State v. Orman

521 P.3d 506, 322 Or. App. 707
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedNovember 16, 2022
DocketA171638
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 521 P.3d 506 (State v. Orman) 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. Orman, 521 P.3d 506, 322 Or. App. 707 (Or. Ct. App. 2022).

Opinion

Argued and submitted December 2, 2021, reversed and remanded November 16, 2022

STATE OF OREGON, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. GREGGORY LEE ORMAN, Defendant-Appellant. Lincoln County Circuit Court 19CR13889; A171638 521 P3d 506

Defendant appeals his convictions on seven counts of identity theft, ORS 165.800, one count of second-degree forgery, ORS 165.007, and one count of unlawful possession of heroin, ORS 475.854(2)(a). He argues that the trial court erred when it denied his motion to suppress evidence discovered during a war- rantless search of his bag during a traffic stop in which he was a passenger in the car. He asserts that he was unlawfully stopped and thus the evidence discovered was tainted by the illegal seizure. Held: The Court of Appeals concluded that, given the totality of the circumstances, a reasonable person in defendant’s posi- tion would understand that they had been stopped as a matter of law. The court further concluded that the stop occurred prior to the development of reasonable suspicion. Accordingly, all evidence discovered as a result of the unlawful stop was tainted. The trial court therefore erred in denying defendant’s motion to suppress. Reversed and remanded.

Sheryl Bachart, Judge. David Sherbo-Huggins, Deputy Public Defender, argued the cause for appellant. Also on the brief was Ernest G. Lannet, Chief Defender, Criminal Appellate Section, Office of Public Defense Services. Patrick M. Ebbett, Assistant Attorney General, argued the cause for respondent. Also on the brief were Ellen F. Rosenblum, Attorney General, and Benjamin Gutman, Solicitor General. Before Mooney, Presiding Judge, and Hellman, Judge, and DeVore, Senior Judge.* HELLMAN, J. Reversed and remanded. ______________ * Hellman, J., vice DeHoog, J. pro tempore. 708 State v. Orman

HELLMAN, J. Defendant appeals his convictions on seven counts of identity theft, ORS 165.800, one count of second-degree forgery, ORS 165.007, and one count of unlawful possession of heroin, ORS 475.854(2)(a), based on a conditional guilty plea, pending this appeal. Defendant filed a motion to sup- press evidence discovered during a warrantless search of his bag during a traffic stop in which he was a passenger in the car, arguing that he was unlawfully stopped and thus the evidence discovered was tainted by the illegal seizure. The trial court concluded that the stop of the car was lawful and that the evidence was admissible under three different exceptions to the warrant requirement: consent, the automo- bile exception, and search-incident-to-arrest. We hold that the trial court erred in denying the motion to suppress, as defendant himself was illegally stopped prior to the search of his bag and the state failed to meet its burden of proving that the discovered evidence was nonetheless admissible. Accordingly, we reverse and remand. FACTUAL BACKGROUND We review a trial court’s denial of a motion to sup- press for legal error. State v. Rodriguez-Perez, 262 Or App 206, 208, 325 P3d 39 (2014). We are bound by the trial court’s findings of fact so long as there is sufficient evidence in the record to support them. State v. Ehly, 317 Or 66, 75, 854 P2d 421 (1993). We recount the facts below in some detail given the nature of the arguments, the complexity of the incident, and the fact that the trial court made no explicit ruling on whether defendant was seized under Article I, section 9. The facts come both from the testimony given at the suppression hearing as well as the extensive police body camera footage, which the trial court reviewed and summarized during its oral ruling on the motion to suppress. Where necessary, we supplement the trial court’s summary of the events, includ- ing providing important time stamps from the record. On the night of November 23, 2018, defendant was a passenger in a vehicle driven by his fiancée, LeClaire, when they were stopped by Officer Henderson for speeding and lack of insurance on the vehicle. At the beginning of the stop, LeClaire stated that she did not have her driver’s license on Cite as 322 Or App 707 (2022) 709

her, and defendant offered his license to Henderson. LeClaire gave Henderson a false name, but when pressed for a middle name and date of birth, she admitted to providing a false name and gave Henderson her real name and driver’s license, explaining that her license was suspended and that she might have an outstanding warrant. LeClaire was detained and read her rights. Defendant remained in the vehicle. Henderson then asked defendant if his license was “good,” and defendant said yes and stated he should have been the one driving because LeClaire’s license was sus- pended. At the suppression hearing, Henderson testified that he was initially suspicious of the validity of the license defendant had handed him, due to its coloring and because it was “funny looking.” Henderson had dispatch run defen- dant’s license, which was under the name DT, and dispatch subsequently informed Henderson that the license number was valid. The information from dispatch came in seven and one-half minutes into the stop. Henderson did not return the license to defendant at that time. Henderson obtained consent from LeClaire to search the vehicle, and asked defendant to step out and walk LeClaire’s dog for a minute. The dog, a large German Shephard, was in the back seat of the car and barked at Henderson when he approached the vehicle. Defendant com- plied with Henderson’s request, and, as he exited the vehi- cle, he took a computer bag with him. Henderson asked if there was anything in the bag, and defendant answered, “Just computers, two really expensive laptops,” and offered to show Henderson. Henderson did not look inside the bag at that time and began his search of the car. Henderson asked if there was anything in the car that defendant knew about, and defendant said no.1 While Henderson searched the car, he asked defendant about where he and LeClaire lived and what they were doing in town,2 and discussed defendant getting insurance put on

1 Henderson’s queries about whether there was anything in the bag or the car implied anything illegal that the officer should know about. 2 Early in the stop defendant had indicated that they were visiting a friend of his, Borden, who Henderson stated was “bad news” and someone the police dealt with a lot. 710 State v. Orman

the car. During the search of the vehicle, Henderson was informed by dispatch that there was an unentered warrant for LeClaire’s arrest. Henderson informed dispatch that LeClaire was in custody, and he requested a cover unit. Also during the search, Henderson found a needle in a backpack and a bank card with the name LeClaire had initially given at the beginning of the stop. By that point, the stop had lasted 26 minutes. Deputy Tugwell arrived on the scene. Henderson filled him in on what had happened so far and indicated that he had not had a chance to talk to defendant much, but that defendant had been adamant to get the computer bag out of the car with him. Henderson asked Tugwell to try to build a rapport with defendant and see if he could get defen- dant to let them pat him down. Tugwell stood by defendant and spoke to him while Henderson continued to search the vehicle.

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

Related

State v. Vannoy
Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2023

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
521 P.3d 506, 322 Or. App. 707, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-orman-orctapp-2022.