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Sirilo v. State5/26/1999
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND JUDGMENT [No. 4050 - May 26, 1999]
Eric S. Sirilo was contacted by police at the Anchorage International Airport based upon an anonymous informant's tip. The police questioned him and asked him to submit to a search of his person and luggage; Sirilo refused. The police detained his luggage and informed him the bags would be submitted to a dog trained to detect drugs. The dog, "Picasso", alerted to Sirilo's bags. The police obtained a warrant to search the bags and found approximately 500 grams of marijuana in one of the bags. The question presented in this appeal is whether the police had a reasonable suspicion to conclude that Sirilo's luggage contained illegal drugs, thereby authorizing them to detain Sirilo's luggage and submit it to a canine sniff. We conclude that the police did not have reasonable suspicion.
The following facts are based primarily on Trooper Walter Kenny's testimony at the evidentiary hearing on Sirilo's motion to suppress evidence. On February 7, 1997, Trooper Kenny, the supervisor of the Anchorage airport drug interdiction detail, spoke with Trooper Franco D'Angelo. Trooper D'Angelo informed him that Eric Sirilo and Anthony Azarella, Bethel residents, were in Anchorage and were preparing to transport illegal drugs back to Bethel. After receiving this information, Trooper Kenny checked his computer records and discovered that both Sirilo and Azarella had prior convictions for drug offenses. Trooper Kenny also printed out computer photographs of Sirilo and Azarella so that the troopers would be able to identify them. He also checked the airline manifests for flights to Bethel. Sirilo and Azarella were not listed as passengers.
Trooper Kenny contacted Investigator Shepherd in Bethel, who told him that the information about Sirilo and Azarella came from an anonymous tipster. Trooper Kenny testified that Investigator Shepherd told him that the same tipster had provided other information about Sirilo and Azarella in the past. Investigator Shepherd told Trooper Kenny that Sirilo and Azarella were "well-known in the Bethel community as drug dealers that they dealt in both marijuana and cocaine." Investigator Shepherd also indicated that the pair's normal pattern was to travel to Anchorage from Bethel, stay two or three days, and then return to Bethel, supposedly with illegal drugs. It is unclear from the record what Investigator Shepherd's source was for this information.
Trooper Kenny called the airport police and relayed the information about Sirilo and Azarella, instructing them to call him if the pair's names appeared on any flight manifests. On February 9, 1997, Trooper Kenny received a phone call informing him that Sirilo and Azarella were on the manifest of a Yute Airlines flight scheduled to depart for Bethel that afternoon. Trooper Kenny and Investigator Goe then went to the Anchorage airport. Shortly after 3 p.m., Trooper Kenny and Investigator Goe watched Sirilo as he entered the airport and approached the Yute Air counter. Sirilo checked two boxes and one canvas bag. At that point, according to Trooper Kenny, Sirilo did not appear to be nervous and was not glancing around the airport.
Officers Goe and Kenny approached Sirilo, told him he was not under arrest, and asked him if they could speak with him briefly. They asked him his name, destination, town of residence, occupation, and his purpose and length of stay. They also requested identification. Sirilo answered the questions and produced identification. The troopers then asked Sirilo if he was carrying illegal drugs. They told him that they had received information that he was, but Sirilo denied it. He suggested the information "probably" came fro
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