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OWEN v. STATE6/19/1998
The appellant, Peter William Owen, was indicted by a Montgomery County grand jury in a two-count indictment; one count charged possession of marijuana and one count charged possession of cocaine. He filed a motion to suppress the evidence found in his automobile that resulted in his arrest, arguing that the evidence was the result of an illegal search and seizure. The circuit court denied this motion after an evidentiary hearing. The appellant then pleaded guilty to two counts of unlawful possession of controlled substances, reserving the right to appeal the circuit judge's denial of his motion to suppress. He was sentenced to three years' incarceration in each case. These sentences were suspended and the appellant was placed on supervised probation for three years.
At the appellant's suppression hearing, State Trooper M.D. Farrell testified that on February 17, 1997, at around 6:30 p.m., he was patrolling the area of Interstate 65 north near Teague Road, when he noticed a vehicle with a defective headlight pass his vehicle. He turned on his emergency lights and stopped the vehicle in the emergency lane. According to Trooper Farrell, the appellant immediately got out of the vehicle and rushed to the back of it. Because he did not want to be confronted while still in the patrol car, Trooper Farrell quickly got out of his car to meet the appellant between the two cars. The appellant asked Trooper Farrell what he had done wrong, and Trooper Farrell replied that the appellant had a headlight that was out and he asked the appellant if he could see his driver's license. Trooper Farrell testified that the appellant was so nervous trying to locate his driver's license that he was "shaking real bad." Furthermore, Trooper Farrell testified that he believed that when he was attempting to look at the appellant's vehicle, the appellant tried to block his view by swaying or stepping into his line of sight. According to Trooper Farrell, the appellant stated while looking for his license, "I'll get it fixed, can't you just let me go, can't you just let me go." However, when Trooper Farrell asked him whether he was in a hurry, the appellant stated that he was not. When the appellant finally handed
over his license, Trooper Farrell told him that he would write a warning for the defective headlight and asked the appellant to have a seat in his patrol car. Trooper Farrell ran a driver's license and tag check, which revealed that the car belonged to someone other than the appellant (the appellant told Trooper Farrell that person was his father) and that the appellant had a clear status on his driver's license. When Trooper Farrell began writing the warning, the appellant became even more nervous, "Fidgeting around real bad, taking deep breaths, . . . sweating, . . . [unable] to talk . . . without drawing a deep breath." Trooper Farrell told him he could calm down, assuring him that he was not making an arrest but that he was only writing a warning. Trooper Farrell had a check run over the radio to see if the appellant had an arrest record. When he asked the appellant if he had ever been arrested, the appellant initially replied that he had not. However, when the check came back over the radio indicating that the appellant had been arrested, the appellant replied, "well, there may have been an incident in Birmingham," referring to a DUI incident. At least three or four times, Trooper Farrell attempted to ask the appellant about his car. Each time, the appellant changed the subject by asking a question about Trooper Farrell's car.
Trooper Farrell said that he began to suspect that the appellant was hiding something in his vehicle. After the arrest check showed that the appellant had been arrested previously,
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