State v. Guein

444 P.3d 340, 309 Kan. 1245
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedJune 28, 2019
Docket115426
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 444 P.3d 340 (State v. Guein) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Guein, 444 P.3d 340, 309 Kan. 1245 (kan 2019).

Opinions

The decision of the court was delivered by Nuss, C.J.:

**1246Marcus Guein, Jr., was convicted by a jury of felony distribution of marijuana and misdemeanor possession of paraphernalia. A majority of the Court of Appeals panel reversed in part and affirmed in part the district court's decision on Guein's motion to suppress evidence and remanded to that court. State v. Guein , 53 Kan. App. 2d 394, 388 P.3d 194 (2017). Guein and the State now seek our review of different issues in that majority decision.

The issues on appeal, and this court's accompanying holdings, are:

1. Was the pre- Miranda statement Guein made surrounding the initial pat-down of him admissible in evidence? No.
2. Was the post- Miranda statement Guein made given voluntarily and therefore admissible in evidence? No.

As a result, we affirm the panel majority's decision in part and reverse in part and remand for further proceedings in accordance with this decision.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

At around 1:30 a.m., Lenexa police officers Curtis Weber and Megan Larson were driving through an area they knew had a high rate of drug crimes. Weber saw two parked cars in the lot of a Burger King the officers thought to be closed. He also saw a man, later identified as Guein, move from the driver's seat of one car to the passenger seat of the other. Because Weber immediately suspected *344a drug deal, he pulled into the lot so his patrol car was not blocking the car. He turned off his headlights and activated no emergency lights or sirens.

Weber and Larson got out, with Weber approaching the driver's side of the car (occupied by a man later identified as Jordan Gresham) and Larson approaching the passenger's. Through its open window, Weber detected the "very strong" odor of what he described as "fresh" marijuana. It is unclear whether he smelled marijuana that was raw, recently smoked, or something else. Weber **1247told Gresham to "Come back here and talk to me, okay?" When Gresham asked, "Me? What for?" Weber responded, "Yes, you, because your car smells like marijuana." When Gresham apparently did not respond quickly enough to satisfy Weber, Weber dropped the request and directed Gresham to, "Come back here and talk to me." According to Guein's later testimony at the suppression hearing, at this point he felt he and Gresham were being accused of committing a crime.

Weber then told Larson to watch the passenger (Guein) and again directed Gresham to, "Come back here and talk to me." Gresham complied. Weber later testified that he made this statement because he was going to search the car. Weber further testified, "I also believed they could be in possession of narcotics."

Weber gave Gresham both a pat-down search and one in which he removed the contents of Gresham's pockets and placed them on the car. Finding nothing, Weber then ordered Gresham to go sit on the curb, directing that he not take the removed items with him.

Weber then approached the passenger side while Larson ordered Guein out of the car. At that point, Guein and Weber were face-to-face. Weber asked Guein if he had any weapons. When Guein replied, "No," Weber asked to pat him down, just "[t]o be sure." Guein agreed. Weber testified Guein would have been moved so Guein faced away from him and he would have instructed Guein to put his hands on his head.

While Guein was in this submissive position, Weber also asked to search Guein's pockets. After Guein agreed, Weber removed everything from them. As Weber had done with Gresham, he placed the contents on Gresham's car. Guein later testified that when Weber took his possessions, "I took it that I was gonna be here for a while."

About the time Weber searched Guein's pockets and removed their contents, Weber said, "Dude, you reek of weed." Guein replied, "Yeah." Weber then asked, "How much weed you got?" On the body cam video Guein can clearly be heard to respond, "I have none."

Weber did not accept this answer but instead asked, "You have none?" Guein then confessed to having a "little bag" on him. When **1248asked at the suppression hearing why he changed his answer, Guein testified his "pockets were empty and [he] was still in a state where [he] wasn't free to go." He believed Weber was going to search him anyway, and he did not feel he had the option of not answering his questions. Guein also testified that during the encounter he feared for his physical safety.

Weber asked Guein to retrieve the bag of marijuana. After Guein complied, he handed it to Weber who handcuffed him behind his back. Weber then walked the handcuffed Guein to the back of the patrol car. En route, a discussion occurred that is at the heart of the second issue on appeal, i.e., the voluntariness of Guein's post- Miranda statement:

Weber: "Right now is the time to be honest with me, man, okay? Don't fuck around with me and I ain't gonna fuck around with you, okay? You hear me?"
Guein: "I'm not going to fuck around with you."
Weber: "Listen, man. I'm telling you right now I know what you're doing out here. I'm going to ask you some questions here in a little bit."
Guein: "Yes, sir."
Weber: "Don't fuck with me, okay?"
Guein: "I understand, sir."
Weber: "You hear me? You don't screw around with me. I ain't gonna screw around with you. I'm gonna do what I can to help you out, okay?"
Guein: "Yes, sir."
*345Weber: "I'm telling you right now, I know what's going on, all right? Have a seat."

When Weber put the handcuffed Guein into the back of the patrol car, he asked whether there was any additional marijuana in either of the two cars. Guein responded that marijuana was in his car. Leaving Guein in the back of the patrol car, Weber approached Guein's car. Inside he saw a handgun and loose marijuana in plain view. Weber called in the serial number on the handgun-which it turned out Guein legally owned-and for a K-9 unit.

Weber then approached Gresham seated on the curb and gave essentially the same warning he had given Guein:

"I'm going to tell you just like I told your buddy. We know what's going on here, okay? We're not going to ask you questions right now. We're going to ask you questions here in a minute, alright? I'm gonna tell you-don't fuck around with me, okay? You don't screw with me, I ain't gonna screw with you. You understand? Alright. And I'll tell you I know what's happening right now, alright? Have a seat."

**1249

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
444 P.3d 340, 309 Kan. 1245, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-guein-kan-2019.