State v. Hogue

2007 UT App 86, 157 P.3d 826, 573 Utah Adv. Rep. 15, 2007 Utah App. LEXIS 80, 2007 WL 765425
CourtCourt of Appeals of Utah
DecidedMarch 15, 2007
DocketCase No. 20041052-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 2007 UT App 86 (State v. Hogue) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Utah primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Hogue, 2007 UT App 86, 157 P.3d 826, 573 Utah Adv. Rep. 15, 2007 Utah App. LEXIS 80, 2007 WL 765425 (Utah Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

OPINION

BENCH, Presiding Judge:

' 1 Defendant John Lee Hogue appeals his convictions based on conditional guilty pleas to possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, a first degree felony, see Utah Code Ann. § 58-87-8(1)(a)Gii) (Supp. 2006), and driving under the influence, a class B misdemeanor, see Utah Code Ann. § 41-6a-502 (2006). At a pre-trial suppression hearing, Defendant unsuccessfully tried to prevent the admission of critical evidence based on alleged Fourth Amendment violations. See U.S. Const. amend. IV. After the trial court denied the motion to suppress, Defendant decided to forego trial and enter conditional guilty pleas to the charges *828 against him, reserving his right to appeal the issues raised at the suppression hearing. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

T2 Defendant was pulled over by Deputy Leonard Isaacson (the Officer), who was investigating the whereabouts of a burglary suspect. The victim of the burglary had informed the Officer that the suspect was in Defendant's truck earlier that morning. When the Officer approached Defendant's truck he clearly saw that Defendant was alone in the vehicle. The Officer also noted, however, Defendant's unusually high degree of nervousness, jerky movements, and dilated pupils. Suspecting that Defendant was driving under the influence of alcohol or other drugs, the Officer ordered Defendant to exit the truck before questioning him.

1 3 While questioning Defendant about the burglary suspect, the Officer observed additional signs of impairment, including the blurting out of answers to questions, the loss of color in Defendant's face, and body tremors. The Officer asked Defendant about an obvious bulge in Defendant's pocket, which Defendant seemed to be trying to hide with his arm. Defendant twice denied having anything in his pockets before emptying most of the contents. When the Officer again asked Defendant to remove whatever remained in his pocket, Defendant complied and removed a leather purse containing methamphetamine. The Officer administered four field sobriety tests, all of which Defendant failed, and arrested Defendant for driving under the influence and possession of a controlled substance. The entire encounter lasted fifteen to twenty minutes.

[ 4 The trial court held a suppression hearing to decide Defendant's Fourth Amendment challenges to the search of his person and seizure of the leather purse. When the trial court denied Defendant's motion to suppress the drug evidence, Defendant entered conditional guilty pleas, reserving the right to appeal the issues raised at the suppression hearing. Defendant now appeals.

ISSUE AND STANDARD OF REVIEW

T5 Defendant challenges the trial court's denial of his motion to suppress the drug evidence obtained during the warrant-less pre-arrest search of his person. We review the legality of a search and seizure for correctness, giving no deference to the decision of the trial court. See State v. Brake, 2004 UT 95, ¶ 15, 103 P.3d 699 ("We abandon the standard which extended 'some deference' to the application of law to the underlying factual findings in search and seizure cases in favor of non-deferential review.").

ANALYSIS

I. Appealable Issues

16 Defendant challenges, for the first time on appeal, the Officer's qualifications to testify as an expert on the signs of drug impairment or intoxication. Defendant also argues that he received ineffective assistance of counsel based on trial counsel's failure to object to the Officer's qualifications to testify or, in the alternative, that it was plain error for the court to consider the Officer's unqualified testimony. "[A] voluntary guilty plea is a waiver of the right to appeal all nonjuris-dictional issues, including alleged pre-plea constitutional violations." State v. Sery, 758 P.2d 985, 988 (Utah Ct.App.1988) (emphasis added). The Utah Rules of Criminal Procedure provide an exception to this rule in that a defendant may enter a guilty plea conditioned upon his right to appeal a specified adverse pre-trial ruling. See Utah R.Crim. P. 11). Here, the plea agreement included the right to appeal only the issues raised during the suppression hearing, and Defendant has conceded that he made no objection to the Officer's qualifications during the hearing. We therefore decline to address the merits of Defendant's challenge to the Officer's testimony, as well as his ineffective assistance and plain error claims. See State v. Spurgeon, 904 P.2d 220, 223 n. 1 (Utah Ct.App.1995) (stating that an appeal from a Sery plea is not a chance to have [his] case[] tried by an appellate court").

*829 II. Reasonable Suspicion of Impairment

T7 Defendant challenges the trial court's conclusion that the Officer legally detained Defendant for purposes of investigating criminal behavior other than Defendant's involvement with the burglary suspect. "Once a traffic stop is made, the detention must be temporary and last no longer than is necessary to effectuate the purpose of the stop." State v. Lopez, 873 P.2d 1127, 1182 (Utah 1994) (quotations and citation omitted). Any "investigative questioning that further detains the driver must be supported by reasonable suspicion of more serious criminal activity. Reasonable suspicion means suspicion based on specific, articulable facts drawn from the totality of the cireumstances facing the officer at the time of the stop." Id. Even when reasonable suspicion exists, officers must "diligently [pursue] a means of investigation that [is] likely to confirm or dispel their suspicions quickly." Id. (alterations in original) (quotations and citations omitted).

T8 Here, Defendant concedes the legality of the Officer's initial stop to investigate the whereabouts of the burglary suspect. He claims, however, that the Officer lacked reasonable suspicion to order Defendant out of the vehicle for the purpose of investigating Defendant's possible impairment, prior to questioning Defendant about the burglary, and that the detention illegally continued after the burglary questioning had ended. The Officer observed Defendant's dilated pupils, nervous demeanor, and jerky body movements before ordering Defendant out of the truck and broadening the scope of the investigation to include Defendant's possible impairment. Given the totality of the cireamstances, we agree with the trial court that the Officer articulated reasonable suspicion that Defendant was operating his vehicle under the influence.

19 The additional observations made by the Officer while questioning Defendant outside the vehicle about the burglary, including body tremors, loss of color in Defendant's face, and lies about the contents of Defendant's pockets, provided the Officer with reasonable suspicion to administer field sobriety tests after the burglary questioning was completed.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2007 UT App 86, 157 P.3d 826, 573 Utah Adv. Rep. 15, 2007 Utah App. LEXIS 80, 2007 WL 765425, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-hogue-utahctapp-2007.