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Reichel v. State11/12/2004
In this appeal, we are asked to decide whether the police can conduct an investigative stop if they have a reasonable suspicion that a person is violating the conditions of their parole. The defendant asserts that Alaska law does not permit such an investigative stop unless the police are acting at the direction of a parole officer.
The State asserts that Alaska law permits a stop to investigate a potential parole violation if the conduct involved in the parole violation meets the Coleman-Ebona test governing other investigative stops - that is, if the conduct involved in the parole violation creates an imminent public danger, or if it involves recent serious harm to persons or property. We conclude that we need not resolve this legal dispute because, even under the State's interpretation of the law, the facts of this case did not justify the investigative stop.
Underlying Facts
On the evening of October 28, 2001, Steven D. Reichel was socializing at Alice's Champagne Palace, a bar and restaurant in Homer. Reichel was on parole from a felony DWI conviction, and Reichel's conditions of parole forbade him from consuming alcohol and from being on premises where alcoholic beverages are sold.
Homer Police Sergeant William Hutt was among a group of police officers who went to Alice's that evening to perform a "bar check". Hutt was personally acquainted with Reichel from previous contacts and arrests, including two or three arrests for earlier probation violations. Shortly after Hutt spotted Reichel, Reichel got up and left the bar.
Hutt suspected that Reichel was still on probation, and that Reichel was therefore forbidden from going to bars, so Hutt and his fellow officers followed Reichel outside. At the same time, Hutt called his dispatcher to request a records check on Reichel. The police dispatcher confirmed that Reichel was not supposed to consume alcohol or be on premises where alcohol is served.
(Hutt's suspicions were essentially correct, with the exception that Reichel was no longer on probation; rather, he was on parole. It was true, however, that Reichel's parole conditions forbade him from going to bars.)
Hutt and his fellow officers stopped Reichel outside the bar, and the officers held Reichel while they attempted to contact his parole officer to ask what to do. Within twenty minutes, the officers succeeded in speaking with Reichel's parole officer; the parole officer directed the officers to arrest Reichel for the parole violation. During a search of Reichel's person incident to this arrest, the police discovered cocaine in his pocket. This discovery ultimately led to Reichel's conviction for fourth-degree controlled substances misconduct.
In this appeal, Reichel contends that the police acted unlawfully when they stopped him and held him outside the bar. Reichel concedes that he violated the conditions of his parole by going into the bar, but Reichel argues that this violation of parole was not a sufficient justification for an investigative stop.
Reichel's Main Arguments
Reichel argues that the investigative stop in his case was illegal for two reasons.
First, based on the Alaska Supreme Court's decision in Roman v. State, Reichel argues that police officers have no authority to conduct a stop to investigate a potential parole violation unless the officers are acting at the direction of a parole officer.
Second, Reichel argues in the alternative that, even if police officers have independent authority to conduct an investigative stop when they have a reasonable suspicion that a parolee has violated the conditions of parole, the investigative stop must still conform
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