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State v. Acosta11/13/1990
Roberto Gonzalez Acosta, the defendant, was indicted for one count of possessing cocaine and one count of transporting cocaine. He filed a motion to suppress the cocaine found during a search of the car he was driving. After an evidentiary hearing, which included the testimony of the defendant and three officers, the court granted the motion to suppress. The state timely appealed. We affirm the trial court's suppression of the evidence.
FACTS
In reviewing a trial court's ruling on a motion to suppress, we consider the facts in the light most favorable to upholding the ruling. State v. Morrow, 128 Ariz. 309, 310, 625 P.2d 898, 899 (1981).
On the evening of October 16, 1988, Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS) Officer Sandra Pritchett was patrolling Interstate Highway 40 in northern Arizona. Her attention was attracted by a dark-colored Chevrolet Camaro, which she determined to be traveling about 53 miles per hour in a 65 mile-per-hour zone. She followed the vehicle and saw it cross over the highway dividing line several times. She testified that she was concerned that the driver was simply a poor driver or one who was sleepy or drunk, or that there was a problem with the vehicle. Officer Pritchett stopped the vehicle for unsafe lane usage.
Officer Pritchett asked the defendant for his driver's license and the automobile's registration. The defendant gave her a California identification card (not a driver's license) and a California registration document. Officer Pritchett called in the identification and learned that the defendant had no driver's license. She also learned that the registration was in the name of a California man, not the defendant.
When asked who owned the vehicle, the defendant said that he did not know the owner, but offered the names "Ramon" and "Miguel." The defendant said that he was very tired, that he had been driving for six hours, and that he was on his way to Texas.
Officer Pritchett thought that the car could have been stolen. She asked the defendant if there were any drugs or weapons in the car, to which he replied that there were not. She then asked if she could look in the car, in response to which Officer Pritchett believed that the defendant consented. The officer looked under the seats of the vehicle, then in the console.
While standing beside the vehicle, Officer Pritchett had noticed that the right rear interior panel was loose. After looking in the interior of the car, Officer Pritchett asked the defendant to open the rear portion of the vehicle. The defendant gave her the keys and the officer opened the hatchback. The plastic bolts holding in the rear interior panel were halfway out; Officer Pritchett unscrewed them and pulled away the panel. Inside the compartment she saw a "bag of rags" and a jack. She moved the items "over a little bit and I saw what I believed to be cocaine, kilos." Officer Pritchett then called Officer Rene Valencia for backup.
Officer Pritchett told Officer Valencia that the defendant spoke Spanish, so Officer Valencia informed the defendant of his Miranda rights in Spanish. All of the discussions between Officer Valencia and the defendant were in Spanish.
The defendant was arrested and taken to the police station in Prescott. There, he was interviewed by Officer Gary Goldsmith, who spoke only a little Spanish. However, between the Spanish that Officer Goldsmith knew, the English that the defendant knew, and hand gestures, Officer Goldsmith was able to interview the defendant without a translator. The defendant told Officer Goldsmith that he had been paid $500 or $600 by an unidentified m
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