Summary 2010 WY 107

Summary of Decision issued July 30, 2010

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

Case Name: Frazier v. State

Citation: 2010 WY 107

Docket Number: S-09-0205

Appeal from the District Court of Laramie County, the Honorable Edward L. Grant, Judge.

Representing Frazier: Dion J. Custis, Dion J. Custis, PC, Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Representing State: Bruce A. Salzburg, Attorney General; Terry L. Armitage, Deputy Attorney General; D. Michael Pauling, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Paul S. Rehurek, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Leda M. Pojman, Assistant Attorney General.

Facts/Discussion: Frazier entered a conditional plea of guilty to one count of possessing marijuana with the intent to deliver. He reserved the right to appeal the district court’s denial of his motion to suppress. Frazier maintains that evidence obtained in the search of the vehicle should have been suppressed because no reasonable suspicion existed to detain him for a dog sniff of his vehicle following the conclusion of a traffic stop.

Initial stop: During the initial stop for the offending license plate bracket, while writing the warning ticket, the Trooper asked Frazier about his travel plans. The few questions relating to travel plans were not unreasonable.
Consent to additional questioning: After Frazier exited the patrol car with the warning, the Trooper initiated additional questioning to which Frazier contends he did not voluntarily consent. The Trooper asked if he could ask a few more questions, Frazier responded affirmatively and the Trooper commented that he didn’t have to answer any more questions if he didn’t want to. Frazier did not identify the presence of other coercive factors that might have affected his decision to answer more questions. Under these circumstances, a reasonable person would feel free to decline the Trooper’s requests.
Detention until canine unit arrived: Once the Trooper asked for permission to search the car and Frazier declined, the detention was no longer consensual and required reasonable suspicion. The Trooper noted four factors he relied upon that led to his suspicion that Frazier was transporting illegal drugs: his inconsistent travel plans, odor suppressing agents, the map open to California, and the persistent and extreme nervousness. Each of the factors might be innocent but under the totality of the circumstances test, individually innocuous factors can combine to arouse a reasonable suspicion for the experienced officer.
Length of detention: The Trooper called for the canine unit immediately after Frazier was informed he was detained. There was a 53 minute wait for the canine unit to arrive. The Court found previously that similar waiting times did not violate the Fourth Amendment.

Conclusion: The district court’s decision on the motion to suppress was not clearly erroneous.

Affirmed.

J. Burke delivered the decision.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/25tp5tb .

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