State v. Castrejon-Ruiz

188 P.3d 400, 220 Or. App. 637, 2008 Ore. App. LEXIS 876
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedJune 25, 2008
DocketD041912T; A127132
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 188 P.3d 400 (State v. Castrejon-Ruiz) 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. Castrejon-Ruiz, 188 P.3d 400, 220 Or. App. 637, 2008 Ore. App. LEXIS 876 (Or. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

*639 ARMSTRONG, J.

Defendant appeals a judgment of conviction for giving false information to a police officer in violation of ORS 807.620, assigning error to the trial court’s denial of his motion to suppress evidence obtained during a search of his person. Defendant contends on appeal that the search violated his rights under Article I, section 9, of the Oregon Constitution and the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution because he did not consent to the search and, even if he did consent, the consent was invalid because it was obtained during an unlawful prolongation of a stop. Defendant further argues that the search was unlawful because the officer lacked authority under ORS 810.410(3) to request defendant’s consent to search. We review for legal error. In conducting that review, we are bound by the trial court’s determination of historical facts if there is evidence in the record to support its findings. State v. Davis, 295 Or 227, 238, 666 P2d 802 (1983). We affirm.

The relevant facts are undisputed. Around 2:30 a.m. on April 30, 2004, defendant rode his bicycle through a parking lot in Tualatin without a light, thereby violating the traffic code. Officer Pomeroy saw defendant riding without a light and stopped him to give him a warning about the traffic violation. After telling defendant that he was required to have a light on his bicycle, Pomeroy asked defendant for identification. Defendant said that he did not have identification, but he gave Pomeroy a name and date of birth, neither of which was correct.

Pomeroy then asked defendant if he could pat him down for weapons and asked him to get off the bike so that he could do that. Pomeroy testified that defendant got off his bicycle and seemed “very compliant” and ‘Very polite.” During the search, Pomeroy felt what seemed to be a wallet in defendant’s back pocket, and he asked to look inside the wallet. Defendant agreed. Pomeroy opened the wallet and found an Oregon identification card that listed defendant’s actual name and date of birth, which differed from the information that defendant had given Pomeroy. Pomeroy confronted defendant about the discrepancies, and defendant fled on *640 foot. Defendant was later charged with giving false information to a police officer, ORS 807.620, and attempting to elude, ORS 811.540(1)(B).

Before trial, defendant moved to suppress the evidence obtained from Pomeroy’s search, arguing that Pomeroy did not have a lawful basis to request consent to search him for weapons. The state countered that the officer had authority under ORS 810.410(3) to “make an inquiry” about weapons in order to ensure officer safety. 1 Furthermore, the state argued that the request was not unreasonable due to the circumstances^ — the officer was alone with defendant, near a bar, around 2:30 a.m. The trial court denied the suppression motion, concluding that Pomeroy did not exceed the scope of his authority in seizing defendant for a traffic violation and requesting consent to search defendant’s person; the trial court also found that defendant had consented to the search. Furthermore, it went on to state, sua sponte, that the request for consent to search did not unlawfully prolong the traffic stop and, therefore, did not implicate defendant’s right under Article I, section 9, of the Oregon Constitution to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. After a trial to the court, defendant moved for a judgment of acquittal on both counts. The court granted defendant’s motion as to the charge of attempting to elude, but denied it with respect to the charge of providing false information to a police officer, and convicted him of that charge.

On appeal, defendant challenges the court’s denial of his suppression motion. He makes three arguments: (1) the trial court erred in finding that he consented to the search; (2) even if he did consent, his consent was invalid because it was the product of an unlawfully prolonged traffic stop that violated Article I, section 9, of the Oregon Constitution and the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution; and (3) the officer exceeded the scope of his authority under *641 ORS 810.410(3) by requesting consent to search for weapons. The state responds that defendant’s first two arguments were not preserved in the trial court and, hence, should not be considered on appeal. In any event, the state asserts that the arguments are without merit because defendant consented to the search, and the request for consent to search did not unlawfully prolong the stop. The state concedes that defendant’s third argument is preserved but argues that the officer did not exceed the lawful scope of a traffic stop because he was authorized under ORS 810.410(3) to request consent to search for weapons to ensure his safety during the stop.

We first address the state’s contention that defendant did not preserve his first two arguments for appeal. In general, we will not consider an issue on appeal that has not been preserved in the trial court. ORAP 5.45. To preserve a claim of error for appeal, the party asserting error must do something that would call the trial court’s attention to the error. State v. Mosley, 206 Or App 172, 176, 136 P3d 73 (2006) (party may not complain, on appeal, that trial court failed to do something that party never asked it to do).

We agree with the state that defendant did not preserve his first two arguments on appeal. 2 We begin with the pertinent portions of the record. At the suppression hearing, defendant argued:

“The facts as I believe will come out is when he was stopped for not having a light on his bike, Officer Pomeroy asked him at that point what is your name, do you have any identification. [Defendant] said he did not have any identification. [Defendant] wrote a name down on a piece of paper and gave it to the officer.
“As the police reports lay out, the officer then asked to search him for weapons. There is nothing in the report that indicates there were any further gestures made or that Officer Pomeroy was concerned for his safety in any way. He simply asked for [defendant] to get off of his bike so he could search [him] for weapons.
*642 “[Defendant] had a piece of paper in his hand with a date of birth on it Judge. He was stopped for a violation.

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Related

In Re the Marriage of Kirkpatrick
273 P.3d 361 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2012)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
188 P.3d 400, 220 Or. App. 637, 2008 Ore. App. LEXIS 876, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-castrejon-ruiz-orctapp-2008.