State v. Dillard ( 2018 )


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  • IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE
    STATE OF DELAWARE )
    )
    )
    v. ) Case I.D. No.: 1710003809
    )
    )
    BAKR DILLARD, )
    )
    Defendant. )
    ORDER
    Submitted: April 30, 2018
    Decided: May 17, 2018
    Upon Consideration OfState ’s Motionfor Reargument,
    DENIED.
    AND NOW TO WIT, this 17th day of May, 2018, upon consideration of the
    State’s Motion for Reargument and the record in this case, it appears to the Court
    that:
    1. After the Court issued its Opinion and granted suppression in favor of
    Defendant, the State filed a timely Motion for Reargument on March 23, 2018.
    Defendant filed a response on April 2, 2018. A hearing on the Motion for
    Reargument Was held on April 30, 2018.
    2. The facts underlying the State’s Motion for Reargurnent have been
    previously described by this Court in its March 16, 2018 Opinion granting
    Defendant’s Motion to Suppress.l
    3. The State maintains there Was no Fourth Amendment violation in What
    began as a routine traffic stop and resulted in the Wilmington Police Department
    (“WPD”) officer calling in a drug detection K-9 Unit to conduct a dog sniff of the
    vehicle that yielded evidence sought to be used against Defendant. The State argues
    the Fourth Amendment Was not implicated because there Was no measurable
    extension of the stop and thus no reasonable articulable suspicion Was required by
    the WPD.
    4. The bases for the State’s Motion for Reargument are two-fold. First, it
    argues that this Court misapprehended the facts When it ruled that the officer
    “detoured” from his mission of issuing the ticket, and thus found that the officer
    measurably extended the traffic stop into something more. Second, the State argues
    that because this Court improperly found the existence of a measurable extension,
    the Court further misapprehended the law by requiring that the officer have
    reasonable articulable suspicion to justify calling the K-9 Unit. The State contends
    that no reasonable articulable suspicion Was necessary because the officer Was still
    issuing the ticket When the dog sniff occurred. Thus, it argues, had the Court
    properly applied the facts and the laW, it Would have denied suppression
    ' State v. Dillard, 
    2018 WL 1382394
    (Del. Super. Ct. Mar. 16, 2018).
    2
    Standard ofReview
    5. Delaware Superior Court Criminal Rule 57(d) states: “ln all cases not
    provided for by rule or administrative order, the court shall regulate its practice in
    accordance With the applicable Superior Court civil rule. . . .”2 “Superior Court Civil
    Rule 59[ ] is made applicable to criminal cases by Superior Court Criminal Rule
    57(d).”3
    6. Delaware Superior Court Civil Rule 59(e) permits the Court to
    reconsider “its findings of fact, conclusions of law, or judgment . . .”4 “Delaware
    law places a heavy burden on a [party] seeking relief pursuant to Rule 59.”5 To
    prevail on a motion for reargument, the movant must demonstrate that “the Court
    has overlooked a controlling precedent or legal principle[ ], or the Court has
    misapprehended the law or facts such as Would have changed the outcome of the
    underlying decision.”6 Further, “[a] motion for reargument is not a device for
    raising new arguments,”7 nor is it “intended to rehash the arguments already decided
    2 DEL. SUPER. CT. CRIM. R. 57(d).
    3 Guardarrama v. State, 
    911 A.2d 802
    , 
    2006 WL 2950494
    , at *3 (Del. Oct. 17, 2006) (TABLE).
    4 Hessler Inc. v. Farrell, 
    260 A.2d 701
    , 702 (Del. 1969). See DEL. SUPER. CT. CIV. R. 59(e).
    5 Koslj)shyn v. Comm ’rs ofBellefonte, 
    2007 WL 1241875
    , at *l (Del. Super. Ct. Apr. 27, 2007).
    6 Ba'. QfManagers of Del. Criml'nal Justl'ce lnfo. Sys. v. Gannett Co., 
    2003 WL 1579170
    , at *l
    (Del. Super. Ct. Jan. 17, 2003), ajj‘"’d inpart, 
    840 A.2d 1232
    (Del. 2003).
    7Ia'.
    by the court.”8 Such tactics frustrate the interests of judicial efficiency and the
    orderly process of reaching finality on the issues.9 The moving party has the burden
    of demonstrating “newly discovered evidence, a change of laW, or manifest
    injustice.”'0
    Discussion
    7. This Court determined that the conduct of WPD law enforcement
    enlarged the boundaries of the ordinary tasks associated With a lawful routine traffic
    stop such that they prolonged the duration and scope of the traffic stop Without
    reasonable articulable suspicion to justify the seizure (i.e., the second detention.)
    Specifically, the State takes issue With the ruling and the characterization that
    “Officer Wilkers detoured from his task of issuing the ticket to make the call to
    Officer Caez and Wait for the K-9 Unit to arrive. This Court considers this a
    measurable extension of the initial stop.”"
    8. The State claims the Court misapprehended facts or mischaracterized
    the conduct of the officer Where there Was no such “detour” because the officer Was
    simultaneously calling the K-9 Unit to the scene While Working on issuing Defendant
    8 Kennedy v. lnvacare Corp., 
    2006 WL 488590
    , at *l (Del. Super. Ct. Jan. 31, 2006).
    9 See Plummer v. Sherman, 
    2004 WL 63414
    , at *2 (Del. Super. Ct. Jan. 14, 2004).
    10 E.I. du Pom‘ de Nemours & Co. v. Admiral Ins. Co., 
    711 A.2d 45
    , 55 (Del. Super. Ct. 1995).
    ]' State v. Dillard, 
    2018 WL 1382394
    , at *6 (Del. Super. Ct. Mar. 16, 2018) (emphasis added).
    his traffic ticket, and the K-9 unit arrived before the officer actually issued the ticket.
    Thus, the State argues no reasonable articulable suspicion Was required.
    9. The State re-styles the same unsuccessful argument that this Court
    rejected in the original Opinion, Wherein the Court noted:
    The State’s argument that because the officer Was expeditiously
    Working on both at the same time and thus no reasonable articulable
    suspicion Was required lacks merit, especially Where the officer made
    his intent clear. TWo other officers had already arrived on the scene
    When Officers decided to call for Officer Caez. The purpose of the call
    Was not to have four officers_and a dog_assist With issuing a traffic
    ticket.
    10. This Court conducted its fact-specific analysis of this stop as to both
    duration and scope and chose the Word “detoured,” in part, as utilized in the 2015
    decision of Roa’riguez v. United States.'2 The Rodriguez Court identifies how “[l]ike
    a Terry stop, the tolerable duration of police inquiries in the traffic-stop context is
    determined by the seizure’s ‘mission’_to address the traffic violation that Warranted
    the stop.”13 Here, the State fails to establish how the Court misapprehended the facts
    that the acts of the officer stayed true to the mission of issuing the ticket.
    '2 See Roa'riguez v. United States, 
    135 S. Ct. 1609
    , 1616 (2015) (describing how on-scene
    investigations in to other crimes “detours” from an officer’s safety mission).
    '3 
    Id. at 1614
    (citing Caballes, 
    543 U.S. 406
    , 407 (2005)). See also United States v. Sharpe, 
    470 U.S. 675
    , 685 (1985) (When evaluating the scope and duration of an investigative stop, the Court
    “ha[s] emphasized the need to consider the law enforcement purposes to be served by the stop as
    Well as the time reasonably needed to effectuate those purposes.”); Florl``da v. Royer, 
    460 U.S. 491
    (1983) (plurality opinion) (“The scope of the detention must be carefully tailored to its underlying
    justification.”).
    l l. The facts accepted by the Court included the officer’s testimony that he
    knew before he pulled the vehicle over that he had sufficient information to cite the
    driver with improper window tint, when he verified that the vehicle registration did
    not include the proper waiver. The officer testified that Defendant and passenger
    provided appropriate documents and truthful responses to his questions, and no signs
    of nervousness were exhibited at any time during his exchange with Defendant.
    l2. Rather than return to his vehicle and issue the ticket, the officer asked
    Defendant to step out of the vehicle to ask him more questions. As noted in its
    Opinion, the Court analyzed the officer’s questioning in detail, and deemed them to
    be well within the scope of the lawful stop. However, the Court took issue with the
    third question of whether there was “anything illegal” in the vehicle, distinguishing
    and questioning the appropriateness of this particular “cart-blanche” question
    because it was not focused on officer safety or the ordinary questions related to the
    traffic ticket. Even assuming these were all appropriate questions, the Court further
    considered the additional command of the officer directing Defendant to sit on the
    curb, despite the officer’s testimony that he did not fear for his safety.
    13. This Court also considered the testimony that the officer knew he was
    calling in a “Title 16” drug dog when he called the K-9 Unit while he waited for the
    E-ticket system to load. lt took three to five minutes for the K-9 Unit to arrive. K-
    9 Officer Caez further testified that when he arrived at the scene, he first went to
    Officer Wilkers and spoke to him for further direction and then returned to his K-9
    vehicle to retrieve his drug dog.14 Finally, Officer Wilkers testified that he then took
    the time to speak with and direct and/or assist yet another officer to remove the
    passenger from the vehicle to facilitate the canine sniff.15
    14. The Court considered that these independent acts occurred at the
    command of Officer Wilkers and were wholly unrelated to issuing a ticket for the
    lawful reason for the stop_improper window tint. That the acts were done prior to
    the issuing of the ticket does not mean that the stop was not prolonged The State
    maintains these acts were constitutionally permissible because where the computer
    program E-Ticket was still loading, the officer had ample time to pursue other tasks.
    The excuse of slow technology cannot convert an otherwise unconstitutional,
    extended detention into a constitutional traffic stop and drug investigation Thus, this
    Court found the existence of a measurable extension of the stop. Thus, the Court
    did not misapprehend the facts.
    15. The State also fails to demonstrate how the Court misapprehended the
    law. The State reiterates that the state actor was merely conducting an efficient
    '4 Tr. of Suppression Hearing (Feb. 22, 2018) at B72:16-20. Officer Wilkers corroborates this,
    stating that after Officer Caez arrived at the scene, Officer Wilkers “advised” him as to “what was
    going on.” 
    Id. at B43:11_13.
    15 Ia'. at B42:l7-B43:ll (after the dog arrived, Officer Wilkers directed Officer Rosado to have
    the passenger exit the vehicle).
    investigation within a permissible timeframe that did not run afoul of the Fourth
    Amendment, and thus this Court misapprehended the United States decisions in
    Rodriguez v. United States and Illz``noz``s v. Caballes.16
    16. The State’s request that the Court follow Caballes is inappropriate since
    this Court already considered Caballes and distinguished it from the facts of this
    case in its Opinion.17 lt bears repeating that Caballes accepted that there was no
    measurable extension of the stop when the Illinois State Police Drug Interdiction
    Team arrived with a drug dog upon overhearing the radio transmission of the stop.18
    17. Notably, a decade after Caballes, the U.S. Supreme Court decision in
    Roa'rz'guez considered and rejected the same argument the State makes here:
    “[t]he Govemment argues that an officer may ‘incremental[ly]’ prolong
    a stop to conduct a dog sniff so long as the officer is reasonably diligent
    in pursuing the traffic-related purpose of the stop, and the overall
    duration of the stop remains reasonable in relation to the duration of
    other traffic stops involving similar circumstances.19
    16 Rodriguez v. United States, 
    135 S. Ct. 1609
    (2015); Illinoz``s v. Caballes, 
    543 U.S. 406
    (2005).
    Notably, Justice Ginsburg dissents in Caballes, and writes for the majority ten years later in the
    2015 decision in Rodriguez. See 
    Caballes, 543 U.S. at 417-425
    (Ginsburg, J. dissenting).
    17 In Caballes, there was no evidence to suggest that the interstate highway officer who pulled over
    the Caballes defendant did anything but pull over the driver and begin to issue the speeding ticket,
    when another officer showed up to the scene with the drug dog. As the Court issued in its Opinion,
    here, the above-mentioned acts taken by the officer, in addition to calling in the dog, are
    distinguishable from Caballes and thus implicate the Fourth Amendment.
    18 
    Caballes, 543 U.S. at 408
    (“[W]e accept the state court’s conclusion that the duration of the stop
    in this case was entirely justified by the traffic offense and the ordinary inquires incident to such a
    stop.”)
    19 
    Rodriguez, 135 S. Ct. at 1616
    .
    The Supreme Court of the United States found that this argument, in effect,
    was arguing that “by completing all traffic-related tasks expeditiously, an officer can
    earn bonus time to pursue an unrelated criminal investigation”20 Instead, the Court
    found that the focus should be on the acts of the individual officer and whether that
    officially diligently completed the traffic stop, rather than on a specific average
    duration of a similar traffic stop. The Court stated “[t]he reasonableness of a seizure,
    however, depends on what the police in fact do. . . . How could diligence be gauged
    other than by noting what the officer actually did and how he did it?”21 This Court’s
    Opinion considered what Officer Wilkers actually did and determined that he
    extended the traffic stop. Indeed, the record and the admission of Officer Wilkers
    support as much.22
    18. Finally, the State fails to demonstrate why an officer does not require
    reasonable articulable suspicion to call in a drug dog to conduct an independent drug
    investigation The State ignores the Delaware authority cited throughout the
    20 Id
    21 Ia’. (citing Knowles v. lowa, 
    525 U.S. 113
    , 115-17 (1998)).
    22 Defense asked Officer Wilkers, “The time you spent talking to Dillard and the time you spent
    putting him on the curb, right, and then the time you spent getting in your car and making your
    radio transmission to Caez, all that time you could have spent logging into E-ticket and issuing,
    getting ready to issue Dillard a ticket, right?” Officer Wilkers responded, “Yes, sir. Once my
    thorough investigation was complete.” Tr. of Suppression Hearing (Feb. 22, 2018) at B40:04~l3.
    Opinion that addresses the state and federal constitutional parameters in these traffic
    stops, and the role of reasonable articulable suspicion if an officer determines that
    an extension or expansion of the traffic stop is warranted. Here, the Court did not
    misapprehend the facts in finding that the officer extended the stop. Thus, it relied
    on the applicable Delaware case law, and the respective analyses germane to these
    decisions.23 lt accepted that under Delaware law, a “second detention” occurred-a
    prolonged stop_that required reasonable articulable suspicion, accordingly.
    19. In Calclwell v. State, the Delaware Supreme Court identified how “an
    initially valid traffic stop could not serve as the justifying predicate for the narcotics-
    related investigation that followed in its immediate wake, notwithstanding the fact
    that the total length of the stop was brief and did not exceed the normal duration for
    a traffic stop.”24
    20. Additionally, in State v. Stanley, the State had a similar argument
    concerning whether there was a measurable extension of the traffic stop. The State
    argued that there was ,no measurable extension as long as the K-9 sniff occurred
    simultaneously with another officer explaining a warning citation to the defendant.
    The Superior Court rejected this reasoning, as the “simple act of removing the
    23 See Cala'well v. State, 
    780 A.2d 1037
    (Del. 2007); State v. Chana'ler, 
    132 A.3d 133
    (Del. Super.
    Ct. 2015); State v. Stanely, 
    2015 WL 9010669
    (Del. Super. Ct. Dec. 9, 2015).
    24 
    Cala'well, 780 A.2d at 1048
    n.24 (quoting 
    Charz'ly, 753 A.2d at 566
    ).
    10
    occupants from the vehicle extended the traffic stop.”25 As explained in the Court’s
    prior Opinion, an officer may remove passengers from a vehicle for safety
    purposes.26 But where an officer does not have safety concerns, as was the case
    here,27 even this command can constitute a measurable extension of a traffic stop.
    Here, this Court accepted that under L0per,28 the Defendant could be ordered to exit
    his vehicle. The removal of the passenger, however, further aligns with Stanley and
    other factors that weighed in favor of suppression Thus, this Court followed both
    federal and Delaware law.
    Conclusion
    This Court finds that the State moves for reconsideration of conclusions of
    law by rehashing arguments previously presented, and raising new arguments not
    properly before this Court per Rule 59. The State fails to meet the heavy burden of
    demonstrating newly discovered evidence, a change or error of law, or manifest
    injustice. Specifically, the State fails to demonstrate that this Court overlooked
    controlling precedent or legal principles when it granted Defendant’s Motion to
    25 smnley, 
    2015 WL 9010669
    , at *4.
    26 State v. Dillard, 
    2018 WL 1382394
    , at *4 (Del. Super. Ct. Mar. 16, 2018) (describing such an
    exit command for officer safety as a de minimis intrusion).
    27 Indeed, Officer Wilkers did not articulate any safety concerns and did not conduct a patdown of
    Defendant. Tr. of Suppression Hearing (Feb. 22, 2018) at B16:19_20.
    28 Loper v. State,'8 A.3d 1169 (Del. 2010).
    ll
    Suppress. Moreover, this Court did not misapprehend the law or facts such as would
    change the outcome of the underlying decision The State’s Motion for Reargument
    is, therefore, DENIED.
    IT IS SO ORDERED.
    JL ge Vivian L. M``e l
    oc: Prothonotary
    cc: Patrick J. Collins, Esquire
    Mark A. Denney, Deputy Attomey General
    Investigative Services Office
    12