State v. Suppah

334 P.3d 463, 264 Or. App. 510, 2014 WL 3864729, 2014 Ore. App. LEXIS 1060
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedAugust 6, 2014
Docket100016CT; A149412
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 334 P.3d 463 (State v. Suppah) 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. Suppah, 334 P.3d 463, 264 Or. App. 510, 2014 WL 3864729, 2014 Ore. App. LEXIS 1060 (Or. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinions

DUNCAN, J.

In this criminal case, defendant appeals a judgment of conviction for giving false information to a police officer, ORS 807.620,1 assigning error to the trial court’s denial of his motion to suppress evidence obtained during and after a traffic stop. He contends that the stop violated his rights under Article I, section 9, of the Oregon Constitution2 because it was not supported by probable cause, and he further contends that that violation tainted the evidence that he moved to suppress. The state does not dispute that the stop violated defendant’s constitutional rights, but argues that the violation did not taint the evidence. Because we conclude that the violation tainted the evidence obtained during the stop and that admission of that evidence was prejudicial, we reverse and remand.

I. HISTORICAL AND PROCEDURAL FACTS

The relevant facts are undisputed. On July 14, 2010, defendant was driving a purple Cadillac on Interstate 84. Sherman County Deputy Sheriff Hulke pulled defendant over.

At the hearing on defendant’s motion to suppress, Hulke testified that he stopped defendant for a traffic violation, but that he could not recall what the violation was. Hulke testified that it was the type of violation for which he would usually issue a warning to a driver; but Hulke did not issue a warning to defendant. Defendant’s uncontradicted testimony was that Hulke did not inform him of the reason for the stop. Although, in his motion to suppress, defendant specifically asserted that there was no evidence that Hulke had a reason to stop him, the state did not respond by [513]*513presenting any evidence — such as a dispatch record or police report — that Hulke had ever given notice of, or recorded, any reason for the stop.3

During the stop, Hulke asked defendant for his name and defendant gave the name “Harold Pennington,” which is the name of one of defendant’s friends. Hulke ran Pennington’s name through dispatch, learned that Pennington’s driver’s license was suspended, and issued defendant a traffic citation in Pennington’s name for driving while suspended and — because defendant had been unable to provide proof of insurance — for driving uninsured.

Approximately one month later, defendant informed a staff member of the district attorney’s office that he had given a false name during the traffic stop. Thereafter, Sherman County Deputy Sheriff Shull telephoned defendant and obtained an oral statement. Defendant told Shull that he had given a false name because he did not have a valid license at the time of the stop and he did not want the car, which belonged to his girlfriend, to be towed. Defendant also told Shull that he had given Pennington’s name because he had thought that Pennington had a valid license, and that he wanted to make sure that Pennington “didn’t get in trouble.” Shull asked defendant to go to his local police department and complete a written statement. Defendant did so, and the police department sent the statement to Shull. Thereafter, the state charged defendant with giving false information to a police officer based on his statements during the traffic stop.

Defendant moved to suppress the evidence obtained during and after the traffic stop. In his written motion, defendant moved to suppress “the seizure and identification of Defendant, any statements or admissions made by Defendant, all observations of Defendant, all evidence [514]*514including identification, seized from Defendant and/or the vehicle in which he was driving on July 14, 2010.” Defendant asserted that Hulke “pull[ed] [him] over without cause and ask[ed] for [his] identification” and that doing so “constitute [d] an unlawful seizure similar to the one struck down in State v. Toevs, 327 Or 525, 964 P2d 1007 (1998).” Defendant further asserted that, because the stop was unlawful, the evidence obtained as a result of the stop had to be suppressed under the “attenuation analysis delineated in [State v. Hall, 339 Or 7, 115 P3d 908 (2005)].” Similarly, at the hearing on his motion, defendant argued that the evidence obtained during and after the traffic stop had to be suppressed under Hall. Defendant argued that the evidence was “directly tied to that stop” and that there was “no factual attenuation” between the stop and the discovery of the evidence.

The state did not dispute that Hulke had stopped defendant unlawfully. But, the state argued that the causal connection between the unlawful stop and the discovery of the evidence was attenuated. The state’s theory regarding the statements that defendant made during the stop was that the statements were attenuated from the stop because defendant made them because “[h]e didn’t want to get his girlfriend’s car towed.” The state’s theory regarding the statements that defendant made after the stop was that they were attenuated from the stop because defendant volunteered them a month after the stop and because he made them “so his friend wouldn’t get in trouble.”

Accepting the state’s arguments, the trial court stated:

“I’m going to deny the Motion to Suppress. I’m going to find the stop was illegal, but the conduct of the Defendant was independent in his own decision to notify the police that he gave a wrong name. And to keep his friend out of trouble[,] as well as having the car towed ***[.] I’m also going to find there was a substantial attenuation of the time frame in which this took place.”

After the denial of his motion to suppress, defendant waived his right to a jury trial, and the court acquitted him of driving while suspended, but convicted him of giving false information to a police officer. Defendant appeals.

[515]*515II. ARGUMENTS ON APPEAL

error of his motion to suppress the evidence obtained as a result of the illegal stop. He renews his argument that, under the exclusionary rule of Article I, section 9, the evidence is inadmissible because it is the unattenuated product of the illegal stop. His argument focuses on the admissibility of his statements, both the oral statements that he made during the stop and the oral and written statements that he made one month after the stop.4 He asserts that all of the statements were erroneously admitted, but that, even if the later statements were properly admitted, the erroneous admission of the earlier statements was harmful because, without the earlier statements, the later statements would not have been corroborated and the state would not have been able to prove that he committed the crime of giving false information to a police officer. See ORS 136.425 (generally, a “confession alone is not sufficient to warrant the conviction of the defendant without some other proof that the crime has been committed”).5

In response, the state argues that all of defendant’s statements were properly admitted because the causal connection between the stop and the statements is attenuated. The state acknowledges that the stop made it possible for Hulke to question defendant and that defendant’s statements during the stop were in response to Hulke’s questioning, but contends that the statements are admissible because defendant chose to give a false name.

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Related

State v. Tapia
2018 NMSC 17 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 2018)
State v. Suppah
369 P.3d 1108 (Oregon Supreme Court, 2016)
State v. Suppah
334 P.3d 463 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2014)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
334 P.3d 463, 264 Or. App. 510, 2014 WL 3864729, 2014 Ore. App. LEXIS 1060, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-suppah-orctapp-2014.