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State v. Joe3/19/2003
law to the facts in granting the motion to suppress.
A police officer may lawfully stop a vehicle for a specific, articulable safety concern. Apodaca v. State ex rel. Tax & Revenue Dep't, 118 N.M. 624, 626, 884 P.2d 515, 517 (Ct. App. 1994). A police officer may also stop a vehicle if the officer has a reasonable suspicion, based on articulable facts, that the law has been or is being violated. State v. Munoz, 1998-NMCA-140, 8, 125 N.M. 765, 965 P.2d 349. A stop may be valid if the officer's observations provide reasonable grounds to believe a statute is being violated or that the vehicle constitutes a safety hazard, even if the officer has an incorrect understanding of the law. Id. 9. The statute at issue states:
Every vehicle upon a highway within this state at any time from a half-hour after sunset to a half-hour before sunrise and at any time when there is not sufficient light to render clearly discernible persons and vehicles on the highway at a distance of five hundred feet ahead shall display lighted lamps and illuminating devices as hereinafter respectively required for different classes of vehicles, subject to exceptions with respect to parked vehicles as hereinafter stated. Section 66-3-802.
The State also relies on Gonzales, 1999-NMCA-027, 16, which states that this Court will not presume that the trial court has rejected uncontradicted testimony. If uncontradicted testimony is rejected based on a determination of credibility, the trial judge must expressly so indicate. Id. The State asserts that because the trial court heard only the uncontradicted testimony of Deputy Jiles and did not enter a finding that he was not credible, this Court must accept as true the evidence from the suppression hearing and the trial. The State further asserts that the trial court mistakenly believed there was confusion over the distance at which Defendant's vehicle was visible and that Deputy Jiles consistently maintained that he believed conditions made it unsafe to drive without headlamps.
After the suppression hearing at which Deputy Jiles testified that he would not have been able to clearly see Defendant's vehicle at 500 feet without his headlights, the trial court found that Deputy Jiles had reasonable suspicion to make the stop. At that hearing, the State argued, and the trial court considered, articulable facts regarding both the statute at issue and that Deputy Jiles regarded this stop as necessary for public safety/community caretaking. However, Deputy Jiles then contradicted his earlier testimony and at trial testified on direct examination and on cross-examination that he could see Defendant's vehicle clearly at 500 yards. There was no testimony at either the suppression hearing or the trial about whether Deputy Jiles' headlights actually illuminated Defendant's vehicle. Thus, we determine that Gonzales is not controlling here because there was contradicted testimony: Deputy Jiles contradicted himself. See Gonzales, 1999-NMCA-027, 16. Deputy Jiles also testified that it was very cloudy and black outside, making it hard to see; that he thought it was necessary to have headlamps on at that time; and that all the other vehicles on the road had headlamps illuminated.
At the renewed hearing on the motion to suppress, the trial judge again considered whether there was reasonable suspicion that the statute was being violated and whether there was a public safety basis for the stop. The trial judge stated that, based on the new evidence of 500 yards of visibility testified to by Deputy Jiles, he would grant the motion to suppress. The trial judge noted that 500 yards was triple the statutory distance and that the sun was only just setting, which was sufficient
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