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BUSH v. STATE12/1/1995
h was for all officers to be on the lookout for anyone and any vehicle matching Holmes's descriptions and if an officer saw anyone or any vehicle matching the descriptions was observed, the information was to be reported so that a detective could follow it up. At the time of the stop, the officers had no evidence linking the appellant with the crimes.
Lieutenant Ward had previously testified about this encounter with the appellant at the suppression hearing during the second trial, and he had given a slightly different version. He testified to the following at the earlier hearing: He and Sergeant Billingsly had information from an informant that Edward Pringle and someone named "Chick" had committed the crimes and that "Chick" lived in Smiley Court; the informant went with them in their vehicle and pointed out where "Chick" lived, which was 4200-B Smiley Court; at that time they noticed a motorcycle in the carport; and when they returned to get the motorcycle's license number, they observed the appellant and a child on the motorcycle. The record of the second trial's suppression hearing contains the following stipulation as to what the informant is reputed to have told Ward and Billingsley: Upon seeing a composite drawing of a suspect in the crimes, he went to the police station and told Ward and Billingsley that in his judgment the composite drawing was of Edward Pringle and that if there had been an accomplice involved, he thought it would be "Chick" Bush; he went with the officers and pointed out "Chick" Bush's house to them and also told them that he knew Edward Pringle and his wife; that Edward Pringle's wife had a white-over-green Monte Carlo automobile; and that he had seen Edward Pringle driving it.
In addressing the appellant's contention that he was subjected to an illegal seizure in violation of his rights under the Fourth Amendment, we are guided by the following:
" 'It is well settled that not every encounter between police officers and citizens constitutes a seizure within the protection of the Fourth Amendment. United States v. Mendenhall, 446 U.S. 544, 554, 100 S.Ct. 1870, 64 L.Ed.2d 497 (1980); Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 19, n. 16, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 1879, n. 16, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968). "There is nothing in the Constitution which prevents a policeman from addressing questions to anyone on the streets." Terry, 392 U.S. at 34, 88 S.Ct. at 1886 (Justice White, concurring). A stop "of a restricted investigative scope conducted in a non-coercive manner . . . [does] not trigger Fourth Amendment protection at all." United States v. Willis, 759 F.2d 1486, 1495 (11th Cir.), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 849, 106 S.Ct. 144, 88 L.Ed.2d 119 (1985).' "
Fields v. State, 582 So.2d 596, 597 (Ala. Cr. App. 1991) (quoting State v. Betterton, 527 So.2d 743, 745 (Ala. Cr. App. 1986), aff'd, 527 So.2d 747 (Ala. 1988)). The test of whether
an encounter constitutes a "seizure" within the Fourth Amendment is whether the police engaged in a show of authority that would lead a reasonable person, innocent of any crime, to conclude that the person was not free to go under all the circumstances. United States v. Castellanos, 731 F.2d 979 (U.S. App. D.C. 1984). Here, the record does not show that the officers made any display of force or show of authority when they approached the appellant. A request for identification cannot constitute a show of authority sufficient to convert an innocent encounter into a seizure. Id., at 983.
Given all the circumstances presented here, we do not believe that the presence of the officers together with the request for identification and other information would have led a reasonable person to conclude that he or she was being compelled
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