State of Washington v. Antonio Marcell Mitchell ( 2020 )

FILED
JULY 16, 2020
In the Office of the Clerk of Court
WA State Court of Appeals, Division III
IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON
DIVISION THREE
STATE OF WASHINGTON, )
) No. 36703-7-III
Respondent, )
)
v. )
)
ANTONIO MARCELL MITCHELL, ) UNPUBLISHED OPINION
)
Appellant. )
SIDDOWAY, J. — The test for staleness of information to establish probable cause
for arrest is one of common sense. State v. Perea, 85 Wn. App. 339, 343, 932 P.2d 1258(1997). At issue in this case is whether an officer’s information that Antonio Mitchell
was subject to an active Department of Corrections (DOC) warrant on the evening of
December 4, 2018, required confirmation before an arrest the following evening, in
which he was found to possess methamphetamine. We hold that it was not stale and
affirm Mr. Mitchell’s conviction for possession of a controlled substance.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
On December 5, 2018, a woman called 911 for assistance because a man named
Antonio would not leave her home. Officer Christopher Conrath was one of three
officers who responded. He suspected that the interloper might be Antonio Mitchell, who
No. 36703-7-III
State v. Mitchell
he had been looking for the prior evening because there was an active DOC warrant for
his arrest. Upon arriving at the complainant’s apartment, the officers determined that the
interloper was Mr. Mitchell and arrested him. In a search incident to arrest, an officer
discovered a small amount of methamphetamine in one of Mr. Mitchell’s pockets. Mr.
Mitchell was charged with possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine).
Defense counsel obtained body camera videos and dispatch recordings, from
which he determined that before arresting Mr. Mitchell, the responding officers had asked
dispatch to confirm that the DOC warrant was outstanding. He concluded they did not
receive confirmation until about a minute after they had arrested him and searched his
person. Mr. Mitchell moved to suppress the methamphetamine on the basis that the
search was unlawful because the arrest was unlawful. He contended that the
confirmation of an active warrant that the officers had sought was required to be obtained
before they could make a lawful arrest.
The evidence presented at the suppression hearing consisted of a recording of the
officers’ phone calls with dispatch on the evening of the arrest, Officer Conrath’s body
camera footage, and transcripts of both. After hearing the argument of counsel and
reviewing the recordings, the trial court orally denied the suppression motion, observing
that “the time between confirming the warrant the night prior and then contacting Mr.
Mitchell was minimal.” Report of Proceedings (RP) at 20. Written findings and
conclusions were later entered.
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Mr. Mitchell was found guilty following a stipulated facts trial. He appeals.
ANALYSIS
Mr. Mitchell argued in the trial court that without confirming the existence of an
active warrant, law enforcement did not have probable cause to arrest him and the
methamphetamine found in the search incident to the unlawful arrest should have been
suppressed. He relies on the Washington Constitution’s requirement that incursions on a
person’s private affairs be supported by “authority of law.” WASH. CONST. art. I, § 7.
Mr. Mitchell does not challenge the trial court’s findings of fact, which are verities for
purposes of this appeal. State v. Hill, 123 Wn.2d 641, 644, 870 P.2d 313 (1994). We
review the trial court’s legal conclusions de novo. State v. Johnson, 128 Wn.2d 431, 443,
909 P.2d 293 (1996).
On appeal, Mr. Mitchell argues in part that the trial court lacked evidence of the
trustworthiness of the information Officer Conrath obtained about the arrest warrant on
December 4, the night before his arrest. The lack of evidence is understandable given the
narrow focus of Mr. Mitchell’s motion. Mr. Mitchell relied solely on body camera and
dispatch evidence from the night of the arrest because the basis for his suppression
motion was that the officers were required to confirm the existence of an active warrant
at that time. Since a possible shortcoming in the information obtained by Officer Conrath
on December 4 was never raised as a basis for suppression, we will not consider that
argument for the first time on appeal. See RAP 2.5(a).
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The sole issue raised by Mr. Mitchell’s suppression motion was one of staleness—
whether day-old information that an arrest warrant was outstanding could be relied on
without confirming that the warrant remained active. As defense counsel argued to the
trial court, Officer Conrath
might have ran his name the previous evening but he hadn’t in the interim.
You know, a DOC warrant could be resolved a number of different ways.
Mr. Mitchell could have contacted his DOC officer in the interim and—and
been released. I mean, we simply don’t know that. We don’t have those
facts.
RP at 13.
A search of the arrestee’s person incident to arrest is one of the few carefully
drawn and jealously guarded exceptions to article I, section 7’s warrant requirement.
State v. Brock, 184 Wn.2d 148, 153, 355 P.3d 1118 (2015). However, only a lawful
arrest provides authority to search incident to arrest. State v. O’Neill, 148 Wn.2d 564,
585, 62 P.3d 489 (2003). The lawfulness of an arrest depends on the existence of
probable cause. State v. Moore, 161 Wn.2d 880, 885, 169 P.3d 469 (2007). “Probable
cause exists when the arresting officer is aware of facts and circumstances, based on
reasonably trustworthy information, sufficient to cause a reasonable officer to believe that
a suspect has committed or is committing a crime.” State v. Afana, 169 Wn.2d 169, 182,
233 P.3d 879 (2010).
The “fellow officer” rule would allow Officer Conrath to rely on DOC information
that an arrest warrant had been issued for Mr. Mitchell. See State v. O’Cain, 108 Wn.
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State v. Mitchell
App. 542, 550-53, 31 P.3d 733 (2001). If the reliability of DOC’s information was
challenged, Officer Conrath’s good faith would not relieve the State of its burden to
prove that DOC had sufficient information of a valid arrest warrant and thereby probable
cause, see id., but that was not the nature of Mr. Mitchell’s challenge.
The test for staleness of information to establish probable cause is one of common
sense. Perea, 85 Wn. App. at 343. Perea involved an officer’s arrest of a defendant for
driving on a suspended license based on week-old information. The defendant argued
that because it was possible for driving privileges to be reinstated within a week,
arresting him without a current records-check was unlawful. Id. This court rejected that
argument, holding that “if the facts indicate information is recent and contemporaneous,
then it is not ‘stale,’” and “week-old information was recent enough.” Id. Perea relied
on analogous case law addressing whether information in a search warrant affidavit is
stale. E.g., State v. Riley, 34 Wn. App. 529, 534, 663 P.2d 145 (1983). In that context,
our Supreme Court has held that the “totality of circumstances” is considered. State v.
Maddox, 152 Wn.2d 499, 506, 98 P.3d 1199 (2004).
As the trial court noted, a warrant could be quashed within an hour, but we would
not expect an arresting officer to have to re-check DOC information that had been
retrieved an hour earlier. Officer Conrath’s day-old information that a DOC warrant had
been issued for Mr. Mitchell’s arrest was sufficient to cause a reasonable officer to
believe it remained active. It was recent enough.
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Affirmed.
A majority of the panel has determined this opinion will not be printed in the
Washington Appellate Reports, but it will be filed for public record pursuant to RCW
2.06.040.
_____________________________
Siddoway, J.
WE CONCUR:
_____________________________
Fearing, J.
_____________________________
Pennell, C.J.
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