State v. Voichahoske

709 N.W.2d 659, 271 Neb. 64, 2006 Neb. LEXIS 27
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 10, 2006
DocketS-05-132
StatusPublished
Cited by109 cases

This text of 709 N.W.2d 659 (State v. Voichahoske) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Voichahoske, 709 N.W.2d 659, 271 Neb. 64, 2006 Neb. LEXIS 27 (Neb. 2006).

Opinion

Connolly, J.

Following a routine traffic stop, Trooper James D. Reilly of the Nebraska State Patrol detained the appellant, Chris Voichahoske. After a drug detection dog alerted to the car in which Voichahoske was a passenger, Voichahoske was taken to jail and strip searched by a deputy from a neighboring county. The deputy found a bag of methamphetamine protruding from Voichahoske’s rectum. In a bench trial, the Boone County District Court convicted Voichahoske of possessing methamphetamine. Voichahoske appeals his conviction, claiming that the methamphetamine should have been suppressed because his detention and search were illegal and because the searching officer was outside his jurisdiction.

We affirm because (1) Reilly had reasonable suspicion to detain the car and its occupants for further investigation, (2) the detention was reasonable, (3) Reilly had probable cause particularized to Voichahoske that he was concealing drugs on his *67 person, and (4) the searching officer had jurisdiction under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 29-215(2)(c)(ii)(C) (Cum. Supp. 2004).

I. BACKGROUND

Around 6:15 p.m. on February 17, 2004, Amy Roan was driving in Boone County, Nebraska, with passengers Voichahoske, Erin Young, and Michael Hall. Suspecting Roan was speeding, Reilly followed her. Before Reilly could turn on his patrol car lights, Roan pulled over into a farmyard. Having clocked her car traveling at 72 m.p.h. in a 60-m.p.h. zone, Reilly decided to conduct a traffic stop and followed them into the farmyard.

Reilly asked Roan for her driver’s license, registration, and proof of insurance, and when she said she could not produce them, he asked her to follow him to his patrol car. Roan told Reilly that her name was “Christina Hohn” and that the car belonged to “her cousin, Amy Roan,” who was in Iowa. Reilly was familiar with the Roan name, because several weeks earlier, a warrant had been issued for her arrest, and because law enforcement officers “suspected [Roan] of using illegal narcotics.” He also asked her about her passengers and travel plans. She said that she did not know the two back seat passengers, but identified the front seat passenger as Voichahoske, who Reilly knew was also suspected of “using illegal narcotics.”

According to Roan, she drove from Lindsay, Nebraska, to Albion, Nebraska, to pick up her cousin’s child near a hospital; she planned to drop off the back seat passengers by some apartments near the hospital. When Reilly noted that she was not taking a direct route to Albion, she said that the back seat passengers had been looking at a vehicle near Saint Edward, Nebraska, when their ride left them. She also told Reilly that she pulled into the farmyard because it belonged to Voichahoske’s relatives and that she needed to get gas money. Later, however, Voichahoske denied that he knew the owners of the farmyard, but he said the driver did.

Reilly then questioned the passengers, while Roan waited in his patrol car. Young was in the back seat on the passenger side, and Hall was in the back seat on the driver’s side. Voichahoske told Reilly that they were going to Columbus to get gas money and then were heading back to Albion to drop off Young and *68 Hall. Hall said they planned to stay with a friend of his there, but could not say whose house he was staying at. Young said the friend lived in Columbus, and Hall corrected her, saying, “ ‘That’s why we’re staying in Albion.’ ”

Reilly also observed what he described as suspicious behavior. He said that while interviewing Roan in his patrol car, he noted that her passengers “continuously moved around” and that at one point, he saw Young lean forward, appearing to shove something under the passenger seat. When questioning the passengers, he noticed that Young appeared “unable to hold still.” Young also complained that she had just started her menstrual cycle and “continuously rubbed her vaginal area,” which made Reilly suspect that “she might be hiding something there.” He suspected that she was on a narcotic.

Reilly then returned to his patrol car, gave Roan a speeding ticket, and asked permission to search Roan, her car, and its contents. When she refused, Reilly called for the Nebraska State Patrol canine unit. But when he learned that its drug dog was not available, he summoned the Nance County, Nebraska, canine unit instead. He told the dispatcher he believed that the Nance County canine unit was working that night and that he knew the Nebraska State Patrol trained the dog. He then told Roan she was being detained. While waiting for the canine unit, Roan explained to Reilly that “she was picking up her cousin’s child at the hospital because it had bronchitis, and they were holding the child because they did not want it to get pneumonia.” She also told Reilly she would consent to the search if that meant she would not have to wait for the drug dog; Reilly replied that he would wait for the dog to avoid the appearance of coercion.

About 12 minutes after detaining Roan, Sgt. Jeff D. Horn of the Nance County Sheriff’s Department arrived. Reilly told Horn about the group’s inconsistent stories, said that the stories did not make sense, and asked Horn to run his dog around the car to check for illegal narcotics. Horn asked Reilly to remove the passengers from the car first, but Reilly refused “in case they had narcotics on their person.” Horn did as Reilly asked, and the dog alerted to both the passenger-side door and the driver’s-side door. The passengers were then removed from the car and handcuffed.

*69 After handcuffing them, Reilly asked Young and Hall for the driver’s name. They said that they had just met the driver and that she had told them to say her name was Chrissy or Christina. Suspicious, Reilly questioned Voichahoske again about the driver’s name. Voichahoske said that he had just met her that day and that her name was “Chrissy or something like that.” Reilly then told Voichahoske that Roan reported earlier that she had known Voichahoske for almost a year. Voichahoske then admitted that Roan’s driver’s license was in his wallet. Reilly retrieved the license and confirmed that Roan had given him a false name.

Reilly then conducted a “very preliminary search of the vehicle” and asked the Norfolk, Nebraska, dispatcher to have Boone County send additional officers and a tow truck. Deputy Jaromey L. Radford and a Deputy Swanson responded to the dispatch. On arriving, Reilly and Horn informed them that the suspects’ stories were “not making sense” and that the drug dog had alerted twice on the car. Reilly and Horn agreed that the occupants of the car needed to be searched, although this exchange was not evident on the videotape. They specifically asked Radford and Swanson to transport and search “the two remaining occupants . . . Hall and ... Young.” The videotape revealed no explicit reference to searching all the occupants, although Reilly did ask the dispatcher to explain “the situation” to the Boone County sheriff’s office, to avoid surprise when the suspects arrived.

Before transporting Voichahoske, Horn patted him down and searched his pockets. During the pat-down search, Horn noticed a bulge in Voichahoske’s left shoe; he and Reilly agreed that the bulge should be investigated.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
709 N.W.2d 659, 271 Neb. 64, 2006 Neb. LEXIS 27, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-voichahoske-neb-2006.