and take him to the police station to be booked for driving on a suspended license, but rather required the officer to issue him a citation and release him from custody. Defendant further argued that the detention was therefore unlawful, requiring suppression of the drug-related evidence.

{5} Section 66-8-122 requires a person who is arrested for driving on a suspended license to be immediately taken before a magistrate if the person’s license was suspended pursuant to certain laws relating to driving while intoxicated (DWI). § 66 — 8— 122(G). However, when the suspension is not pursuant to those DWI-related laws, Section 66-8-123 requires the arresting officer to release the violator from custody after the officer issues a citation pursuant to which the driver agrees to appear in court. § 66-8-123(A).

{6} The State did not offer evidence at the suppression hearing of the basis on which Defendant’s license was suspended. Thus, there is no evidence in the record that Officer Johnson knew the basis on which Defendant’s license had been suspended when he stopped Defendant or when he arrested Defendant and took him to the police station.

{7} There was no issue in the district court as to the validity of the traffic stop. The district court denied Defendant’s motion to suppress. Defendant entered a conditional plea and appealed the court’s ruling. The issues are legal questions which we review de novo. State v. Rodarte, 2005-NMCA-141, ¶ 5, 138 N.M. 668, 125 P.3d 647, cert. granted, 2005-NMCERT-012, 138 N.M. 773, 126 P.3d 1137.

The Lawfulness of the Custodial Arrest Under State Statute

{8} Sections 66-8-122 and -123 delineate an officer’s authority to arrest and detain when, as in the present case, the traffic-related stop is grounded on the violation of driving on a suspended license. As it relates to a suspended license, Section 66-8-122 reads:

Whenever any person is arrested for any violation of the Motor Vehicle Code ... or other law relating to motor vehicles punishable as a misdemeanor, he shall be immediately taken before an available magistrate who has jurisdiction of the offense when the:
G. person is charged with driving when his privilege to do so was suspended or revoked pursuant to Section 66-8-111 NMSA 1978 [relating to refusal to submit to a breath test for DWI purposes] or pursuant to a conviction for driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or drugs.

It is a violation of the Motor Vehicle Code to drive on a suspended license. NMSA 1978, § 66-5-39(A) (1993). Section 66-8-123(A) reads:

Except as provided in Section 66-8-122 NMSA 1978, unless a penalty assessment or warning notice is given, whenever a person is arrested for any violation of the Motor Vehicle Code ... or other law relating to motor vehicles punishable as a misdemeanor, the arresting officer, using the uniform traffic citation, shall complete the information section and prepare a notice to appear in court, specifying the time and place to appear, have the arrested person sign the agreement to appear as specified, give a copy of the citation to the arrested person and release him from custody.

An officer who violates Section 66-8-123 “is guilty of a misconduct in office and is subject to removal.” § 66-8-123(E).

{9} While the statute uses the words “arrest” and “custody,” we believe the Legislature intended those terms to refer to a temporary detention rather than a traditional custodial arrest in which a person is arrested and taken to the police station for booking. See United States v. Gonzalez, 763 F.2d 1127, 1130 n. 1 (10th Cir.1985) (discussing Sections 66-8-122 and 66-8-123 and the use of the words “arrest” and “custody” in Section 66-8-123(A), and stating, “[d]espite the statute’s use of the words ‘arrest’ and ‘custody,’ when a New Mexico police officer stops a car merely to issue a traffic summons for a minor speeding infraction, we think that for Fourth Amendment purposes that stop is more in the nature of an investigative detention than a traditional [custodial] arrest”); State v. Reynolds, 119 N.M. 383, 388, 890 P.2d 1315, 1320 (1995) (holding that continued detention in a traffic stop to request, review, and check a motorist’s license, registration, and insurance documentation is not unreasonable and does not violate the Fourth Amendment or Article II, Section 10 of the New Mexico Constitution).

{10} Section 66-8-122 lists several circumstances in addition to that in Subpart G that require a person to be taken before a magistrate. As we pointed out earlier in this opinion, no evidence exists in the record that Officer Johnson knew at the time he arrested Defendant and took Defendant to the police station for booking whether Defendant’s license suspension was DWI-related.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2006 NMCA 052, 134 P.3d 800, 139 N.M. 513, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-bricker-nmctapp-2006.