United States v. Frank Miranda-Guerena

445 F.3d 1233, 2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 10275, 2006 WL 1072179
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedApril 25, 2006
Docket05-10198
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 445 F.3d 1233 (United States v. Frank Miranda-Guerena) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Frank Miranda-Guerena, 445 F.3d 1233, 2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 10275, 2006 WL 1072179 (9th Cir. 2006).

Opinions

[1235]*1235ALARCÓN, Circuit Judge:

Frank Miranda-Guerena appeals from the district court’s order denying his motion to suppress evidence following his conditional guilty plea for violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 846 and 841(b)(A), conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine base. Mr. Miranda-Guerena contends that the traffic stop that precipitated the government’s search and seizure was not supported by reasonable suspicion that a traffic code violation had occurred; and that the traffic stop was not supported by reasonable suspicion that a drug trafficking crime had occurred. We affirm because we conclude that the traffic stop was supported by reasonable suspicion that a traffic violation had occurred.

I

Acting on information received from a patrol officer that Mr. Miranda-Guerena was involved in the sale of cocaine from his home, Officer Michael Hammarstrom and other officers from the Tucson Police Department began surveillance of Mr. Miranda-Guerena and his co-inhabitant, Rosie Howerton. During three days of surveillance, the officers witnessed a number of short duration visits — visitors coming to Mr. Miranda-Guerena’s house, and Mr. Miranda-Guerena or Ms. Howerton visiting other locations. Based on their experience, the officers considered these short visits to be consistent with narcotics transactions.

On January 9, 2002, Officer Hammarstrom observed Ms. Howerton driving a black Toyota Sequoia SUV. Mr. MirandaGuerena was a passenger. Officer Hammarstrom decided to perform a traffic stop. He reasoned that a traffic stop was preferable to an investigative stop based on his suspicion of narcotics transactions because if he found nothing during a search for narcotics, his narcotics investigation would be revealed to Mr. MirandaGuerena and Ms. Howerton. Because Officer Hammarstrom was not in a marked patrol vehicle with emergency lights, he could not complete the stop himself. He contacted the Pima County Sheriffs Department and asked them to be prepared to effectuate the stop if he observed a traffic code violation. The Pima County Sheriffs Department agreed to provide assistance and assigned Sheriffs Deputy Jason Davila to be prepared to stop the vehicle Ms. Howerton was driving if Officer Hammarstrom observed a traffic code violation.

Officer Hammarstrom observed Ms. Howerton commit two traffic code violations. He made a request over the police radio for Deputy Davila to stop the vehicle. Deputy Davila completed the stop.

At the time he stopped Ms. Howerton and Mr. Miranda-Guerena, Deputy Davila was not aware of the information the Tucson Police Department officers had uncovered during their narcotics investigation, and he had not witnessed the traffic code violations.

Mr. Miranda-Guerena moved to suppress the crack cocaine seized following the traffic stop. The district court denied the motion, concluding that, as a result of their surveillance, the Tucson Police Department officers reasonably suspected Mr. Miranda-Guerena and Ms. Howerton were engaged in drug trafficking. The district court did not determine whether the stop of the vehicle was supported by reasonable suspicion of a traffic violation.

II

Mr. Miranda-Guerena contends that the district court erred in denying his motion to suppress because the stop of the [1236]*1236vehicle driven by Ms. Howerton was not supported by reasonable suspicion of a traffic violation. On appeal, Mr. MirandaGuerena challenges only the legality of the traffic stop, and does not challenge the search that led to the discovery of the cocaine. Accordingly, we limit our consideration to the traffic stop itself. Mr. Miranda-Guerena argues that under Arizona law, an officer must actually witness a traffic violation in order for a traffic stop to be valid. A district court’s denial of a motion to suppress evidence is reviewed de novo, and its factual findings are reviewed for clear error. United States v. Willis, 431 F.3d 709, 713 n. 3 (9th Cir.2005).

An investigatory stop of a vehicle is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment if the officer reasonably suspects that a traffic violation has occurred. Willis, 431 F.3d at 714. “If the facts are sufficient to lead an officer to reasonably believe that there was a violation, that will suffice.... ” United States v. Mariscal, 285 F.3d 1127, 1130 (9th Cir.2002).

Officer Hammarstrom testified that he personally observed Ms. Howerton commit two traffic violations. Mr. MirandaGuerena contends that the traffic stop was invalid because Deputy Davila did not witness the violations. He argues that pursuant to Arizona Revised Statutes § 13-3883(B), a police officer must personally witness the traffic violation.1 According to Mr. Miranda-Guerena, because the stop violated § 13-3883(B), it was invalid under the Fourth Amendment. We reject this argument.

To begin with, the stop did not violate Arizona law. Arizona Revised Statutes § 28-1594 allows traffic stops to be made outside of the officer’s presence.2 In State v. Box, 205 Ariz. 492, 73 P.3d 623 (2003), the Arizona Court of Appeals concluded that to “afford § 28-1594 any non-redundant meaning in light of the preexisting § 13-3883(B), we can only conclude the former authorizes a peace officer to stop motorists for traffic violations committed outside his or her presence.” Id. at 627.

Box was decided after the district court denied the motion to suppress in this case, but its holding is nevertheless applicable. As this Court has explained, “ ‘[a] judicial construction of a statute is an authoritative statement of what the statute meant before as well as after the decision of the case giving rise to that construction.’ ” United States v. City of Tacoma, Washington, 332 F.3d 574, 581 (9th Cir.2003) (quoting Rivers v. Roadway Express, 511 U.S. 298, 312-13, 114 S.Ct. 1510, 128 L.Ed.2d 274 (1994)). Section 28-1594 was in existence when Mr. Miranda-Guerena was stopped. Therefore, at the time Mr. Miranda-Guerena was stopped, § 28-1594 permitted the stop, even if Arizona courts had yet to interpret the statute in light of § 13—3883(B).

B

Mr. Miranda-Guerena argues alternatively that application of § 28-1594 to [1237]*1237the traffic stop, as interpreted by the Box decision, would violate the right to due process under the United States Constitution. He asserts that “[d]ue process bars the retroactive application of a judicial expansion of a law only if the change in the law is unforeseeable.” (App.Rep.Br.2). We disagree.

Application of the Box decision to Mr. Miranda-Guerena’s case is not an unforeseeable expansion of the law in violation of due process. United States v. Qualls,

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445 F.3d 1233, 2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 10275, 2006 WL 1072179, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-frank-miranda-guerena-ca9-2006.