State v. Winton

2010 NMCA 020, 229 P.3d 1247, 148 N.M. 75
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 18, 2009
Docket28,276; 32,089
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 2010 NMCA 020 (State v. Winton) 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. Winton, 2010 NMCA 020, 229 P.3d 1247, 148 N.M. 75 (N.M. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

OPINION

VIGIL, Judge.

{1} Defendant appeals the denial of his motion to suppress evidence found on him as a result of a search and seizure during the execution of a no-knock warrant. We hold that Defendant’s Fourth Amendment rights were not violated when police detained Defendant for fifteen minutes while the warrant was being executed or when they subsequently conducted a pat-down search of Defendant. We therefore affirm the district court order denying Defendant’s motion to suppress.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

{2} Officers from the Clovis Police Department arrived at 1822 Hammett Street at approximately 8:00 a.m. to execute a search warrant on the residence and person of Joseph Sandoval. The search warrant contained a no-knock provision “for officer safety” based upon the affidavit which stated the subject property contained “drugs, guns, and money” and that Sandoval “was not afraid to shoot someone if necessary.”

{3} When the police arrived at 1822 Hammett Street, they encountered Defendant and a friend who were leaving the property at 1824 Hammett Street and entering the property at 1822 Hammett Street to return to their vehicle. Defendant testified that he had paid a visit to his friend’s house located at 1824 Hammett Street to play foosball. At the time officers arrived, both men were located approximately twenty to twenty-five feet from Sandoval’s trailer. Both Defendant and his friend were ordered to the ground. While face down on the ground, an officer further restrained Defendant at gun point with his boot on Defendant’s neck. The officer kept his boot on Defendant for about five minutes, and kept Defendant on the ground for another ten minutes. In total, Defendant remained on the ground for approximately fifteen minutes while other officers executed the warrant.

{4} Officer Hengst testified that after searching the residence, he exited to find both men lying “unsecured” on the ground. He approached the men and placed handcuffs on Defendant. He observed a knife in Defendant’s back pocket and then removed it. The district court found that the knife had been “plainly visible.” Officer Hengst asked Defendant if he had any more knives on him, and Defendant stated that he might have another knife. While continuing to pat Defendant down, Officer Hengst felt a hard object in Defendant’s jacket pocket. Believing it may be another knife, Officer Hengst asked Defendant if it was a knife. Defendant said he thought it was and gave Officer Hengst permission to remove it after Officer Hengst requested such permission. As Officer Hengst pulled the object out, which turned out to be a cellular telephone, a glass pipe fell out of Defendant’s pocket and onto the ground. Based on his training and experience, Officer Hengst immediately recognized the pipe to be one commonly used to ingest drugs and believed it contained methamphetamine residue. Defendant was placed under arrest, and a search of his person yielded a baggy of suspected methamphetamine. Defendant was subsequently charged with possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia, contrary to NMSA 1978, Section 30-31-23 (2005) and NMSA 1978, Section 30-31-25.1(A) (2001).

{5} Defendant moved the district court to suppress the evidence arguing it was unlawfully discovered after a warrantless and nonexceptional search. Defendant first asserted that the search warrant for 1822 Hammett Street did not give the police the authority to detain and search him. Without such authority under the warrant, Defendant argued that police lacked specific and articulate facts to support a warrant-less search of his person. Further, under State v. Graves, 119 N.M. 89, 888 P.2d 971 (Ct.App.1994), Defendant argued that his mere presence during the execution of a search warrant did not justify the officer’s actions.

{6} The bulk of the testimony and argument at the suppression hearing centered on Defendant’s location and the layout of the premises subject to the warrant. The property subject to the search warrant, 1822 Hammett Street, was located on a lot adjacent to 1824 Hammett Street. While there is conflicting evidence whether a fence separated the properties, Officer Hengst testified that he believed Defendant was located on the property described in the warrant when he first saw Defendant. The district court found that when Defendant was seized he was outside the property line where 1822 Hammett Street was located. However, the district court further found that Defendant had been on the property described in the search warrant earlier when he parked his vehicle, and he was returning to it when the police arrived. Finally, the district court found that this is a “family compound with reciprocal access among the structures.” Therefore, concluded the court, Defendant was in a location where he could be lawfully searched during the execution of the warrant.

{7} After Defendant’s motion was formally denied, Defendant entered into a conditional plea, reserving his right to appeal the denial of his motion to suppress.

DISCUSSION

STANDARD OF REVIEW

{8} Appellate review of a motion to suppress involves a mixed question of fact and law. State v. Urioste, 2002-NMSC-023, ¶ 6, 132 N.M. 592, 52 P.3d 964. Factual questions are reviewed for substantial evidence, and all facts are viewed in a light most favorable to the prevailing party. State v. Vandenberg, 2003-NMSC-030, ¶¶ 17-18, 134 N.M. 566, 81 P.3d 19. Furthermore, “all reasonable inferences in support of the court’s decision will be indulged in, and all inferences or evidence to the contrary will be disregarded.” State v. Werner, 117 N.M. 315, 317, 871 P.2d 971, 973 (1994) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). Legal questions are reviewed de novo. State v. Duran, 2005-NMSC-034, ¶ 19, 138 N.M. 414, 120 P.3d 836.

PRESERVATION

{9} The State first contends that Defendant failed to preserve the challenge to his detention during the execution of the warrant. See Rule 12-216(A) NMRA (“To preserve a question for review it must appear that a ruling or decision by the district court was fairly invoked.”). The State emphasizes the distinction between the analysis for a search and the analysis for a seizure and asserts Defendant did not fairly invoke a ruling on the seizure issue. The record indicates that at the suppression hearing before the district court Defendant argued, “There must be ... articulate facts to justify the detention of searching an individual .” We conclude that Defendant’s argument was sufficient to properly preserve the issue.

{10} The State also asserts Defendant failed to properly assert an independent state constitutional claim. See State v. Ochoa, 2009-NMCA-002, ¶ 9, 146 N.M. 32, 206 P.3d 143, cert granted, 2008-NMCERT-012, 145 N.M. 572, 203 P.3d 103 (stating that to preserve such actions, the ‘“party also must assert in the trial court that the state constitutional provision at issue should be interpreted more expansively than the federal counterpart and provide reasons for interpreting the state provision differently from the federal provision’ ”) (quoting State v. Gomez, 1997-NMSC-006, ¶ 23, 122 N.M. 777, 932 P.2d 1).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2010 NMCA 020, 229 P.3d 1247, 148 N.M. 75, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-winton-nmctapp-2009.