Summary 2009 WY 152

Summary of Decision issued December 14, 2009

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

Case Name: Wallace v. State

Citation: 2009 WY 152

Docket Number: S-09-0060

Appeal from the District Court of Campbell County, the Honorable Michael N. Deegan, Judge.

Representing Wallace: Diane Lozano, State Public Defender; Tina Kerin, Appellate Counsel; and Kirk A. Morgan, Senior Assistant Appellate Counsel, Wyoming Public Defender Program.

Representing State: Bruce A. Salzburg, Wyoming Attorney General; Terry L. Armitage, Deputy Attorney General; D. Michael Pauling, Senio0r Assistant Attorney General; and Graham M. Smith, Assistant Attorney General.

Facts/Discussion: Wallace appealed the district court’s finding that a deputy did not lack reasonable suspicion to detain him and his vehicle for a dog sniff. Wallace contended that the deputy impermissibly expanded the scope of an otherwise lawful stop by requesting the narcotic detection dog.
The Court may sustain a decision of the lower court on any basis found in the record. Although the district court found reasonable suspicion in the case, the Court affirmed on the basis argued by the State that the initial stop was not prolonged beyond the time reasonably required by the officer to write the citations and that an exterior dog sniff does not constitute a search. As the Court noted in Lindsay v. State, the basis for and the circumstances surrounding the stop rather than an arbitrary time limit govern a stop’s permissible length. The district court concluded that the detention lasted no longer than was necessary to achieve the purpose of the stop inasmuch as the sniff was concluded before the deputy had finished issuing the citations.

Conclusion: The Court held that the initial stop was not prolonged by the exterior dog sniff.

Affirmed.

J. Hill delivered the decision.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/y9ky4sj.

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