State v. Cerrillo

122 Wash. App. 341
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedJuly 8, 2004
DocketNo. 20386-7-III
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 122 Wash. App. 341 (State v. Cerrillo) 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. Cerrillo, 122 Wash. App. 341 (Wash. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

Schultheis, J.

Washington courts consider a person “seized” when an officer, by physical force or show of authority, restrains the person’s freedom of movement and a reasonable person would not believe he or she is free to leave. State v. O’Neill, 148 Wn.2d 564, 574, 62 P.3d 489 (2003). Officers knocked on the window of a parked pickup, woke up Gerardo Cerrillo and a passenger, and asked for Mr. Cerrillo’s identification. Mr. Cerrillo smelled of intoxicants. Later, one of the officers saw Mr. Cerrillo driving and stopped and arrested him for driving under the influence of alcohol. The trial court concluded Mr. Cerrillo was unlawfully seized during the first officer contact, suppressed all evidence obtained as a result of the two stops, and dismissed.

On appeal to this court, the State contended the initial stop was justified as a community caretaking function. In oral argument, the State asserted for the first time that the initial stop did not rise to the level of a seizure. We declined review of the seizure question and affirmed the decision of the trial court. State v. Cerrillo, 114 Wn. App. 259, 264, 54 P.3d 1250 (2002), review granted in part, cause remanded, 149 Wn.2d 1017 (2003). Subsequently, the State’s petition for review was granted in part and the Supreme Court [345]*345remanded to this court with directions to reconsider in light of O’Neill.

Exercising our discretion under RAP 2.5(a), we now accept review of the seizure issue, withdraw Cerrillo, 114 Wn. App. 259, and conclude that the officers’ actions did not rise to the level of a seizure. Information gained in the initial stop gave probable cause to arrest Mr. Cerrillo for driving under the influence of alcohol. Consequently, we reverse and remand for trial.

Facts

Early one morning in April 1999, Officer David Sands responded to a report of a suspicious vehicle parked near Denny’s Restaurant in Moses Lake. He and another officer approached a parked pickup, saw two men asleep inside, and knocked on the windows to wake the men up. Either Officer Sands or the man in the driver’s seat opened the door and Officer Sands asked to see the man’s identification. The man complied and proved to be Mr. Cerrillo. Due to the odor of alcohol and observations of Mr. Cerrillo’s behavior, Officer Sands decided Mr. Cerrillo was intoxicated. He told Mr. Cerrillo to “sleep it off” and not to drive. Clerk’s Papers (CP) at 18, 54.

The officers left and Officer Sands continued to patrol the area, keeping an eye out for the pickup. About 30 minutes later, he saw the pickup leaving the parking lot and followed. Only one person was in the vehicle at this time. Officer Sands observed the driver make a turn without using a signal, move into a lane without using a signal, and fade from the inside lane to the outside lane while making a turn. When Officer Sands activated his lights, the pickup pulled over. Mr. Cerrillo, who was driving, was arrested and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol.

Before trial in district court, Mr. Cerrillo moved to dismiss pursuant to State v. Knapstad, 107 Wn.2d 346, 351-53, 729 P.2d 48 (1986) (the trial court has inherent power to dismiss a case that is not supported by sufficient [346]*346evidence). He argued that the officers were not authorized to stop him during the initial encounter under any of the exceptions to the warrant requirement, including the community caretaking function. He further argued that the second stop was unavoidably tainted by the first unlawful seizure.

Officer Sands was the only witness to testify at the Knapstad hearing. He testified that he did not know who reported the suspicious vehicle and admitted he saw no evidence of a crime in or around the pickup. When asked if he would have pulled the pickup over if he had not had the prior contact, Officer Sands responded, “I really can’t say one way or the other. I’ve made traffic stops for exactly the same thing.” CP at 39.

The trial court found that the initial contact was based on the radio report of a suspicious vehicle, and not on the observations of the officers. The court additionally found that the second contact was based on knowledge gained from the first contact, and not on observations of behavior indicating unsafe or impaired driving. Concluding that Mr. Cerrillo was seized without a warrant during the first contact, the trial court further concluded that no exception to the warrant requirement justified the police intrusion. The court also found that the second stop was a pretext because it was based on information obtained from the initial, unlawful seizure. All evidence from the two contacts was suppressed and the charge was dismissed with prejudice.

The State appealed the district court’s ruling to superior court, which affirmed. This court granted discretionary review. During oral arguments before this court, the State for the first time specifically argued that the initial contact between Officer Sands and Mr. Cerrillo did not rise to the level of a seizure. Because we found that the trial court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law did not address the factors relevant to whether this encounter constituted a seizure, we declined to address this issue and affirmed. Cerrillo, 114 Wn. App. at 264. The State petitioned for [347]*347review to the Supreme Court, noting that the issue of seizure was listed in the designation of claimed errors in the motion for discretionary review to the Court of Appeals. By order entered on July 8, 2003, the Supreme Court remanded the case for reconsideration in light of O’Neill. The parties submitted supplemental briefing.

Issue of Waiver Raised at Appellate Oral Argument

We first decide whether the issue of seizure is properly before this court. Generally appellate courts will not consider issues raised for the first time on appeal. RAP 2.5(a); State v. McFarland, 127 Wn.2d 322, 332-33, 899 P.2d 1251 (1995); State v. Burden, 104 Wn. App. 507, 515,17 P.3d 1211 (2001) (State raised the issue for the first time on appeal). Even when the party alleges a “manifest error affecting a constitutional right,” RAP 2.5(a), we will not review a newly raised argument if the facts necessary to adjudicate the alleged error are not in the record. State v. Riley, 121 Wn.2d 22, 31, 846 P.2d 1365 (1993).

In the first appeal, the State did not assign error to the trial court’s conclusion of law that Mr. Cerrillo was seized when he was first contacted by Officer Sands. Instead, the petitioner’s brief stated the issue as follows: “The Superior Court’s decision should be overturned because contacts of people who remain in parked cars late at night with no apparent business [are] within the police function of community caretaking.” Pet’r’s Br. at 3. The specific question of seizure was first raised when the State submitted a statement of additional authorities before oral argument that listed four cases discussing when officer contact rises to the level of a seizure.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
122 Wash. App. 341, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-cerrillo-washctapp-2004.