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State v. Williamson6/13/2000
Defendant James Williamson appeals from the judgment and sentence of the district court filed after he entered a no contest plea to two counts of possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. Defendant contends that the district court improperly denied his motion to suppress physical evidence that the police seized from him after a traffic stop because the officers illegally detained him and because the officers exceeded the scope of their lawful investigation by asking questions about Defendant's possession of drugs. Defendant additionally argues that the illegality of his detention and the impermissible scope of questioning invalidated his consent to be searched. We affirm.
Facts
In the early morning hours of October 19, 1997, Officer Michael Seifert observed Defendant's car circumvent closed railroad track gates and cross the railroad track to avoid waiting while an oncoming train passed. When Officer Seifert approached Defendant's car, he detected an odor of alcohol coming from the car. He identified Defendant as the driver and noticed Defendant had reddish, bloodshot, watery eyes. Officer Seifert began his investigation and asked Defendant to perform the "walk and turn," the "one-leg stand," and the horizontal gaze nystagmus (HGN) field sobriety tests. Officer Seifert testified that Defendant did "fairly well" on the first two of these tests; however, he was unable to get Defendant to properly perform the HGN test in that he could not get Defendant's eyes to follow the pen Officer Seifert used in performing the test. Officer Seifert called Officer Richard Owen, a training officer, for assistance in performing the HGN test.
Officer Owen had to wait approximately five minutes for the train to pass before he could safely arrive at the scene. When Officer Owen arrived, Officer Seifert turned his attention to the car's passenger. Sergeant Chuckwood, who had driven by the scene, told Officer Seifert that he believed that the passenger had an outstanding municipal court warrant for her arrest. After verifying the outstanding warrant, Officer Seifert placed the passenger under arrest and searched her fanny pack, finding a white, powdery substance that he believed to be cocaine. He confiscated the substance from the passenger and so advised Officer Owen.
Officer Owen testified that he conducted the HGN test upon Defendant. Although he believed that Defendant had been drinking because of the odor of alcohol and his bloodshot, watery eyes, the clues that Officer Owen received from the HGN test were not sufficient to arrest Defendant. When Officer Owen completed conducting the HGN test, he thought about the degree of Defendant's impairment and whether he should conduct any more tests. At that moment, Officer Seifert notified Officer Owen that he had found what he considered to be an illegal substance in the passenger's possession. Officer Owen then asked Defendant whether Defendant had any illegal substances on his person, and Defendant responded that he did not. Officer Owen testified that he next asked Defendant for consent to search his person, and Defendant consented. In his search, Officer Owen found a film canister containing methamphetamine in Defendant's pocket.
Legality of Defendant's Detention and Scope of Questioning
Defendant concedes that Officer Seifert had the authority to stop Defendant for the commission of a traffic offense and, having reasonable suspicion that Defendant had been drinking, to detain Defendant to perform field sobriety tests. See State v. Werner, 117 N.M. 315, 317, 871 P.2d 971, 973 (1994); City of Albuquerque v. Haywood, 1998-NMCA-029, 13, 124 N.M. 661, 954 P
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