State v. Robbs

2006 NMCA 061, 136 P.3d 570, 139 N.M. 569
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 20, 2006
Docket25,636
StatusPublished
Cited by54 cases

This text of 2006 NMCA 061 (State v. Robbs) 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. Robbs, 2006 NMCA 061, 136 P.3d 570, 139 N.M. 569 (N.M. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

OPINION

CASTILLO, Judge.

{1} In this case, we must determine whether a tip provided by a named informant was sufficiently complete and reliable to provide reasonable suspicion for an investigatory stop regarding drugs. We also examine the scope of the resulting detention of the vehicle for thirty-five to forty minutes while officers awaited the arrival of a canine unit. We conclude that the tip was sufficiently reliable to provide reasonable suspicion because the informant was identified, the tip predicted the future movement of Defendant, and other significant facts provided in the tip were corroborated by the officers. We also conclude that detention of the vehicle was reasonable in light of the circumstances. Accordingly, we affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

{2} Detective Dan Aguilar of the Clovis Police Department received a tip from an individual who provided identification but requested that the identification be kept confidential. This informant told Detective Aguilar that Defendant and her husband would be delivering fourteen grams of methamphetamine to an address on Tom Watson Street in Clovis, New Mexico. The informant described their vehicle as a silver and white pickup with a personalized license plate, “GLR.” Detective Aguilar contacted officers in the Region V Drug Task Force to report the details of the tip. He identified the informant and notified the officers of the informant’s request that his identity remain confidential. Detective Aguilar contacted the officers later in the day to report that he had completed a registration check on the vehicle and that it was located in the 1400 block of Pile Street. When the officers first went to Pile Street, the truck was not there. Later, at about 6:45 p.m., Detective Aguilar again called the officers to report that the vehicle was on the 1400 block of Pile Street.

{3} The officers went to Pile Street for the second time, where they saw the pickup with the personalized license plate, as described in the tip. They saw the vehicle’s lights come on; it then proceeded south toward the Tom Watson address. The officers followed the vehicle until it was within two or two and a half blocks from the destination described in the tip. They stopped the vehicle as Defendant was about to turn from a four-lane road onto a narrow, poorly lit, two-lane road with no shoulder. The officers testified that for safety and investigative reasons, they did not want Defendant to reach the designated destination.

{4} The officers further testified as follows: They stopped Defendant to investigate whether she was in possession of methamphetamine, as reported in the tip; they did not stop Defendant for a traffic violation. Defendant and another woman were the occupants of the pickup. The officers told Defendant that they had been informed that Defendant was “carrying some dope.” After Defendant denied that she was in possession of drugs and denied consent to search, the officers requested the assistance of a drug dog. The canine unit arrived approximately thirty-five to forty minutes later, and the dog alerted to the truck. After the dog alerted, the first search warrant was obtained. Although it is unclear as to when Defendant actually left, she conceded that she was free to leave after the initial questioning and, in fact, did so.

{5} The initial search revealed, in Defendant’s purse, a crystal substance that field-tested positive for methamphetamine and, in a briefcase, glass pipes used to consume methamphetamine. Chemicals used to produce methamphetamine were found in the bed of the truck, which was covered by a camper shell. For safety reasons, the officers obtained a second search warrant for the bed of the truck so that any chemicals could be immediately destroyed. Subsequently, Defendant was charged with one count of trafficking by manufacturing of methamphetamine, a second-degree felony, NMSA 1978, § 30-31-20(A)(l) (1990), and one count of possession of a controlled substance, methamphetamine, a fourth-degree felony, NMSA 1978, § 30-31-23(A), (D) (2005).

{6} The district court denied Defendant’s motion to suppress. Defendant pled no contest to two counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, a third-degree felony, NMSA 1978, § 30-31-22(A)(2)(a) (2005), and one count of possession of a controlled substance, methamphetamine, § 30-31-23(A), (D). The plea was conditional and reserved Defendant’s right to appeal the denial of her motion to suppress.

{7} Defendant argues that the evidence from the search should have been suppressed (1) because the tip was neither reliable nor sufficient to create reasonable suspicion for the investigatory stop and (2) because the scope of the investigatory stop was unreasonable and resulted in the improper seizure of Defendant’s pickup without probable cause. Agreeing with the State, the district court found the tip to be sufficiently reliable to create reasonable suspicion. As to the scope of the stop, the district court determined that the length of detention was not an impermissible delay because the search was contemporaneous with an arrest. The State does not contend that the search was contemporaneous with an arrest; rather, it asserts that the stop did not exceed the permissible scope of the investigation. See State v. Rector, 2005-NMCA-014, ¶ 9, 136 N.M. 788, 105 P.3d 341 (stating that this Court “will affirm the trial court if it is right for any reason” (internal quotation marks and citation omitted)). The relevant facts are undisputed.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Standard of Review

{8} Reviewing a motion to suppress concerns mixed questions of fact and law. State v. Urioste, 2002-NMSC-023, ¶ 6, 132 N.M. 592, 52 P.3d 964. When substantial evidence exists to support the district court’s findings of fact, we ask “whether the law was correctly applied to the facts, viewing them in a manner most favorable to the prevailing party.” State v. Werner, 117 N.M. 315, 317, 871 P.2d 971, 973 (1994) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted); see Urioste, 2002-NMSC-023, ¶ 6, 132 N.M. 592, 52 P.3d 964. When we are asked to determine whether there is reasonable suspicion to detain and question an individual about drugs, we look at the evidence “in the light most favorable to the district court ruling.” State v. Van Dang, 2005-NMSC-033, ¶ 14, 138 N.M. 408, 120 P.3d 830. “[A]ll reasonable inferences in support of the court’s decision will be indulged in, and all inferences or evidence to the contrary will be disregarded.” Werner, 117 N.M. at 317, 871 P.2d at 973 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted).

{9} Questions of reasonable suspicion are reviewed de novo by looking at the totality of the circumstances to determine whether the detention was justified. Van Dang, 2005-NMSC-033, ¶ 14, 138 N.M. 408, 120 P.3d 830; Urioste, 2002-NMSC-023, ¶ 6, 132 N.M. 592, 52 P.3d 964. “[A] determination of whether the officer ... made an illegal de facto [seizure], or simply conducted a permissible detention,” is a question of reasonableness, an issue of law, which “requires the balancing of legitimate law enforcement interests against a defendant’s privacy rights, a policy decision which the trial court is in no better position to make than an appellate court.” Werner, 117 N.M. at 316— 17, 871 P.2d at 972-73.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2006 NMCA 061, 136 P.3d 570, 139 N.M. 569, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-robbs-nmctapp-2006.