State v. Wise

635 P.2d 1374, 54 Or. App. 700, 1981 Ore. App. LEXIS 3608
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedNovember 16, 1981
Docket10-80-01332, CA 18011
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 635 P.2d 1374 (State v. Wise) 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. Wise, 635 P.2d 1374, 54 Or. App. 700, 1981 Ore. App. LEXIS 3608 (Or. Ct. App. 1981).

Opinion

BUTTLER, P. J.

Defendant appeals his convictions for burglary in the first degree and rape in the first degree, contending that the trial court erred in denying his pretrial motions to suppress physical evidence, including photographs of defendant, and out-of-court identifications of defendant, all of which are claimed to be the fruit of an unlawful stop, and to exclude the same photographic throw-down identification and out-of-court line-up identification as being unduly suggestive. We affirm.

On January 25, 1980, at 1:20 a.m., police officers Kerns and Wisdom observed a pickup truck pull into the parking lot of a closed cedar shake mill and its headlights go off. The officers approached the pickup and questioned the driver, Carter, who told them that he had just dropped off defendant at an intersection to visit a friend and that Carter was waiting for him to return. Carter did not know who defendant was going to visit, where he had gone or when he would return.

The officers left Carter and, after turning a corner, saw defendant walking down the street. They stopped and got out of their patrol car. As they began talking with defendant, Carter drove up in the pickup and got out. The officers asked the two men what they were doing and took down their names, addresses, physical descriptions and places of employment. After running a check, they determined that neither of the men was wanted by the police. In addition, an operator’s license check was run, as a result of which they learned that Carter did not have an operator’s license. When questioned, defendant informed the officers that his driver’s license had been suspended. After telling Carter and defendant not to drive the vehicle, the officers left the scene and the two men walked away.

Shortly thereafter, while they sat in their parked patrol car discussing their encounter with Carter and defendant, Kerns mentioned to Wisdom that defendant appeared to fit the physical description of a rape suspect the officers had been given in briefing the day before. The rape had occurred during the early morning hours of January 24, 1980. The officers then observed the pickup go behind them and turn onto another street. Having learned [703]*703that neither man was licensed to drive, they pursued the truck and stopped it. Carter was driving; defendant was in the passenger’s seat. The officers asked for the registration, but neither man could produce it. Carter told police that the vehicle was owned by a friend whom he could not identify.

A stolen automobile records check proved negative, but it gave the police the name of the registered owner of the pickup. The police did not try to contact the registered owner. Officer Kerns advised the two men that he believed that the vehicle might be stolen and stated that he would like to take their pictures so that if it was determined later that the vehicle was stolen, defendant and Carter would be tied to the pickup. The two officers and Carter testified that both men were amused and that each of them consented to having his photograph taken. Defendant testified he thought he had no choice in the matter, but agreed that neither he nor Carter objected.

While one police officer was writing out a citation to Carter, the other called for a third officer, who arrived and took the pictures. Defendant testified that from the time the officers stopped Carter until the third officer arrived to take the pictures, five to ten minutes elapsed. Carter was then given a citation, after which he and defendant left the scene on foot.

On returning to the police station, the officers turned over the pictures to Detective Friedemann, who was investigating the rape. Because the photographs taken of Carter and defendant were in color, Detective Friedemann made black and white copies so that they would be consistent with other photographs to be used in a photographic throw-down. On January 30, 1980, the victim picked defendant’s picture from the six photographs shown her, although she said she could not be certain he was the rapist. On the basis of that identification, Detective Friedemann obtained search and arrest warrants and on February 4, 1980, arrested defendant. The search of defendant’s home resulted in the seizure of several articles of defendant’s clothing.

On February 8, 1980, the victim picked defendant out of a line-up. Defendant was the only person included in [704]*704both the photographic throw-down and the in-person lineup, but the victim was not told that the suspect was present in the line-up.

On appeal, defendant raises four assignments of error, the first three of which invoke variations of the "fruit of the poisonous tree” rationale of Wong Sun v. United States, 371 US 471, 83 S Ct 407, 9 L Ed 2d 441 (1963); the fourth assignment of error contends that both out-of-court identifications of defendant were unduly suggestive. Discussion of the assigned errors will be divided into those two categories.

FRUIT OF THE POISONOUS TREE

In this court, defendant starts with the proposition that his initial stop by the police officers was not based upon any reasonable suspicion that he had committed a crime, ORS 131.615,1 and therefore all evidence derived from that illegal stop must be suppressed. The argument continues in a mushrooming fashion: because the officers learned, as a result of the first stop of defendant, that neither he nor Carter was licensed to operate a motor vehicle and because that information formed the basis for the subsequent stop of Carter while driving the automobile, which in turn led to the photographing of defendant, his identification in a throw-down, leading to the issuance of a warrant to search his home, to the seizure of physical evidence and to defendant’s subsequent identification in a lineup, all of that evidence must be suppressed.

In the trial court, however, defendant conceded that it was not necessary to decide whether his first encounter with the officers constituted an illegal stop. See State v. Warner, 284 Or 147, 161, 585 P2d 681 (1978). Rather, he argued that the second stop was the "critical” [705]*705one.2 Having taken that position in the trial court, the validity of the first stop was either waived, or if there was error, it was invited. State v. Anderson, 15 Or App 607, 517 P2d 339, rev den (1974). We will not consider that question for the first time on appeal.

As a result of the first encounter between the officers and defendant and Carter, the officers learned that neither of them was licensed to operate an automobile. Accordingly, when the officers observed the pickup being operated by Carter, they had probable cause to stop Carter, which they did. Defendant contends, however, that even if the police had probable cause to stop Carter, they did not have any basis for stopping him. Of course, defendant was in the vehicle, and when Carter stopped it, defendant was stopped "as an incident to his being a passenger in a vehicle lawfully stopped.” State v. Zimmerlee, 45 Or App 107, 112, 607 P2d 782, rev den 289 Or 71 (1980). If nothing further had developed, the officers could not have used the traffic stop as an excuse to begin questioning or investigating matters unrelated to the traffic reason for the stop; the officers could have lawfully done no more than write out a citation and send Carter and defendant on their way. State v.

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Bluebook (online)
635 P.2d 1374, 54 Or. App. 700, 1981 Ore. App. LEXIS 3608, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-wise-orctapp-1981.