State v. Martinez

2010 NMCA 051, 233 P.3d 791, 148 N.M. 262
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 23, 2010
Docket28,538; 32,318
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 2010 NMCA 051 (State v. Martinez) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Martinez, 2010 NMCA 051, 233 P.3d 791, 148 N.M. 262 (N.M. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

OPINION

SUTIN, Judge.

{1} After the denial of his suppression motion, Defendant Jose Manuel (Melo) Martinez entered a conditional guilty plea to charges of trafficking a controlled substance (by possession with intent to distribute) and possession of drug paraphernalia. This case requires us to determine the reasonableness of expanding Defendant’s detention initiated by an investigation into an aggravated battery, followed by the smell of burnt marijuana in a residence that Defendant was visiting, and ending in a search of Defendant’s vehicle for narcotics. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

{2} On November 16, 2006, Officers Baker and Lujan of the Las Cruces Police Department began investigating an aggravated battery that occurred several days earlier. The victim of that aggravated battery suffered extensive injuries to the back of his head and face and was in a coma when transported to the hospital. The victim informed the officers that the perpetrators were Defendant and Arredondo, that the incident occurred at 600 South San Pedro, and that Defendant drove a red Isuzu. Officer Baker remembered seeing a red Isuzu parked at that address as the officers were going to talk to the victim.

{3} The officers interviewed the neighbors at 325 San Pedro who informed them that Arredondo had gone by their residence with a hand gun a few days earlier. The officers went to 600 South San Pedro to continue the investigation, and the red Isuzu was still parked outside. When the officers arrived there at around 1:22 p.m., a man with the word “Melo” tattooed on his neck answered the door, and Officer Baker noticed the odor of burnt marijuana emanating from the residence. The strong odor of marijuana alerted the officers to the presence of narcotics. The officers asked the occupants of the residence to step outside.

{4} Because of what the neighbors had said about Arredondo carrying a handgun and to ensure their own safety, the officers asked the occupants if they had any weapons and patted them down. The officers then asked the occupants to sit down on a sidewalk in front of the residence and, with the consent of a person who lived at the residence, the officers conducted a protective sweep to check for anyone hiding inside. The officers did not see any drugs in plain view while inside.

{5} During the suppression hearing, Officer Baker explained that the officers collected everyone’s information to run wants and warrants checks to find out who lived at that residence. Defendant told the officers that he did not live there. Officer Baker also testified that she was trying to identify Defendant and find out if he drove the red Isuzu to “put the pieces together of the information [she] received.” She inquired as to which of the vehicles parked outside belonged to whom and Defendant indicated that he owned the red Isuzu.

{6} The officer asked Defendant if there were any drugs or weapons in the vehicle and he indicated that there was a pry bar in his vehicle. The officers did not know if “that was possibly the weapon that was used to hit [the] victim” of the aggravated battery that they were investigating, so they asked Defendant if they could retrieve the pry bar from his vehicle. Defendant declined but offered to retrieve the pry bar for the officers himself. For safety reasons, the officers did not let Defendant retrieve the pry bar.

{7} Officer Baker testified on direct examination that before going to 600 South San Pedro, she had “received some information that [Defendant] was dealing narcotics in the neighborhood.” Part of Officer Baker’s testimony in the audiotape recording of the suppression hearing is dubbed over with an unrelated proceeding. It is not clear whether Officer Baker identified with more specificity the source of the information related to Defendant’s alleged drug dealings. The recording of Officer Baker’s testimony resumes during her cross-examination where she testified that the information they received about Arredondo carrying a handgun a few days before their investigation was from the neighbors at 325 San Pedro who they had spoken to earlier. The testimony was as follows:

Q And that information — so you received information from someone else?
A Right. We had received information that day from the neighbors at 325 San Pedro about Mr. Arredondo.
Q That was just about Mr. Arredondo and [Defendant’s] past activities; is that right?
A No, the information that we had received that day about Mr. Arredondo was that he had gone ... by the victim’s residence and by the residence down the street at 325 San Pedro with a hand gun, but they didn’t want to press charges.
Q It was several days previous, right?
A Yes.
Q Okay. And this information about [Defendant] or whoever dealing drugs, that wasn’t about anything that was happening at that time, right?
A At the time [inaudible]—
Q At the time you investigated this at 600 San Pedro?
A It was just that he dealt drugs in general. That was the information we received.

{8} At approximately 2:05 p.m., Officer Baker called a canine unit to come to the location because she “had received information that [Defendant] was dealing narcotics; but the main reason was for the weapon that was possibly in the vehicle.” Before the canine unit arrived, Officer Baker walked around Defendant’s car and noted the dark tint on the car’s windows.

{9} At approximately 2:20 p.m., Narcotics Officer Paul Brock arrived with the dog in response to Officer Baker’s request for a narcotics canine inspection of the vehicle. Officer Brock learned from Defendant that the car belonged to Defendant, but was registered in Defendant’s mother’s name, and that there might be some loose marijuana on the floor board area of the vehicle. Upon approaching Defendant’s vehicle, Officer Brock noticed the odor of marijuana emanating from inside.

{10} The canine sniff took place at approximately 2:24 p.m. Because the canine alerted, indicating that the car contained narcotics, Officer Brock obtained a search warrant for Defendant’s ear and from a search based on the warrant, found two bags containing cocaine, a digital scale, and rolling papers.

{11} A grand jury indicted Defendant on one count of trafficking a controlled substance (by possession with intent to distribute) contrary to NMSA 1978, Section 30-31-20(A)(3) (2006), and one count of possession of drug paraphernalia contrary to NMSA 1978, Section 30-31-25.1(A) (2001). Defendant was not charged with aggravated battery. Although there is no copy of the motion in the record, Defendant filed a motion to suppress the evidence obtained from the vehicle search arguing that the seizure was illegal. Following a suppression hearing on June 21, 2007, the district court issued a letter ruling denying Defendant’s motion to suppress. The letter stated in relevant part:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2010 NMCA 051, 233 P.3d 791, 148 N.M. 262, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-martinez-nmctapp-2010.