Commonwealth v. Yulaleya Joyner ( 1997 )

COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA
Present: Judges Benton, Annunziata and Senior Judge Duff
Argued at Richmond, Virginia
COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA
MEMORANDUM OPINION * BY
v. Record No. 2292-96-4 JUDGE JAMES W. BENTON, JR.
FEBRUARY 11, 1997
YULALEYA JOYNER
FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE CITY OF ALEXANDRIA
Alfred D. Swersky, Judge
John K. Byrum, Jr., Assistant Attorney
General (James S. Gilmore, III, Attorney
General, on briefs), for appellant.
Jeffrey T. Barbour, Assistant Public
Defender, for appellee.
After hearing the evidence and arguments of counsel, the
trial judge ruled that the police unlawfully seized Yulaleya
Joyner and sustained Joyner's motion to suppress evidence
obtained as a result of that seizure. The Commonwealth appeals
from that ruling, see Code § 19.2-398(2), and contends that the
seizure was not unlawful and that Joyner's statements were not
the product of an illegal search and seizure. We affirm the
ruling.
Under the usual standards of review, "[w]e view the evidence
in the light most favorable to [Joyner], the prevailing party
below, and we grant all reasonable inferences fairly deducible
from that evidence." Commonwealth v. Grimstead, 12 Va. App.
*
Pursuant to Code § 17-116.010 this opinion is not
designated for publication.
1066, 1067, 407 S.E.2d 47, 48 (1991). So viewed, the evidence,
in pertinent part, proved that eighteen Alexandria police
officers and United States postal inspectors were watching an
apartment building and monitoring a controlled delivery of
marijuana to apartment 102, one of twelve apartments in the
building. The officers had intercepted a parcel containing
marijuana that had been mailed to that apartment, equipped the
parcel with an electronic monitor, and obtained a warrant to
search apartment 102.
While the package was being delivered, the officers observed
a man watching the delivery from an automobile. After the
delivery, the man went into the building and exited a few minutes
later carrying the package of marijuana that was delivered to
apartment 102. The officers, some of whom were in uniform,
arrested the man as he left the building. Approximately five
minutes after the man was arrested, numerous officers, openly
displaying their badges, rushed to the building with guns drawn.
As the officers rushed to the building, Joyner and another
woman were walking out of the building. Joyner testified that
one of the officers grabbed her arm and told her and the other
woman that they had to remain in place until the officers "found
out what was going on, who they needed to . . . hold, or arrest."
Detective Erwin then approached Joyner, who was twelve feet away
from the front door of the building, and asked her for her name
and other identification.
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The trial judge ruled that the officers had seized Joyner
and that they lacked a reasonable, articulable suspicion to do
so. We agree.
"A 'stop' or 'detention' occurs when the 'circumstances
. . . amount to a show of official authority such that "a
reasonable person would have believed he was not free to
leave."'" Goodwin v. Commonwealth, 11 Va. App. 363, 365, 398
S.E.2d 690, 691 (1990) (citations omitted). "[W]henever a police
officer accosts an individual and restrains his freedom to walk
away, he has 'seized' that person." Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1,
16 (1968).
When one officer grabbed Joyner's arm and told her to remain
where she was and the other officer began to question Joyner
about her identity, Joyner was seized. Furthermore, when the
officers seized Joyner, the officers had no objective basis to
conclude that Joyner was involved in criminal activity. See
Brown v. Texas, 443 U.S. 47, 51 (1979).
The evidence, thus, supports the trial judge's ruling that
Joyner was unlawfully seized. Because the cocaine in her
possession and the statements she subsequently made were obtained
as a result of the unlawful seizure, the trial judge did not err
in sustaining the motion to suppress. See Commonwealth v. Ealy,
12 Va. App. 744, 754, 407 S.E.2d 681, 687 (1991). Accordingly,
we affirm the ruling.
Affirmed.
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