State v. Cox

807 N.W.2d 447, 2011 Minn. App. LEXIS 140, 2011 WL 5903399
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedNovember 28, 2011
DocketNo. A11-386
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 807 N.W.2d 447 (State v. Cox) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Cox, 807 N.W.2d 447, 2011 Minn. App. LEXIS 140, 2011 WL 5903399 (Mich. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

OPINION

HALBROOKS, Judge.

Appellant motorist was stopped by a police officer on suspicion of stolen license-plate registration tabs when the officer observed a discrepancy between appellant’s displayed 2010 tabs and information derived from the officer’s mobile computer that indicated that the vehicle registration had expired in 2008. Appellant challenges his resulting driving-while-impaired (DWI) conviction, arguing that the stop and the expansion of the scope of the stop violated his constitutional rights. Because we conclude that the discrepancy between the displayed tabs and the information derived from the officer’s computer provided an objectively reasonable basis for the stop and that the officer developed sufficient additional suspicion of appellant’s intoxication to permit him to expand the scope of the stop consistent with appellant’s constitutional rights, we affirm.

FACTS

While on early-morning patrol on January 10, 2010, Sartell Police Officer James Thompson pulled behind appellant Shaun Cox’s motor vehicle and entered Cox’s license-plate number into his mobile computer. The search indicated that Cox’s license-plate registration had expired in August 2008. This information was inconsistent with Officer Thompson’s observation that Cox’s license plate displayed a 2010 tab. Officer Thompson stopped the car based on the suspicion that Cox had stolen the displayed tab.

Officer Thompson approached Cox’s vehicle and almost immediately noticed signs of Cox’s intoxication. First, Cox had difficulty rolling down the window. When Cox did roll down the window, Officer Thompson smelled an odor of alcohol and observed that Cox had bloodshot, watery eyes. Officer Thompson asked about the [450]*450tabs, which he eventually confirmed were valid. Based on the observed indicia of intoxication, Officer Thompson conducted field sobriety tests, followed by a preliminary breath test that indicated an alcohol concentration of 0.144. Cox was charged with third-degree DWI. Cox moved to suppress the evidence obtained after Officer Thompson stopped his vehicle; the district court denied the motion. Cox subsequently stipulated to the state’s case under Minn. R.Crim. P. 26.01, subd. 4. The district court convicted Cox of third-degree DWI. Cox appeals his conviction by challenging the district court’s denial of his pretrial motion to suppress.

ISSUES

I. Does a police officer have an objectively reasonable basis to conduct an investigatory stop of a vehicle after observing a discrepancy between the driver’s current license-plate tabs and information derived from the officer’s mobile computer?

II. Is a police officer justified in expanding the scope of the stop after approaching the driver and observing signs of a driver’s intoxication?

ANALYSIS

I.

We begin by addressing the constitutionality of the investigatory stop of Cox’s vehicle. The United States and Minnesota constitutions prohibit unreasonable searches and seizures. U.S. Const. amends. IV, XIV; Minn. Const. art. I, § 10. A limited investigative stop of a motor vehicle is a seizure, but it is permissible if the law-enforcement officer making the stop has a “particularized and objective basis” for suspecting that the person stopped is engaged in criminal activity. State v. Pike, 551 N.W.2d 919, 921 (Minn.1996). The stop cannot be “the product of mere whim, caprice or idle curiosity.” Id. (citing Teiry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 21-22, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 1880, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968)).

We review de novo the district court’s determination that an officer had a particularized and objectively reasonable basis on which to make an investigatory stop. State v. Britton, 604 N.W.2d 84, 87 (Minn.2000). In doing so, we consider the totality of the circumstances and rely on the district court’s findings of fact unless they are clearly erroneous. Id.

Cox argues that the stop was unconstitutional because Officer Thompson’s suspicion was dispelled prior to questioning. See State v. Hickman, 491 N.W.2d 673, 675 (Minn.App.1992) (holding that it is unconstitutional for an officer to question a driver after the reasonable suspicion on which a stop is based has been dispelled). But Cox’s argument incorrectly assumes that the basis for his stop was the officer’s suspicion of expired tabs; in fact, the basis for the stop was the officer’s suspicion of stolen tabs. This suspicion was not dispelled prior to questioning.

Cox argues alternatively that information obtained from Officer Thompson’s mobile computer cannot, as a matter of law, be the sole basis to support reasonable suspicion for an investigatory stop.1 There are essentially two requirements for a constitutional investigatory stop of a motor vehicle. First, the suspicion must be particularized to the individual vehicle. The United States Supreme Court and the Minnesota Supreme Court have long held that stopping cars at random is unconstitu[451]*451tional. See Delaware v. Prouse, 440 U.S. 648, 664, 99 S.Ct. 1391, 1401, 59 L.Ed.2d 660 (1979) (holding that Delaware’s practice of stopping cars to question drivers about their vehicle-registration status violates Fourth Amendment); United States v. Brignoni-Ponce, 422 U.S. 873, 883, 95 S.Ct. 2574, 2581, 45 L.Ed.2d 607 (1975) (holding that random, roving border stops designed to investigate smuggling violates Fourth Amendment); State v. McKinley, 305 Minn. 297, 299-302, 232 N.W.2d 906, 908-10 (1975) (holding that the random seizure of a driver to ask about license status was unconstitutional absent reasonable suspicion). We conclude that the suspicion for this stop was particularized; Officer Thompson stopped Cox’s vehicle based on information that was unique to that vehicle.

The second requirement is that a stop must be objectively reasonable. For a stop to be objectively reasonable, the officer’s belief of criminal activity must be reasonably inferable from the information available to the officer at the time, see Britton, 604 N.W.2d at 89, and the information available must be derived from a reasonably reliable source, see, e.g., Pike, 551 N.W.2d at 922 (providing an example that it is reasonable for an officer to rely on the information provided by the computer). In other words, the suspicion must be reasonably inferred based on reliable information.

We first address the question of whether Officer Thompson’s inference that the tabs were stolen was reasonable. Britton and State v. George illustrate circumstances in which the supreme court concluded that the officer’s belief of criminal activity was not objectively reasonable. See Britton, 604 N.W.2d at 89; State v. George, 557 N.W.2d 575, 578-79 (Minn.1997). In Britton,

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807 N.W.2d 447, 2011 Minn. App. LEXIS 140, 2011 WL 5903399, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-cox-minnctapp-2011.