State v. Zamora-Martinez

260 P.3d 603, 244 Or. App. 213, 2011 Ore. App. LEXIS 970
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedJuly 13, 2011
DocketC051006CR; A129382
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 260 P.3d 603 (State v. Zamora-Martinez) 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. Zamora-Martinez, 260 P.3d 603, 244 Or. App. 213, 2011 Ore. App. LEXIS 970 (Or. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

*215 ORTEGA, J.

This case is on remand from the Oregon Supreme Court, which vacated our prior decision and remanded the case for reconsideration in light of State v. Ashbaugh, 349 Or 297, 244 P3d 360 (2010) {Ashbaugh II). Our first opinion in this case applied principles articulated in State v. Ashbaugh, 225 Or App 16, 200 P3d 149 (2008), rev’d, 349 Or 297, 244 P3d 360 (2010) (Ashbaugh I), and concluded that a reasonable person could have believed, under the circumstances presented here, that he was not free to leave at the critical point in the encounter with law enforcement at issue. Accordingly, we vacated the trial court’s denial of defendant’s motion to suppress evidence and remanded the case for the trial court to determine whether, during defendant’s encounter with law enforcement, defendant subjectively believed that he was not free to leave. After our decision, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Ashbaugh II, reversing Ashbaugh I. We are now called upon to examine whether, under the standard set forth in Ashbaugh II, defendant’s encounter with law enforcement amounted to an illegal stop under Article I, section 9, of the Oregon Constitution.

We take the facts and pertinent procedural history from our earlier opinion:

“[U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Senior Special Agent Billison] accompanied Hillsboro narcotics officers as they executed a search warrant at defendant’s sister’s residence. Although execution of the warrant was undertaken primarily by the narcotics officers, Billison was present to deal with any immigration-related issues. Forged immigration and Social Security documents were discovered during the search and, as a result, Billison detained some of the persons in the residence for immigration violations. Hillsboro police arrested others on drug charges. Ultimately, all of the adults in the residence were taken into custody.
“Because there were several minors at the residence who would have been left without adult supervision, Billison telephoned their mother — defendant’s sister — and asked her to return to the residence to care for her daughters. Defendant arrived at the residence 10 to 15 minutes *216 later, and Billison testified that it appeared as though defendant’s arrival was related to Billison’s telephone call.
“When defendant arrived, he was approached by the Hillsboro officers, who asked why he was present. After learning that defendant was there to take custody of the children, the officers called Billison, who had been inside the residence, to defendant’s location. Billison, who was in plain clothes but wearing a badge, introduced himself to defendant, identified himself as an ICE agent, and asked to see defendant’s identification. Defendant produced an Oregon identification card. Billison looked at the card and then asked defendant where he was from. After defendant responded, ‘Mexico,’ Billison asked whether defendant had any other identification. Defendant responded affirmatively and produced a resident alien card and a Social Security card, both of which Billison immediately recognized as forgeries. Billison later testified that, had defendant chosen to walk away at any point before he produced the forged documents, he ‘suppose[d]’ that he would have allowed defendant to do so. The entire encounter lasted ‘less than two minutes.’
“Defendant was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument. Before trial, defendant moved to suppress evidence of the forged instruments. The trial court denied defendant’s motion, reasoning that defendant’s interaction with Billison was a ‘mere street encounter,’ that Billison’s request to see identification was not a stop of defendant, and that defendant’s production of the fraudulent identification provided probable cause to arrest him. * * * [Defendant agreed to a stipulated facts trial and was convicted.”

State v. Zamora-Martinez, 229 Or App 397, 399-400, 211 P3d 349 (2009), vac’d and rem’d, 349 Or 664 (2010) (footnotes omitted; second brackets in original).

As we explained in our original opinion, the only issue on appeal is whether “Billison’s inquiry regarding additional identification escalated the encounter into a stop and * * * the stop was unsupported by reasonable suspicion, in violation of Article I, section 9[.]” 229 Or App at 400 (emphasis in original). Defendant asserted that, in seeking additional identification, the officer indicated that he was “not *217 satisfied with the initial offer of identification and * * *, given the presence of other officers, that inquiry was sufficient to cause a reasonable person to believe that he or she was not free to leave.” Id. at 401. The state, on the other hand, argued that defendant was not stopped because the request for additional information “was not a temporary restraint on defendant’s liberty for investigatory purposes or otherwise[.]” Id.

We analyzed that issue by reference to our decision in Ashbaugh I, in which we concluded that a seizure occurs when a reasonable person under the circumstances “could have believed” that he or she was not free to leave. 225 Or App at 25 (emphasis in original; quotation marks omitted). Using that construct, we concluded that, under the circumstances presented in this case, “a reasonable person could have concluded that, after his initial request for identification, Billison’s inquiries were investigatory and were intended to determine whether defendant was lawfully in the United States and that, as a result, defendant was not free to leave.” Zamora-Martinez, 229 Or App at 404 (emphasis added). In addition, as we did in Ashbaugh I, we remanded the case to the trial court to make a factual determination regarding whether defendant in this case “in fact believed that he was not free to leave[.]” Zamora-Martinez, 229 Or App at 404; see Ashbaugh I, 225 Or App at 28.

Subsequently, the Supreme Court’s decision in Ashbaugh II, “abandoned]” the subjective component of the test for whether a seizure has occurred for purposes of Article I, section 9. 349 Or at 316. In addition, the court clarified that the proper inquiry is not whether a reasonable person could have believed that his liberty or freedom of movement was significantly restricted; rather,

“[a] ‘seizure’ of a person occurs under Article I, section 9, of the Oregon Constitution: (a) if a law enforcement officer intentionally and significantly restricts, interferes with, or otherwise deprives an individual of that individual’s liberty or freedom of movement; or (b) if a reasonable person under the totality of the circumstances would believe that (a) above has occurred.”

Id. (emphasis in original).

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Related

State v. Zamora-Martinez
331 P.3d 1023 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2014)
State v. Wright
260 P.3d 755 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2011)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
260 P.3d 603, 244 Or. App. 213, 2011 Ore. App. LEXIS 970, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-zamora-martinez-orctapp-2011.