Summary 2009 WY 107

Summary of Decision issued August 25, 2009

Summaries are prepared by Law Librarians and are not official statements of the Wyoming Supreme Court.

Case Name: Tucker v. State

Citation: 2009 WY 107

Docket Number: S-08-0185

Appeal from the District Court of Sheridan County, the Honorable John G. Fenn, Judge.

Representing Appellant Tucker: Diane M. Lozano, State Public Defender, PDP; Tina N. Kerin, Appellate Counsel.

Representing Appellee State: Bruce A. Salzburg, Attorney General; Terry L. Armitage, Deputy Attorney General; D. Michael Pauling, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Jenny L. Craig, Assistant Attorney General.

Facts/Discussion: Tucker entered conditional guilty pleas to two counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, reserving his right to appeal the denial of his motion to suppress evidence.

Validity of conditional plea: Tucker asserted that his conditional plea was not valid because one of the issues he reserved for appeal was not dispositive of the case. He relied on Walters in which the Court held that a conditional plea involving two non-dispositive issues and one dispositive issue was invalid. In contrast to Walters, in the instant case the record was clear that the district court accepted Tucker’s plea knowing that it was conditional and only after defense counsel identified the issues preserved.
Constitutionality of the stop, search and arrest: Probable cause necessary to justify stopping and searching a vehicle without a warrant exists where the known facts and circumstances are sufficient to warrant a man of reasonable prudence to believe that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found. The agents independently corroborated information the confidential informant provided. The district court stated there was clear probable cause under the circumstances based upon the entirety of the evidence and not solely based upon information obtained from the confidential informant.
Due process: Tucker contended that the State violated his right to due process and the criminal procedural rules when it did not disclose the true basis for the stop, search and arrest until nearly a year after he was arrested. He also contended that the State misrepresented that deputies stopped him following a traffic complaint and searched his vehicle after a drug dog alerted. Tucker complained that as a result of the misrepresentations, defense counsel prepared his defense without a correct understanding as to the circumstances. The Court’s review of the record shows that the State disclosed the basis for the stop well in advance of the suppression hearing. Tucker had notice of the informant’s involvement from the beginning. Tucker did not present to the district court the claims that he was denied due process by denial of access to discovery or the substitution of attorneys. Having failed to bring those issues to the district court’s attention, Tucker did not reserve them for consideration on appeal.
Arrest warrant: The Court concluded that the probable cause affidavit did not contain false or misleading information, and so rejected the claim the arrest was defective.

Conclusion: The district court and the parties intended the due process claim to be part of the suppression motion and understood that the remedy Tucker sought was suppression of the evidence. The district court reasonably concluded probable cause existed to stop and search the vehicle and did not abuse its discretion in denying Tucker’s suppression motion on that ground. Tucker failed to present to the district court his claims that he was denied due process by any denial of access to discovery or the substitution of attorneys.

Affirmed.

J. Kite delivered the decision.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/mhd779 .

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