State v. Klein

228 P.3d 714, 234 Or. App. 523, 2010 Ore. App. LEXIS 287
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedMarch 31, 2010
Docket070331537, A136435
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 228 P.3d 714 (State v. Klein) 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. Klein, 228 P.3d 714, 234 Or. App. 523, 2010 Ore. App. LEXIS 287 (Or. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

*525 ARMSTRONG, J.

Defendant appeals his conviction for possession of methamphetamine, ORS 475.894, arguing that the trial court erred when it denied his motion to suppress evidence found on his person. Defendant argues that the arresting officer unlawfully extended a lawful traffic stop by asking defendant questions about drugs that were unrelated to the stop; that the officer unlawfully expanded the subject matter of the traffic stop by asking those questions without reasonable suspicion that defendant possessed drugs; and that defendant’s consent to the search of his person was the unattenuated product of that unlawful conduct. We reverse and remand.

Defendant was riding his bicycle at night in Portland without reflectors or lights. He turned into a Plaid Pantry parking lot without using an arm signal. Riding a bicycle at night without reflectors or lights and failing to signal a turn are traffic violations. Portland Police Officer Hertzler observed those violations and pulled his patrol car into the Plaid Pantry parking lot to speak to defendant about them, but he did not activate the overhead lights on his patrol car. Hertzler got out of his car, approached defendant, and identified himself while defendant was “fidgeting” with and trying to turn on a red light on the back of his bicycle. Shortly after contacting defendant, a second “cover” officer arrived.

Defendant apologized to Hertzler for not having his light on, and Hertzler talked to defendant about the dangers of riding in the dark without a light and told him that he had committed two traffic violations. Hertzler requested defendant’s identification, and defendant gave him a Washington State identification card. Hertzler then returned to his patrol car, ran a standard records check, and found no warrants for defendant, although he learned that defendant was being supervised by community corrections for a prior conviction for first-degree burglary. The cover officer remained with defendant. It took a few minutes for Hertzler to get the results of the records check. Hertzler testified that he did not remember whether he returned defendant’s identification before running the warrant check, and he did not tell defendant that he was running the check.

*526 Hertzler returned to defendant and noticed a key ring with approximately 30 keys on it hanging near defendant’s bicycle seat. The keys appeared to be house and car keys; some of the keys appeared blank and others appeared to have been filed down. Hertzler believed the keys could be burglary tools. Possession of burglary tools is a violation of ORS 164.235. 1

Rather than asking about the keys, Hertzler asked defendant if he had any drugs on him. Defendant paused and then said, “No.” Hertzler asked to search defendant, and defendant said that he would rather Hertzler not search him. Hertzler asked defendant “what his probation officer would think about ** * * the keys,” and defendant said that he did not know. Defendant explained that he had just gotten the keys, that he had found some of them, and that others “went to somebody.” Hertzler asked defendant if he had anything on his person that defendant did not want him to know about, and defendant answered, “Nothing really.”

Finding that answer odd, Hertzler asked defendant “if he had * * * a large amount of meth on him or a small amount of meth or if he had anything on him like that.” After a moment, defendant answered that he had a little bit of marijuana and “a little bit of shit,” which Hertzler understood as slang for methamphetamine. Hertzler asked defendant if he had a personal amount of methamphetamine, and defendant said, “Yes,” but that he only used methamphetamine and did not sell it, and that he possessed about a gram of methamphetamine.

*527 Defendant got upset and explained to Hertzler that he had only come to the Plaid Pantry to buy a Coke. Defendant had a dollar on him and Hertzler took the dollar to buy a Coke for defendant. When Hertzler returned, defendant began to drink the Coke, and Hertzler asked defendant if the methamphetamine was on his person, and asked if he could get the drugs. Defendant turned around and put his arms up, by which Hertzler understood defendant to have given his consent to be searched. Hertzler searched defendant, found marijuana and methamphetamine, and cited defendant for possession of controlled substances.

Hertzler characterized the entire encounter as calm and casual. Hertzler did not tell defendant that he had to comply with any requests, did not demand consent to search him, and did not physically touch defendant except during the search. Defendant did not try to leave during the encounter with Hertzler. Hertzler testified that it generally takes him about 10 minutes to complete a normal traffic stop. Three or four minutes passed between the beginning of the stop and the end of the warrant check. Defendant’s admission of drug possession came at about eight minutes into the stop, and it was at that point that Hertzler left to purchase the Coke for defendant.

At trial, defendant moved to suppress the drug evidence found on his person. Defendant agreed that the initial stop was valid, based on the two traffic violations, and that Hertzler was entitled to make a reasonable inquiry about the keys after seeing them. Defendant contended that Hertzler’s question about drugs was impermissible without reasonable suspicion, that Hertzler did not have reasonable suspicion that defendant possessed drugs or was under the influence of drugs at the point that he began to question defendant about drugs, and that those questions violated Article I, section 9, of the Oregon Constitution. The state argued that Hertzler was not required to have a reasonable suspicion that defendant possessed drugs before questioning him about them. Alternatively, the state argued that, because the conversation with defendant was not coercive, defendant’s subsequent consent to search was not involuntary and, therefore, the drug evidence should not be suppressed. The trial court *528 assumed that Hertzler lacked authority to question defendant about drugs but concluded that there was no evidence that defendant felt coerced into giving his consent to be searched. In any event, the court determined that if there were an extension of the stop, because the questioning occurred within the time that it would have taken Hertzler to issue a citation for the traffic violations, any extension was de minimis and did not rise to the level of a constitutional violation requiring suppression. The court denied defendant’s suppression motion, and defendant was convicted of possession of a controlled substance on stipulated facts.

On appeal, defendant argues that, although the initial traffic stop of defendant was legal and that, upon seeing the keys hanging from defendant’s bike seat, Hertzler may have had a sufficient basis to inquire about the keys, Hertzler did not have any basis to inquire about drug possession.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. McBride
447 P.3d 1205 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2019)
State v. Mullens
366 P.3d 798 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2016)
State v. Sherman
362 P.3d 720 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2015)
State v. Paskar
352 P.3d 1279 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2015)
State v. Kimmons
352 P.3d 68 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2015)
State v. Jimenez
326 P.3d 1222 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2014)
State v. Pichardo
326 P.3d 624 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2014)
State v. Marino
314 P.3d 984 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2013)
State v. Maciel
295 P.3d 145 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2013)
State v. Kentopp
284 P.3d 564 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2012)
State v. Dennis
282 P.3d 955 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2012)
State v. Leino
273 P.3d 228 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2012)
State v. Gomes
236 P.3d 841 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2010)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
228 P.3d 714, 234 Or. App. 523, 2010 Ore. App. LEXIS 287, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-klein-orctapp-2010.