State v. Young

167 P.3d 783, 144 Idaho 646, 2006 Ida. App. LEXIS 126
CourtIdaho Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 14, 2006
Docket32624
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 167 P.3d 783 (State v. Young) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho 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. Young, 167 P.3d 783, 144 Idaho 646, 2006 Ida. App. LEXIS 126 (Idaho Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

GUTIERREZ, Judge.

Michael William Young appeals from the district court’s decision, on intermediate appeal, reversing the magistrate’s order granting Young’s motion to suppress evidence. We affirm albeit on different grounds.

*648 I.

BACKGROUND

On November 5, 2004, at 11:20 p.m., a police officer observed Young fail to stop his track at a stop line before the intersection of 32nd Street and West Gerrard Street within Boise city limits. Young stopped his vehicle between the stop line and the intersection in order to see around a house and a fence that were obstructing his view of any approaching traffic. Less than half of Young’s vehicle was past the stop line. For this reason, the officer initiated a traffic stop. Upon contacting Young, the officer noticed that his speech was slow and slurred. Young was subsequently arrested and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI).

The magistrate granted Young’s motion to suppress evidence, determining no violation of Idaho’s stop sign statute, Idaho Code § 49-807(2), had occurred. The state appealed and the district court reversed upon ruling that an officer’s reasonable mistake of law is grounds for a valid investigatory detention. The district court also referenced Young’s violation of Boise Municipal Code § 10-09-04. Young now appeals.

II.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

The standard of review on a suppression motion is bifurcated. When a decision on a motion to suppress is challenged, we accept the trial court’s findings of fact that are supported by substantial evidence, but we freely review the application of constitutional principles to the facts as found. State v. Atkinson, 128 Idaho 559, 561, 916 P.2d 1284, 1286 (Ct.App.1996). At a suppression hearing, the power to assess the credibility of witnesses, resolve factual conflicts, weigh evidence, and draw factual inferences is vested in the trial court. State v. Valdez-Molina, 127 Idaho 102, 106, 897 P.2d 993, 997 (1995); State v. Schevers, 132 Idaho 786, 789, 979 P.2d 659, 662 (Ct.App.1999). On review of a decision of the district court, rendered in its appellate capacity, we examine the record of the trial court independently of, but with due regard for, the district court’s intermediate appellate decision. State v. Bowman, 124 Idaho 936, 939, 866 P.2d 193, 196 (Ct.App.1993).

III.

ANALYSIS

Young argues that the DUI-related evidence must be excluded because the Boise police officer did not have probable cause or reasonable suspicion necessary to make a legal traffic stop. A traffic stop by an officer constitutes a seizure of the vehicle’s occupants and implicates the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures. Delaware v. Prouse, 440 U.S. 648, 653, 99 S.Ct. 1391, 1395, 59 L.Ed.2d 660, 667 (1979). In this situation, probable cause to believe the law has been broken outbalances private interest in avoiding police contact. Whren v. United States, 517 U.S. 806, 817-18, 116 S.Ct. 1769, 1776, 135 L.Ed.2d 89, 100-101 (1996). An officer may also stop a vehicle to investigate possible criminal behavior if there is a reasonable and articulable suspicion that the vehicle is being driven contrary to traffic laws. United States v. Cortez, 449 U.S. 411, 417, 101 S.Ct. 690, 694, 66 L.Ed.2d 621, 628 (1981).

Probable cause and reasonable suspicion are objective tests. Neither test depends on the individual officer’s subjective thoughts nor upon the bases previously offered by the state to justify the stop. Deen v. State, 131 Idaho 435, 436, 958 P.2d 592, 593 (1998) (reasonable suspicion); State v. Murphy, 129 Idaho 861, 863-64, 934 P.2d 34, 36-37 (Ct.App.1997) (probable cause). Thus, in determining whether a traffic stop constituted a lawful seizure, courts freely apply relevant law to the objective facts presented, unconstrained by law enforcement’s reasoning. This prevents costly resort to the exclusionary rale where a police officer or prosecutor merely fails to articulate the appropriate justification for an otherwise legal search or seizure. State v. Bower, 135 Idaho 554, 558, 21 P.3d 491, 495 (Ct.App.2001).

The state contends there was probable cause to detain Young because I.C. § 49-807(2) and B.M.C. § 10-09-04 can be *649 interpreted as requiring drivers to stop at the stop line. 1 This Court exercises free review over the application and construction of statutes. State v. Reyes, 139 Idaho 502, 505, 80 P.3d 1103, 1106 (Ct.App.2003). Rules for construction of an ordinance are the same as for construction of a statute. Jackman v. Hamersley, 72 Idaho 301, 305, 240 P.2d 829, 832 (1952); State v. Roll, 118 Idaho 936, 939 n. 2, 801 P.2d 1287, 1290 n. 2 (Ct.App.1990). Where the language of a statute is plain and unambiguous, this Court must give effect to the statute as written, without engaging in statutory construction. State v. Rhode, 133 Idaho 459, 462, 988 P.2d 685, 688 (1999); State v. Burnight, 132 Idaho 654, 659, 978 P.2d 214, 219 (1999); State v. Escobar, 134 Idaho 387, 389, 3 P.3d 65, 67 (Ct.App.2000). The language of the statute is to be given its plain, obvious, and rational meaning. Burnight, 132 Idaho at 659, 978 P.2d at 219. Unless the result is palpably absurd, this Court assumes that the legislature meant what is clearly stated in the statute. Rhode, 133 Idaho at 462, 988 P.2d at 688.

Idaho Code § 49-807(2) provides in part:

(2) Except when directed to proceed by a peace officer or traffic-control signal, every driver of a vehicle approaching a stop sign shall stop:

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Bluebook (online)
167 P.3d 783, 144 Idaho 646, 2006 Ida. App. LEXIS 126, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-young-idahoctapp-2006.