State v. Stout

2002 WI App 41, 641 N.W.2d 474, 250 Wis. 2d 768, 2002 Wisc. App. LEXIS 59
CourtCourt of Appeals of Wisconsin
DecidedJanuary 23, 2002
Docket01-0904-CR, 01-0905-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 2002 WI App 41 (State v. Stout) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Stout, 2002 WI App 41, 641 N.W.2d 474, 250 Wis. 2d 768, 2002 Wisc. App. LEXIS 59 (Wis. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

BROWN, J.

¶ 1. The first question is whether the police entry into the apartment in this case can be justified under the Terry 1 doctrine where the statute and case law specify that the doctrine only applies to police-citizen confrontations in a public place. We hold that the doctrine only applies to stops made in a public place and police may not enter an abode based on Terry. The second issue is whether police must first have reasonable suspicion that someone inside a dwelling has committed a crime as a condition precedent to asking the owner for consent to enter and search the premises. We hold that there is no such condition precedent. Regardless of whether there is reasonable suspicion of criminal activity within a dwelling, the police can ask for permission to enter and the owner has the right to say "no." That is the extent of it and we reverse the trial court's holding to the contrary. We *775 remand with directions that the trial court determine whether there was consent for the police to enter. If so, then consistent with the reasons set forth hereafter in this opinion, the resultant seizure was valid.

¶ 2. Jeffrey Stout was charged in two separate cases with possession of cocaine, with intent to deliver, with a penalty enhancer, in violation of Wis. Stat. §§ 961.41(lm)(cm)l and 961.49 (1999-2000), 2 and burglary of a building, in violation of Wis. Stat. § 943.10(l)(a). He filed motions to suppress in each case, seeking to suppress evidence seized and confessions he made after his arrest. After a hearing, the trial court granted the motions to suppress.

¶ 3. At the hearing, Officer Rick Birkholz testified that he received a phone call from a concerned citizen. The caller did not give a name or identifying information and the call was not recorded. The caller identified a white male wearing specific clothing named "Jeff whom the caller had seen selling cocaine on the street in the area of the Viking Bar located near Douglas Avenue. The caller claimed to. see "Jeff enter the side door at 1405 Douglas Avenue.

¶ 4. Birkholz responded to that address; when he arrived he was joined by uniformed officers responding to a complaint of loud music. Birkholz met Mary Millhollen on the stairs. He described "Jeff and asked if the person was in the building. Millhollen motioned upward toward her apartment. Birkholz asked if he could go look and, according to Birkholz, Millhollen said "I don't care" or words to that effect. Millhollen knocked on the door and said, "[I]t's me." Yusef Buckley, known to Birkholz from prior drug contacts, opened the door.

*776 ¶ 5. Birkholz observed an individual, later identified as Stout, matching the tipster's description seated on a couch in the living room facing the door. As Birkholz and the uniformed officers entered the apartment, Stout made a rapid movement with his right hand toward the area of his pants pocket. Birkholz testified that it appeared to him that Stout was going for something in his pocket. He feared Stout had a weapon and was concerned for his safety and the safety of others.

¶ 6. Birkholz quickly moved forward, drew his own weapon and, with his free hand, pulled Stout to his feet and placed him against the wall where he patted Stout down for weapons. During the pat-down he felt a baggie with a rock-like substance in it. Based on his training and experience, he believed the object to be crack cocaine. He removed the item and found a clear baggie which contained numerous individually wrapped whitish rock-like substances and cash.

¶ 7. Birkholz took Stout into custody. A full body search yielded pull tabs — gambling tickets sold in bars. At the police station, Stout was given his Miranda 3 rights, after which he confessed to a burglary.

¶ 8. The trial court suppressed the cocaine, the pull tabs and the confession, ruling them to be the unattenuated fruits of a Terry stop-and-frisk for which the police lacked reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. In particular, the court held that an investigative stop occurred at the instant that the door to the apartment opened and Birkholz observed Stout, but before Stout reached for his pants pocket. The court further held that at the time the door opened, the only information available to Birkholz was the anonymous *777 telephone call which did not provide reasonable suspicion of criminal activity in the absence of independent police observation of incriminating behavior.

¶ 9. When reviewing a motion to suppress evidence, we will uphold the trial court's findings of fact unless they are clearly erroneous. State v. Fields, 2000 WI App 218, ¶ 9, 239 Wis. 2d 38, 619 N.W.2d 279. However, the application of constitutional principles to the facts is a question of law that we decide de novo without deference to the trial court's decision. Id. A major question throughout this controversy has been whether Stout was stopped at the moment the police appeared at the door or only after he made the furtive gesture. The resolution of this issue drives the outcome of the case because once a person is "seized," the officers' conduct in doing so is constitutional only if they reasonably suspect the person of wrongdoing. See United States v. Mendenhall, 446 U.S. 544, 551-52 (1980). The correctness of the legal characterization of the facts in the record is also a matter for our independent review. Id. at 551 n.5.

¶ 10. The Fourth Amendment does not invalidate all searches and seizures but only those that are unreasonable. U.S. Const. amend. IV; Florida v. Jimeno, 500 U.S. 248, 250 (1991). Searches and seizures conducted without a warrant are per se unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment, subject to some exceptions. Minnesota v. Dickerson, 508 U.S. 366, 372 (1993). The government bears the burden of establishing by a preponderance of the evidence that a warrantless search falls within one of the exceptions. United States v. Basinski, 226 F.3d 829, 833 (7th Cir. 2000). One exception is when a police officer observes behavior that *778 he or she reasonably believes is suspicious, the officer may briefly stop the person to inquire and may pat-down or frisk the person to check for weapons if the officer reasonably believes the person is armed and endangers the safety of the officer and others. Dickerson, 508 U.S. at 372-73 (summarizing the holding of Terry). Another exception is when a person consents to a search "because it is no doubt reasonable for the police to conduct a search once they have been permitted to do so." Jimeno, 500 U.S. at 250-51.

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Bluebook (online)
2002 WI App 41, 641 N.W.2d 474, 250 Wis. 2d 768, 2002 Wisc. App. LEXIS 59, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-stout-wisctapp-2002.