State v. MWH

267 P.3d 165, 246 Or. App. 421
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedNovember 9, 2011
Docket080643J A142382
StatusPublished

This text of 267 P.3d 165 (State v. MWH) 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. MWH, 267 P.3d 165, 246 Or. App. 421 (Or. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

267 P.3d 165 (2011)
246 Or. App. 421

In the Matter of M.W.H., a Youth.
STATE of Oregon, Petitioner-Respondent,
v.
M.W.H., Appellant.

080643J; A142382.

Court of Appeals of Oregon.

Argued and Submitted February 16, 2011.
Decided November 9, 2011.

Megan L. Jacquot argued the cause and filed the brief for appellant.

Douglas F. Zier, Assistant Attorney General, argued the cause for respondent. With him on the brief were John R. Kroger, Attorney General, and David B. Thompson, Interim Solicitor General.

Before HASELTON, Presiding Judge, and ARMSTRONG, Judge, and DUNCAN, Judge.

HASELTON, P.J.

Youth was adjudicated in this juvenile delinquency proceeding for committing an act that, if committed by an adult, would constitute possession of a concealed weapon (a small dagger) at school. See ORS 166.240. He appeals, assigning error to the denial of his motion to suppress evidence, including the dagger, which was discovered after a school official "ask[ed]" him to empty his pockets. For the reasons that follow, under the operative standard of review, we sustain the juvenile court's determination that youth's response to the school official's request was consensual. Accordingly, and without determining whether the school official's actions in this case comported with the requisites of State ex rel Juv. Dept. v. M.A.D., 348 Or. 381, 233 P.3d 437 (2010), we affirm.[1]

*166 We recount the material facts consistently with the trial court's findings, including its explicit determination that the testimony of the school official, Stiles, was credible and that, with one critical exception, youth's account was not credible.[2] On September 24, 2008, youth, a student at Ashland High School, was sent to the office of the Dean of Students, Stiles, because he had made an "inappropriate comment" in a morning class and because his teacher suspected that he was under the influence of marijuana. Stiles noticed that youth's eyes were "kind of red and droopy," "squinty and * * * bloodshot," that "he was having some trouble forming answers," and that he was "kind of slumped down" as he sat during their conversation. Based on her experience with students who had been under the influence of illicit substances, her observations, and what Stiles described as "a great difference in [youth's] demeanor and how he was interacting" in contrast to previous conversations with youth when he had been (she believed) "completely sober," Stiles "suspected that [youth] had been smoking pot."

Stiles asked youth if he had been smoking marijuana, and youth replied that he "had not been smoking that morning, but he had been smoking the night before." At that point, Stiles told youth, "I am going to have to ask you to empty your pockets." Youth then placed the contents of his pockets— including "a lighter, an Altoid tin [with] a few marijuana flakes in it, and a double-edged dagger"—on Stiles's desk.

As of September 24, 2008, Ashland High School policies prohibited possession of marijuana and weapons at school. Further, as of that time, Ashland School District 5, through its school board, had adopted policies pertaining to "student searches." As pertinent here, those policies provided that district officials who have "individualized, `reasonable suspicion' to believe [that] evidence of a violation of law, Board policy, administrative regulation or school rule" is in a student's possession may search "a student's person or property."

In October 2008, the state filed a delinquency petition alleging, in part, that youth had committed an act that, if committed by an adult, would constitute possession of a concealed weapon.[3] Youth moved to suppress the evidence obtained as a result of his encounter with Stiles, alleging that Stiles had effected a warrantless search of youth's person in violation of Article I, section 9, of the Oregon Constitution and the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution.[4] In so contending, youth asserted that *167 he did not consent to the search and that the search was not justified by probable cause with exigent circumstances.[5]

In the ensuing hearing, Stiles testified as to the facts recounted above. Youth also testified, giving apparently evasive responses on some matters and sometimes flatly contradictory testimony as to others. Of particular pertinence to our disposition, youth, on direct examination by his own counsel, testified as follows:

"[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: * * * How did she request that you empty your pockets out?
"[YOUTH]: She told me to empty out my pockets.
"[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Okay. Did you feel like you had any choice?
"[YOUTH]: Yes.
"[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: You felt like you had a choice? Do you—so you felt like you didn't have to?
"[YOUTH]: Mm. Hm. (Affirmative.)
"[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: So you are saying that you voluntarily emptied out your pockets?
"[YOUTH]: I did not.
"[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Okay. So you did not voluntarily empty out your pockets. The question is whether you agreed to that, where you voluntarily consented.
"[YOUTH]: Mm. Hm. (Affirmative.)
"[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Or whether or not you felt like you had to. That is the question. Which is it?
"THE COURT: But I don't know what you are not agreeing to.
"[YOUTH]: I did not.
"THE COURT: You did not what?
"[YOUTH]: Did not voluntarily empty out my pockets. I wanted her to call my dad first, but she did not.
"[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: So did you feel like you had a choice or not?
"[YOUTH]: No.
"[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Okay. I think the Court gets it. I'm done."

The court ultimately denied suppression, determining that youth had consented to emptying his pockets and, alternatively, that the search was justified by probable cause and exigent circumstances. In so determining, the court began by rendering findings regarding the witnesses' credibility:

"[T]he only credible evidence comes from [Stiles], because the [youth] in this case got up here and changed his story numerous times. I don't know if he is trying to—I don't know what he is doing. I don't know if he is trying to satisfy everybody by answering the way he thinks they are asking the question or what is going on. Once I asked him—I mean he told his own attorney he thought he had a choice and then he backtracked when he realized that wasn't the right answer. * * * So I don't think he is at all credible, and it is too bad, because—you know—it is really important to tell the truth, and walking down the lying path doesn't help anybody very much. So it doesn't help the case. *168 So that leaves me with * * * Stiles' testimony. And here is my reasoning. First of all amongst the things that he said was that he thought he had a choice. I sort of tend to believe that, but leaving that aside, I don't think his will was overborne in this case. I think he did agree to empty his pockets."

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Related

New Jersey v. T. L. O.
469 U.S. 325 (Supreme Court, 1985)
In Re the Marriage of Leif
266 P.3d 165 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2011)
State ex rel. Juvenile Department v. M. A. D.
233 P.3d 437 (Oregon Supreme Court, 2010)
State ex rel. Juvenile Department v. M. A. D.
202 P.3d 249 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2009)
State v. B. B.
245 P.3d 697 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2010)
State v. B. A. H.
263 P.3d 1046 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2011)
State v. M. W. H.
267 P.3d 165 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2011)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
267 P.3d 165, 246 Or. App. 421, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-mwh-orctapp-2011.