City of Missoula v. M. Kroschel
City of Missoula v. M. Kroschel, 2018 MT 142
Affirmed in part, reversed in part on June 12, 2018, in a 4 to 1 with 2 concurring published opinion — 43 pages and 10,724 words across 3 writings .
Case
DA 17-0184
Opinion
majority, concurring, dissenting
Majority
Dirk M. Sandefur
31 pages · 8,497 words
Joined by
Mike McGrath
Jim Rice
Beth Baker
Smog Index: 11
Gunning Fog Score: 10.8
Coleman Liau Index: 11
Spache Readability Score: 5
Average Syllables Per Word: 1.6
Average Words Per Sentence: 8.8
Flesch Kincaid Grade Level: 6.8
Automated Readability Index: 4.4
Flesch Kincaid Reading Ease: 62.3
Dale Chall Readability Score: 6.1
Concurring
Ingrid Gustafson
7 pages · 1,463 words
Joined by
Elizabeth Best
Smog Index: 11.3
Gunning Fog Score: 11.2
Coleman Liau Index: 12
Spache Readability Score: 5
Average Syllables Per Word: 1.7
Average Words Per Sentence: 9.1
Flesch Kincaid Grade Level: 7.6
Automated Readability Index: 5.9
Flesch Kincaid Reading Ease: 56.8
Dale Chall Readability Score: 6.2
Dissenting
James Jeremiah Shea
5 pages · 764 words
Smog Index: 12
Gunning Fog Score: 12.5
Coleman Liau Index: 12
Spache Readability Score: 5
Average Syllables Per Word: 1.7
Average Words Per Sentence: 9.6
Flesch Kincaid Grade Level: 8.3
Automated Readability Index: 6.4
Flesch Kincaid Reading Ease: 52.8
Dale Chall Readability Score: 6.6
Cited by
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2014 MT 22 State v. Luke DA 12-0775 2017 MT 154 State v. Maile DA 15-0515 2016 MT 206 State v. S. Davis DA 15-0569 2016 MT 163 State v. J. Kasparek DA 15-0053 2016 MT 316 State v. K. Massey DA 16-0170 2016 MT 30 State v. Ballinger DA 14-0544 2013 MT 63 State v. Driscoll DA 12-0389 2007 MT 161 State v. Raymond Case, Jr DA 06-0554 2009 MT 201 State v. Wilfred Morrisey DA 06-0278 2017 MT 36 State v. Eskew DA 14-0445 2015 MT 147 State v. Jeremy Braulick DA 13-0175Full text
OCR’d from the filed PDF
Majority
Dirk M. Sandefur
06/12/2018
DA 17-0184
Case Number: DA 17-0184
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MONTANA
2018 MT 142
CITY OF MISSOULA,
Plaintiff and Appellee,
v.
MARCY JANE KROSCHEL,
Defendant and Appellant.
APPEAL FROM:
District Court of the Fourth Judicial District,
In and For the County of Missoula, Cause No. DC-16-99
Honorable Leslie Halligan, Presiding Judge
COUNSEL OF RECORD:
For Appellant:
Anne Hamilton (argued), Brandon Shannon, Legal Intern, ASUM Legal
Services, Missoula, Montana
For Appellee:
Timothy C. Fox, Montana Attorney General, C. Mark Fowler (argued),
Assistant Attorney General, Helena, Montana
Angela Suzanne Robertson-Bakken, Missoula County Attorney, Missoula,
Montana
Argued and Submitted: February 28, 2018
Decided: June 12, 2018
Filed:
__________________________________________
Clerk
Justice Dirk Sandefur delivered the Opinion of the Court.
¶1
Appellant Marcy Kroschel (Kroschel) appeals the judgment of the Montana Fourth
Judicial District Court affirming the judgment of the City of Missoula Municipal Court
denying her motion to suppress evidence. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand
addressing the following restated issues:
1. Did the Municipal Court correctly conclude that police had sufficient
particularized suspicion to prolong an investigatory stop of Kroschel under the
Fourth Amendment and §§ 46-5-401 and -403, MCA, after database checks
returned no record on the name and date of birth provided?
2. Did the Municipal Court correctly conclude that police subjected Kroschel to
interrogation that did not require an advisory and waiver of constitutional
rights?
PROCEDURAL AND FACTUAL BACKGROUND
¶2
On August 29, 2015, Kroschel attended a University of Montana (UM) football
game at Washington-Grizzly Stadium in Missoula, Montana. UM Campus Police Officer
Shannon Parsons was on uniformed foot patrol at the game with the specific duty
assignment of patrolling and issuing citations for underage drinking in violation of
§ 45-5-624, MCA (minor in possession of intoxicating substance (MIP)). On the main
stadium concourse (second level), Officer Parsons encountered Kroschel and Kaitlynn
O’Connell walking toward the restroom. Parsons testified that she first noticed the two
young women because she saw them walking arm-in-arm, unsteady on their feet, with
O’Connell physically assisting Kroschel to the restroom. Suspecting that the two had been
drinking underage and concerned about Kroschel’s apparent level of intoxication, Parsons
approached and asked if they were okay. When they responded that they were, Officer
2
Parsons noticed an alcoholic odor emanating from them and asked for proof of
identification. O’Connell produced identification showing that she was 21 years old.
When Kroschel stated that she did not have identification because it was in her coat back
at her stadium seat, Parsons asked Kroschel for her UM student ID number. Kroschel
answered that she was no longer a UM student and could not remember her former ID
number.
¶3
Officer Parsons then asked Kroschel for her name and date of birth. Kroschel gave
a misspelled name (“Marcie Krochel”) and a false date of birth indicating that she was 21.
Parsons ran radio dispatch checks through the UM and CJIN1 databases which returned no
record on the name and date of birth given by Kroschel. Officer Parsons later testified that,
in her experience in dealing with young adults on the UM campus, the absence of a record
on those databases often indicates a false name. At the Municipal Court suppression
hearing, Parsons testified that she asked Kroschel for her true name and date of birth at
least twice with the same result. Getting no satisfactory response, Parsons asked Kroschel
to accompany her “to the station” for the purpose of ascertaining her identity.
¶4
Kroschel became highly emotional and uncooperative, refused to accompany
Parsons to the station, and asserted that Parsons was interfering with her desire to go home.
Officer Parsons then warned Kroschel that she was obstructing Parsons’ investigation and
warned further that, unlike the offense of MIP, the offense of obstructing a peace officer is
a jailable offense. In her subsequent testimony, Parsons explained that her purpose in so
1
Criminal Justice Information Network database.
3
warning Kroschel was not to threaten or coerce her but, rather, “to give her information so
that she could make the decision to tell me her correct name and date of birth.” When
Kroschel attempted to walk away, Officer Parsons physically grabbed her by the elbow,
told her that they were “going to the station,” and then physically “guided” her to and down
the stairway. On the way down, Kroschel began to walk compliantly and Parsons released
her grip. Parsons did not formally arrest Kroschel but later testified that Kroschel was not
free to go until Parsons could verify her true identity. Kroschel testified that she was
crying, scared, and repeatedly told the officer that she did not want to go with her.
¶5
At the bottom of the stairway, as they approached a ground floor stadium gate,
Parsons and Kroschel encountered another UM police officer on underage drinking patrol,
Detective Chris Croft. Detective Croft then subjected Kroschel to a second round of
questioning as to her true name and date of birth. As Croft questioned Kroschel, Officer
Parsons ordered Kroschel’s friend away, leaving Kroschel alone with the officers. Unable
to confirm Kroschel’s identity and age, and unsatisfied with her responses, the two police
officers walked Kroschel to a secluded room in an adjoining concessions building
connected to the stadium where they sat her down in a closed room for a third round of
questioning about her true identity and date of birth.
¶6
Alone with two police officers behind a closed door in a secluded room, Kroschel
continued to give the same misspelled name and false date of birth in response to Detective
Croft’s repeated questioning. Kroschel later testified that it was clear that she was not free
to leave. Kroschel eventually relented and gave the officers her true name and date of birth.
4
Another UM database check confirmed that she was in fact a 20-year-old UM student.
After issuing Kroschel a notice to appear before the Missoula Municipal Court on the
misdemeanor offenses of MIP and obstructing a police officer, Officer Parsons released
Kroschel without further incident.
¶7
Kroschel appeared before the Municipal Court and later moved for suppression of
the State’s evidence of her age, date of birth, and the fact that she gave false information
to police, on the asserted ground that the police unreasonably prolonged the initial
investigative stop in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution,
Article II, Section 11 of the Montana Constitution, and § 46-5-401, MCA. Kroschel further
asserted that police subjected her to a custodial interrogation without a rights advisory in
violation of the Fifth Amendment and Article II, Section 25 of the Montana Constitution.
In denying the motion, the Municipal Court first ruled that Officer Parsons validly stopped
and briefly questioned Kroschel on the main stadium concourse based on particularized
suspicion of criminal activity as permissible under the Fourth Amendment. The Court
ruled further that, though the stop ripened into a custodial interrogation which generally
requires a constitutional rights advisory under the Fifth Amendment, no rights advisory
was necessary in this case because the information sought by police (name, age, and date
of birth) was merely non-incriminating, “basic biographical data.”
At a subsequent
non-jury trial, the Municipal Court found Kroschel guilty of being a minor in possession
of alcohol but not guilty of obstructing a peace officer. Kroschel timely appealed the
5
Municipal Court’s suppression ruling to the District Court. The District Court affirmed2
and Kroschel now timely appeals to this Court.
STANDARD OF REVIEW
¶8
On appeal from a municipal court of record, district courts function as intermediate
courts of appeal with the scope of review “confined to review of the record and questions
of law.” Sections 3-5-303 and 3-6-110(1), MCA; State v. Luke, 2014 MT 22, ¶ 9, 373
Mont. 398, 321 P.3d 70.3 On appeal of a lower court judgment following intermediate
appeal, we review the lower court record independently of the district court as if appealed
directly to this Court without district court review. State v. Maile, 2017 MT 154, ¶ 7, 388
Mont. 33, 396 P.3d 1270; Stanley v. Lemire, 2006 MT 304, ¶¶ 25-26, 334 Mont. 489, 148
P.3d 643. Upon independent review of the lower court record, our standard of review is
whether the lower court’s findings of fact are clearly erroneous, whether its conclusions of
law are correct, and, as applicable, whether the lower court abused its discretion. State v.
Davis, 2016 MT 206, ¶¶ 5-6, 384 Mont. 388, 378 P.3d 1192. Accord State v. Kasparek,
2016 MT 163, ¶ 6, 384 Mont. 56, 375 P.3d 372 (standard of review of a lower court ruling
on a motion to suppress evidence is whether the court’s findings of fact are clearly
erroneous and whether the court correctly applied the governing law).
2
In contrast to the Municipal Court ruling that police validly questioned Kroschel under a Fifth
Amendment exception that allows custodial interrogation regarding non-incriminating information
without a rights advisory, the District Court affirmed on a different ground, that the Fifth
Amendment did not apply because police did not subject Kroschel to a custodial interrogation.
3
The Municipal Court of the City of Missoula is a court of record as defined by § 3-6-101(1),
MCA.
6
DISCUSSION
¶9
1. Did the Municipal Court correctly conclude that police had sufficient
particularized suspicion to prolong the investigatory stop of Kroschel under the
Fourth Amendment and §§ 46-5-401 and -403, MCA, after database checks
returned no record on the name and date of birth provided?
¶10
The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article II, Section 11
of the Montana Constitution similarly prohibit unreasonable searches and seizures. As a
procedural component of these protections, government searches and seizures must
generally occur pursuant to a judicial warrant issued on probable cause. U.S. Const.
amend. IV (“no Warrants” for search or seizure “shall issue, but upon probable cause”) and
Mont. Const. art. II, § 11 (“No warrant to search any place, or seize any person or thing
shall issue . . . without probable cause”). A constitutional seizure of a person occurs when
a government officer “in some way” restrains a person’s liberty by means of physical force
or show of authority that, under the totality of the circumstances, would cause an
objectively reasonable person to believe that the person is not free to leave the presence of
the officer. State v. Clayton, 2002 MT 67, ¶ 12, 309 Mont. 215, 45 P.3d 30 (citing United
States v. Mendenhall, 446 U.S. 544, 552-54, 100 S. Ct. 1870, 1876-77 (1980)); State v.
Roberts, 1999 MT 59, ¶ 16, 293 Mont. 476, 977 P.2d 974; Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 16,
88 S. Ct. 1868, 1877 (1968). Even a brief restraint of a person’s liberty constitutes a
constitutional seizure. State v. Massey, 2016 MT 316, ¶ 9, 385 Mont. 460, 385 P.3d 544;
State v. Martinez, 2003 MT 65, ¶ 20, 314 Mont. 434, 67 P.3d 207; State v. Kaufman, 2002
MT 294, ¶ 14, 313 Mont. 1, 59 P.3d 1166; State v. Reynolds, 272 Mont. 46, 49, 899 P.2d
540, 542 (1995); United States v. Cortez, 449 U.S. 411, 417, 101 S. Ct. 690, 694-95
7
(1981).4
Except under certain recognized exceptions to the warrant requirement,
warrantless searches and seizures of persons are per se unreasonable under the Fourth
Amendment and Article II, Section 11 of the Montana Constitution. State v. Ballinger,
2016 MT 30, ¶ 16, 382 Mont. 193, 366 P.3d 668; State v. Hardaway, 2001 MT 252, ¶ 36,
307 Mont. 139, 36 P.3d 900; Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 358, 88 S. Ct. 507, 515
(1967).
¶11
A recognized exception to the warrant requirement is the temporary investigative
stop, or Terry stop, as first recognized by the United States Supreme Court in Terry, 392
at 16, 88 S. Ct. at 1877, and subsequently codified in Montana at §§ 46-5-401 and -403,
MCA.5 Under this exception, a law enforcement officer may briefly stop and detain a
person for investigative purposes without a warrant or probable cause for an arrest if, based
on specific and articulable facts known to the officer, including rational inferences
therefrom based on the officer’s training and experience, the officer has an objectively
reasonable, particularized suspicion that the person is engaged, or about to engage, in
criminal activity. State v. Elison, 2000 MT 288, ¶ 15, 302 Mont. 228, 14 P.3d 456; Roberts,
¶ 12; Reynolds, 272 Mont. at 49-50, 899 P.2d at 542; State v. Gopher, 193 Mont. 189,
193-94, 631 P.2d 293, 295-96 (1981); Cortez, 449 U.S. at 417-18, 101 S. Ct. at 694-95;
4
See also § 45-2-101(73), MCA (defining a “stop” as “the temporary detention of a person that
results when a peace officer orders the person to remain in the peace officer’s presence”).
5
See State v. Bar-Jonah, 2004 MT 344, ¶ 42, 324 Mont. 278, 102 P.3d 1229 (noting Montana
codification of constitutional principles); Comments of Commission on Criminal Procedure
§§ 20.01-20.03 (Jan. 10, 1989), File No. 88-559, in the collection of the Clerk of the Montana
Supreme Court (hereinafter Commission Comments).
8
Terry, 392 U.S. at 16-19, 88 S. Ct. at 1877-79. See also §§ 46-5-401(1) and -403, MCA
(authorizing temporary stop of a person “to obtain an account of the person’s presence or
conduct or to determine whether to arrest the person” upon observing the person “in
circumstances that create a particularized suspicion that the person . . . has committed, is
committing, or is about to commit an offense”). Whether an officer had a particularized
suspicion of criminal activity is a question of fact under the totality of circumstances.
Kaufman, ¶ 11; Cortez, 449 U.S. at 417-18, 101 S. Ct. at 695.
¶12
Here, Kroschel asserts, and the State does not dispute, that Officer Parsons stopped
and thus effected a constitutional seizure on Kroschel and her friend when the officer
approached them, asked them if they were okay, and demanded identification including
age. In turn, Kroschel does not seriously dispute the Municipal Court’s finding and
conclusion that Officer Parsons had sufficient particularized suspicion of underage
drinking to justify the initial stop based on her articulated observations of Kroschel’s
“difficulty walking, her need to have a friend assist her, and the odor of alcohol” about her.
Upon our review of the record, we hold that the Municipal Court correctly concluded that
police had sufficient particularized suspicion under the Fourth Amendment and § 46-5-401,
MCA, to temporarily stop Kroschel and investigate whether she had committed the offense
of MIP.
¶13
Upon making a valid investigative stop, law enforcement officers must act with
reasonable diligence to quickly confirm or dispel the predicate suspicion for the stop.
United States v. Sharpe, 470 U.S. 675, 686, 105 S. Ct. 1568, 1575 (1985). The duration
9
and scope of an investigative stop must be carefully limited to its “underlying justification.”
Florida v. Royer, 460 U.S. 491, 500, 103 S. Ct. 1319, 1325-26 (1983). Thus, the duration
and scope of a stop may not exceed what is reasonably necessary to confirm or dispel the
predicate suspicion for the stop. Royer, 460 U.S. at 500, 103 S. Ct. at 1325-26; Terry, 392
U.S. at 17-20, 88 S. Ct. at 1878-79. Montana has codified these principles in § 46-5-403,
MCA (temporary investigative stop “may not last longer than is necessary to effectuate the
purpose of the stop”). See State v. Carlson, 2000 MT 320, ¶ 21, 302 Mont. 508, 15 P.3d
893 (citing § 46-5-403, MCA, and Royer); Commission Comments, supra, § 20.03.
However, judicial assessment of the reasonableness of the duration and scope of an
investigative stop must recognize that the State’s compelling interest in “effective law
enforcement” demands that officers in the field have reasonable “latitude” to reach, follow
up on, and confirm or dispel initial suspicions of criminal activity. State v. Sharp, 217
Mont. 40, 47, 702 P.2d 959, 963 (1985); see also State v. Seaman, 2005 MT 307, ¶ 29, 329
Mont. 429, 124 P.3d 1137 (citing Sharp in community caretaker context).
¶14
To that end, “[a]sking questions is an essential part of police investigations.” Hiibel
v. Sixth Jud. Dist. Ct., 542 U.S. 177, 185, 124 S. Ct. 2451, 2458 (2004). “[Q]uestions
concerning a suspect’s identity are a routine and [permissible] part” of a typical temporary
investigative stop. Hiibel, 542 U.S. at 186, 124 S. Ct. at 2458. The state has a compelling
interest in enforcing the criminal law in furtherance of public order and safety. State v.
Goetz, 2008 MT 296, ¶ 17, 345 Mont. 421, 191 P.3d 489; State ex rel. Zander v. Fourth
Jud. Dist. Ct., 180 Mont. 548, 556, 591 P.2d 656, 660 (1979). In furtherance of that
10
compelling state interest, identification of a validly stopped suspect assists police in
confirming or dispelling the particularized suspicion of criminal activity that warranted the
stop, determining whether further investigation of the suspect is warranted, and informing
whether the suspect is “wanted for another offense” or requires aid due to mental illness.
Hiibel, 542 U.S. at 186, 124 S. Ct. at 2458.6 Officers investigating a particularized
suspicion of criminal activity “need to know whom they are dealing with in order to assess
the situation, the threat to their own safety, and possible danger” to others. Hiibel, 542
U.S. at 186, 124 S. Ct. at 2458. “The request for identity has an immediate relation to the
purpose, rationale, and practical demands of” a typical temporary investigative stop.
Hiibel, 542 U.S. at 188, 124 S. Ct. at 2459. Though the Fourth Amendment does not
compel a person to answer questions posed by police upon a temporary investigative stop,
a state law that requires a suspect to disclose his or her identity upon request incident to a
valid investigative stop does not violate the Fourth Amendment. Hiibel, 542 U.S. at 188,
124 S. Ct. at 2459.
¶15
Accordingly, incident to a lawful investigative stop, Montana law enforcement
officers may request a person’s name, current address, and “an explanation” of the
person’s conduct in relation to the officer’s particularized suspicion for the stop. Section
6
Accord Hayes v. Florida, 470 U.S. 811, 816, 105 S. Ct. 1643 (1985) (“person may be stopped”
upon particularized suspicion of criminal activity “in order to identify him, to question him briefly,
or to detain him briefly while attempting to obtain additional information”); United States v.
Hensley, 469 U.S. 221, 229, 105 S. Ct. 675 (1985) (“the ability to briefly stop [a suspect], ask
questions, or check identification in the absence of probable cause promotes the strong government
interest in solving crimes and bringing offenders to justice”).
11
46-5-401(2)(a), MCA.
Consistent with governing federal and state constitutional
principles, a person may be subject to criminal liability for failing to comply with an
officer’s lawful request for such information. See § 45-7-302(1), MCA (obstructing a
peace officer).7 See also Hiibel, 542 U.S. at 188-89, 124 S. Ct. at 2459-60 (police “may
not arrest a suspect for failure to identify himself if the request for identification is not
reasonably related to the circumstances justifying the stop”). While § 46-5-401(1), MCA,
does not expressly authorize police to request information other than a person’s name,
current address, and “an explanation” of the person’s conduct, nothing in the language or
legislative history of § 46-5-401(1), MCA, indicates any legislative intent to preclude
police from asking other questions permissible under the Fourth Amendment within the
limited scope of the stop (i.e., reasonably related in scope to the particularized suspicion
that justified the stop). If not the functional or substantive equivalent of requesting a
person’s name and current address, demanding available proof of identification is typically
likewise reasonably related to the purpose of an investigative stop for Fourth Amendment
purposes. See Hiibel, 542 U.S. at 186-88, 124 S. Ct. at 2458-59.
¶16
Nonetheless, pursuant to State v. Driscoll, 2013 MT 63, 369 Mont. 270, 303 P.3d
788, Kroschel asserts that Officer Parsons improperly prolonged the duration of the
investigative stop of Kroschel without a particularized basis upon which to continue to
suspect that she was underage after the initial UM and CJIN database checks yielded no
7
As pertinent, a “person commits the offense of obstructing a peace officer . . . if the person
knowingly obstructs, impairs, or hinders” the officer’s “enforcement of the criminal law” or
“performance of a governmental function.” Section 45-7-302(1), MCA.
12
information contradicting the name and date of birth provided. In Driscoll, while on foot
patrol during the annual Labor Day rodeo weekend in Dillon, uniformed police officers
saw a young man in a bar holding a beer can. Suspecting that he was underage based on
his youthful appearance, the officers approached the man and asked him how old he was.
When Driscoll replied that he was 22 years old, the officers asked him for proof of
identification verifying his age. When he refused to comply, the officers ordered Driscoll
to accompany them outside. Driscoll, ¶ 5. Outside, in response to officers’ request for his
full name and date of birth, Driscoll gave them a false first name and date of birth. When
a CJIN check returned no record of that name and date of birth, the officers arrested
Driscoll and ultimately charged him with MIP and obstructing a peace officer. Driscoll
later gave his true name which led police to his driver’s license record and confirmation
that he was less than 21 years old. Driscoll, ¶ 6. Driscoll subsequently moved in city court
for suppression of his incriminating statements on Fourth and Fifth Amendment grounds.
After the court granted the motion and dismissed the case, the State appealed to district
court which then affirmed the suppression of evidence but reversed the dismissal, leaving
the State to decide what to do in the wake of the suppressed evidence. Driscoll, ¶¶ 7-8.
¶17
On subsequent appeal by the State, we affirmed the suppression of evidence on the
grounds that the officers’ articulated observation that Driscoll was “acting defensively”
was not a sufficient particularized basis upon which to prolong the stop and that the officers
failed to articulate any additional facts supporting their continued suspicion that Driscoll
was underage after he told them he was 22 years old. Driscoll, ¶ 15. Having disposed of
13
the case on Fourth Amendment grounds, we did not reach Driscoll’s Fifth Amendment
claims. Driscoll, ¶ 15.
¶18
Here, unlike in Driscoll, Officer Parsons articulated additional facts supporting her
continuing suspicion, that Kroschel had committed the offenses of MIP and obstructing a
police officer, after the UM and CJIN database checks returned no record contradicting the
information provided by Kroschel. In addition to her articulated observations supporting
her initial suspicion that Kroschel had been drinking underage (i.e., youthful appearance,
difficulty walking, need for walking assistance, and odor of alcohol about her), Officer
Parsons further articulated her knowledge, based on her experience, that negative returns
on UM and CJIN database name checks on young people present on the UM campus
usually indicate a false name or date of birth.
¶19
Based on additional information developed during the initial lawful duration and
scope of an initial investigative stop, an officer may develop new or broader particularized
suspicion of criminal activity justifying expansion of the scope or duration of the stop
beyond that justified by the officer’s initial observations. State v. Case, 2007 MT 161,
¶ 34, 338 Mont. 87, 162 P.3d 849; Carlson, ¶ 21; Hulse v. State, 1998 MT 108, ¶¶ 40-42,
289 Mont. 1, 961 P.2d 75; Sharp, 217 Mont. at 46, 702 P.2d at 963. Here, unlike in
Driscoll, the negative returns on the UM and CJIN database checks on the name and date
of birth given by Kroschel not only did not reasonably dispel Parson’s initial particularized
suspicion but, rather, added an additional particularized factual basis upon which to
continue to suspect that Kroschel had committed the offense of MIP and, then, obstructing
14
by providing false information to police. Unlike in Driscoll where the officers failed to
articulate additional facts to support a continuing particularized suspicion that Driscoll was
underage despite his unrebutted assertion to the contrary, Officer Parsons articulated facts
that reasonably gave rise to a continuing particularized suspicion sufficient to further
prolong and expand the original duration and scope of the stop.
¶20
In support of their proposition that, by analogy to Driscoll, Officer Parsons did not
have sufficient particularized suspicion to further prolong the duration and original scope
of the stop for additional investigation of whether Kroschel gave a false name and date of
birth, the special concurrences (J. Gustafson and Shea), infra, cite State v. Bauer, 2001 MT
248, ¶ 33, 307 Mont. 105, 36 P.3d 892, where we held that Article II, Sections 10-11 of the
Montana Constitution (rights to privacy and prohibition of unreasonable searches and
seizures) bar police from arresting and detaining persons stopped for non-jailable offenses
absent special circumstances, such as concern for officer or public safety. Bauer, ¶ 33.
While a compelling proposition in isolation, the concurrences conspicuously ignore that,
though not necessarily conclusive of a false name, the negative returns on the UM and
CJIN database checks gave rise to additional particularized suspicion, as articulated by the
officer based on her particular experience in similar circumstances, that Kroschel had then
also committed the additional offense of obstructing a peace officer, as defined by
§ 45-7-302(1), MCA, by knowingly giving the officer a false name and date of birth.
Unlike MIP, obstructing a peace officer is a jailable offense. Section 45-7-302(3), MCA.
This additional particularized suspicion clearly renders Bauer and Driscoll distinguishable
15
and of no consequence here. We hold that Officer Parsons had sufficient particularized
suspicion of criminal activity (i.e. MIP and obstructing a peace officer) to continue to
detain Kroschel for further investigation after the UM and CJIN database checks returned
no record on the name and date of birth provided.8
¶21
2. Did the Municipal Court correctly conclude that police subjected Kroschel to
interrogation that did not require an advisory and waiver of constitutional
rights?
¶22
The Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article II, Section 25
of the Montana Constitution protect a person from compelled self-incrimination. As a
procedural safeguard of this fundamental federal and state constitutional right, law
enforcement officers may not subject a person to custodial interrogation unless and until
they have sufficiently advised the person of pertinent Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights
pursuant to Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 467-77, 86 S. Ct. 1602, 1624-29 (1966),
and obtained a valid waiver of those rights. State v. Morrisey, 2009 MT 201, ¶¶ 28-29,
351 Mont. 144, 214 P.3d 708; Miranda, 384 U.S. at 467-79, 86 S. Ct. at 1624-30.9 Except
8
Since we ultimately resolve this case on Fifth Amendment grounds, we need not address
Kroschel’s additional Fourth Amendment and related statutory contention that, even if police
permissibly prolonged the initial stop after the UM and CJIN database checks returned no record
contradicting the information given by Kroschel, her continued detention and questioning soon
evolved into an unreasonably prolonged constitutional seizure and statutory detention after the
second round of questioning near the stadium exit developed no new facts supporting a continuing
particularized suspicion that Kroschel was underage or provided false information to police.
9
The substantive focus of the Fifth Amendment protection is whether a person voluntarily made
incriminating statements or whether they were the product of police coercion. See, e.g., State v.
Eskew, 2017 MT 36, ¶ 14; 386 Mont. 324, 390 P.3d 129; Morrisey, ¶¶ 29-30; Dickerson v. United
States, 530 U.S. 428, 432-34, 120 S. Ct. 2326, 2330-31 (2000) (recognizing pre-Miranda essence
of 5th Amendment protection). See also § 46-13-301, MCA (codifying standard of Rogers v.
Richmond, 365 U.S. 534, 542-49, 81 S. Ct. 735, 739-44 (1961) (essential Fourteenth Amendment
question is whether incriminating statements were voluntary, i.e., “whether the behavior of [state]
16
under certain recognized exceptions not at issue here, statements elicited while a person is
subject to custodial interrogation are not admissible against the person in a subsequent
criminal proceeding. Morrisey, ¶ 29; State v. Munson, 2007 MT 222, ¶ 20, 339 Mont. 68,
169 P.3d 364; Miranda, 384 U.S. at 476, 86 S. Ct. at 1629.10
¶23
For purposes of the Fifth Amendment, “interrogation” means express or implied
questioning initiated by a law enforcement officer. State v. Staat, 251 Mont. 1, 6, 822 P.2d
643, 646 (1991); Miranda, 384 U.S. at 444, 86 S. Ct. at 1612. The term broadly includes
both express questioning and “any words or actions on the part of police (other than those
normally attendant to arrest [or] custody) that the police should know are reasonably likely
to elicit an incriminating response.” Rhode Island v. Innis, 446 U.S. 201, 300-301, 100
S. Ct. 1682, 1689-90 (1980). Accord Munson, ¶ 25 (citing Innis). The focus of whether
an interrogation occurred is on “the perceptions of the suspect,” not the intent of the police.
State v. Olson, 2003 MT 61, ¶ 18, 314 Mont. 402, 66 P.3d 297; Innis, 446 U.S. at 301, 100
S. Ct. at 1690.
law enforcement officials was such as to overbear [a suspect’s] will to resist and bring about
confessions not freely self-determined”)); Malloy v. Hogan, 378 U.S. 1, 6, 84 S. Ct. 1489, 1492-93
(1964) (applying Fifth Amendment to state action by incorporation through 14th Amendment due
process clause); Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 656-57, 81 S. Ct. 1684, 1692 (1961) (viewing Rogers
as a pre-Incorporation Doctrine enforcement of the Fifth Amendment right against state-compelled
self-incrimination as a matter of Fourteenth Amendment due process). On appeal, Kroschel does
not directly challenge the actual voluntariness of her incriminating statements under substantive
Fifth Amendment standards.
10
For recognized exceptions to the Miranda exclusionary rule, see New York v. Quarles, 467 U.S.
649, 655-59, 104 S. Ct. 2626, 2631-33 (1984) (public safety exception), and Harris v. New York,
401 U.S. 222, 224-26, 91 S. Ct. 643, 645-46 (1971) (use of otherwise voluntary statements for
impeachment purposes). However, regardless of application of the procedural Miranda rule, an
“actually coerced” statement, i.e., an involuntary statement, is inadmissible for any purpose.
Morrissey, ¶ 29 (citing Kansas v. Ventris, 556 U.S. 586, 590, 129 S. Ct. 1841, 1845 (2009)).
17
¶24
In contrast to the less stringent standard for a Fourth Amendment “seizure,” a person
is in Fifth Amendment “custody” only when formally arrested by police or when police
otherwise restrict the person’s freedom of action in a manner or degree similar to a formal
arrest. Thompson v. Keohane, 516 U.S. 99, 112, 116 S. Ct. 457, 465 (1995).11 Accord
Munson, ¶ 21-22 (quoting Thompson). The determination of whether police restricted a
person’s freedom of action in a manner or degree similar to a formal arrest depends upon
the totality of the circumstances of each case. State v. Dawson, 1999 MT 171, ¶¶ 33-37,
295 Mont. 212, 983 P.2d 916. The two-part determination focuses on whether a reasonable
person would feel free to leave under the circumstances and the coercive nature and degree
of the detention and questioning relative to that typically incident to a formal arrest. See
Dawson, ¶ 33; Berkemer v. McCarthy, 468 U.S. 420, 436-38, 104 S. Ct. 3138, 3148-49
(1984). Non-exclusive relevant considerations include, inter alia, whether the person
affirmatively consented or requested to speak with police; the time and place of the
detention and questioning; the degree of force, restraint, or threat of force used to detain or
question the person; whether police moved the person to another area for questioning;
whether police informed the person that he or she was not under arrest, free to leave, or
free to otherwise terminate the questioning; the extent to which the police presence,
manner, or posture was threatening or otherwise coercive under the circumstances; the
11
But see Miranda, 384 U.S. at 444-45, 86 S. Ct. at 1612 (more broadly defining “custodial
interrogation” as “questioning initiated by law enforcement officers after a person has been taken
into custody or otherwise deprived of his freedom of action in any significant way” (emphasis
added)).
18
duration of questioning; and the extent to which police confronted the person with evidence
of guilt. Munson, ¶¶ 23-24 (citing various federal authorities). See also State v. Lapp, 202
Mont. 327, 331, 658 P.2d 400, 403 (1983) (applying six non-exclusive relevant factors,
i.e., place of interrogation, time of interrogation, persons present, whether Miranda
advisory “gratuitously given,” “length and mood of interrogation,” and whether suspect
“arrested following questioning”). The determination of whether a person is in Fifth
Amendment custody “depends upon the objective circumstances,” not the “subjective
views” of the suspect or police. Munson, ¶ 21.
¶25
Because a person is typically not free to leave until released by the investigating
officer, a temporary investigative stop generally effects a Fourth Amendment seizure.
Berkemer, 468 U.S. at 436-38, 104 S. Ct. at 3148-49. While both inherently coercive to a
degree and a significant restriction on a person’s freedom of action for the duration of the
stop, a temporary investigative stop typically does not curtail a person’s freedom of action
to an extent or degree similar to a formal arrest due to the brief duration, limited scope of
permissible questioning, public or non-secluded setting, and expectation of imminent
release typically associated with such a stop. Berkemer, 468 U.S. at 436-38, 104 S. Ct. at
3148-49; see also State v. Dannels, 226 Mont. 80, 87, 734 P.2d 188, 193 (1987); Oregon
v. Mathiason, 429 U.S. 492, 495, 97 S. Ct. 711, 714 (1977)). Due to the “comparatively”
less threatening nature of a temporary investigative stop, and the only “moderate” amount
of questioning permissible to confirm or dispel the particularized suspicion justifying the
stop, a temporary investigative stop is typically less coercive than the relatively more
19
intensive, secluded, and prolonged police interrogation that typically occurs incident to a
formal arrest or similar circumstance. Berkemer, 468 U.S. at 436-38, 104 S. Ct. at 3148-49.
Without more, the mere fact that the subject is aware that police strongly suspect him or
her of criminal activity does not raise the coercive nature of a temporary stop to a level
commensurate with that of a police interrogation incident to formal arrest. Dannels, 226
Mont. at 88, 734 P.2d at 193-94; Lapp, 202 Mont. at 331-32, 658 P.2d at 402-403; Beckwith
v. United States, 425 U.S. 341, 345-47, 96 S. Ct. 1612, 1615-16 (1976). The brief detention
and restraint, limited questioning reasonably related to the purpose of the stop, and other
relatively less coercive circumstances typical to a temporary investigative stop do not
present the same danger of coerced self-incrimination as the more prolonged,
incommunicado police interrogation that warranted, and continues to warrant, the
prophylactic procedural rule of Miranda. See Dawson, ¶¶ 33-37; Berkemer, 468 U.S. at
436-39, 104 S. Ct. at 3148-50; United States v. Ritchie, 35 F.3d 1477, 1485 (10th Cir.
1994). Thus, though potentially incriminating, the circumstances and limited scope of
permissible questioning on a temporary investigative stop generally do not rise to the level
of a Fifth Amendment custodial interrogation.
¶26
However, the permissible non-custodial questioning incident to a temporary
investigative stop may nonetheless ripen into a custodial interrogation if the circumstances
of the detention and related questioning evolve to approximate the more coercive nature of
an incommunicado police interrogation incident to a formal arrest. Berkemer, 468 U.S. at
440, 104 S. Ct. at 3150 (motorist temporarily detained on traffic stop entitled to “full
20
panoply” of Miranda protection if “subjected to treatment that renders him ‘in custody’ for
practical purposes”); Miranda, 384 U.S. at 445-63, 86 S. Ct. at 1612-21; Ritchie, 35 F.3d
at 1485-86. Accord State v. Braulick, 2015 MT 147, ¶¶ 18-19, 379 Mont. 302, 349 P.3d
508 (investigative stop in yard of assault suspect’s home ripened into custodial
interrogation when investigating police handcuffed him, led him to another area in yard,
denied his request to leave, and asked “what’s going on” and “what happened here?”);
State v. Osteen, 216 Mont. 258, 264-66, 700 P.2d 188, 193 (1985) (unanticipated
non-custodial late-night meeting with two officers in suspect’s home ripened into custodial
interrogation upon continued questioning), overruled on other grounds by State v. Loh, 275
Mont. 460, 472-73, 914 P.2d 593, 599-600 (1996) (discussing standard for permissible
Fourth Amendment plain view search).
¶27
Here, the State correctly points out that police did not arrest Kroschel, handcuff her,
threaten or intimidate her with brandished weapons, or physically restrain her other than
by briefly grabbing her by the arm and leading her to and down the stadium stairs. Though
police certainly dealt with Kroschel in a firm and authoritative manner, the officers did not
initially treat her in a manner or to a degree significantly different than in a typical
investigative stop where a suspect is not free to leave and police must use a modicum of
physical restraint to prevent an uncooperative person from leaving. However, though
Officer Parsons had continuing particularized suspicion of criminal activity sufficient to
prolong her investigative stop of Kroschel under the Fourth Amendment, the encounter
began to progressively escalate in coercive nature beyond a typical temporary investigative
21
stop when the officer threatened her with prosecution on a jailable offense, told her they
were going “to the station,” and forcefully “guided her” to and down the stadium stairs
with the stated and apparent intent to take her there. The coercive nature of the encounter
escalated a second time when another police officer joined in and subjected Kroschel to a
second round of questioning in a more remote location (downstairs near the stadium exit)
while the first officer ordered Kroschel’s friend away, thereby isolating her in the custody
of the police. The coercive nature of the encounter escalated yet again when, after
expressly or implicitly threatening her with arrest and prosecution on a jailable offense and
making it clear that she would not be free to go until she told them what they wanted to
hear, police took Kroschel to an even more secluded and confined area for a third-round of
indefinite questioning, this time in a closed room alone with two uniformed officers.
¶28
The State asserts that Kroschel was not in Fifth Amendment custody because her
detention was “no more severe” than the temporary detentions that did not constitute
custody in Dawson and Elison. In Dawson, several Billings police officers were in the
process of executing a search warrant in a motel room in connection with illegal
transactions involving drugs, stolen property, and bad checks. Dawson, ¶¶ 5-6. In response
to knocking on the motel room door, an officer opened the door to an unidentified man
who walked into the open doorway and asked for the suspect in the investigation by name.
Dawson, ¶¶ 5-6 and 19. In response, the officer told the man that he intended to perform
an officer-safety pat-down search and asked if the man had any weapons, drugs, or needles
on his person. Dawson, ¶ 7. After the man replied that he had “some smoke” in his coat
22
pocket, the officer physically turned him around, directed him to put his hands on the wall,
and conducted a brief pat-down search that led to his arrest for possession of
methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia. Dawson, ¶¶ 7 and 28-33. As pertinent here,
the District Court rejected the defendant’s subsequent assertion that the officer violated his
right to be free from self-incrimination by questioning him without a Miranda advisory
incident to a Fourth Amendment stop and frisk. Dawson, ¶¶ 28-33. Noting that the
temporary stop, related questioning, and frisk took place on particularized suspicion of
criminal activity, lasted only 2-3 minutes, and did not involve significant physical restraint,
we held that the stop did not ripen into a Fifth Amendment custodial interrogation under
the totality of the circumstances. Dawson, ¶¶ 34-37.
¶29
In Elison, a citizen observer riding with a patrolling police officer reported what
appeared to be another driver smoking a marijuana pipe behind the wheel of a vehicle at a
Billings intersection. After stopping the vehicle, ordering the driver back into his vehicle,
smelling a marijuana odor, observing signs of marijuana intoxication, observing the driver
reach down between the seats of his vehicle, and then ordering the driver to exit and put
his hands on the vehicle, the police officer conducted a pat-down search. Elison, ¶¶ 6-9.
The officer next presumptively asked the man what happened to the marijuana pipe and
whether there was marijuana in the vehicle. When the man answered that the marijuana
was behind the driver’s seat, the officer immediately looked in that location and found a
small canister containing marijuana and drug paraphernalia. Elison, ¶ 9. Following his
arrest, the man moved for suppression of the evidence on the asserted ground, inter alia,
23
that the officer unlawfully questioned him without a Miranda warning and waiver. Elison,
¶¶ 24-25. Citing Berkemer, we held that, despite their potentially incriminating nature, the
officer’s questions were well within the scope of the predicate particularized suspicion for
the stop. Elison, ¶ 32. Further noting that the officer did not handcuff the man prior to
arrest, the questioning occurred in a public place, the brief duration of the stop, and that
the officer gave no indication that the duration of the stop would be indefinite, we held that
the stop and related questioning did not ripen into a Fifth Amendment custodial
interrogation under the circumstances. Elison, ¶¶ 32-33.
¶30
In contrast to the brief detentions and related questioning at issue in Dawson and
Elison, the duration of the police detention and questioning of Kroschel was much longer
than a few minutes. Further, in Dawson and Elison, police questioned the suspects in the
public and semi-public places in which they stopped them and then asked only a limited
number of questions (no more than 2-3 each). Dawson, ¶¶ 5-7 and 19; Elison, ¶¶ 6-9.
Here, police twice moved Kroschel against her will to increasingly secluded areas for
questioning―first away from the main stadium concourse down to a stadium exit while
the game was in progress and then out of the stadium into a totally secluded adjoining room
where they subjected her to closed-door questioning alone in the presence of two uniformed
police officers. By the time police were questioning Kroschel in the secluded concession
room, they had subjected her to repeated questioning about the same matter in three distinct
rounds of questioning. Further, unlike in Dawson and Elison, the officers repeatedly
questioned Kroschel under a not-too-subtle threat of arrest and prosecution on a jailable
24
offense, all the while making it clear that she could gain her release only by giving them
the incriminating information they clearly sought.
¶31
At the point that Officer Parsons physically “guided” Kroschel down the main
concourse stairs to take her “to the station” against her will under a clear threat of arrest
and incarceration on a jailable offense, this was no longer the brief and only
moderately-coercive situation contemplated in Terry, Berkemer, Dawson, and Elison
where, incident to a valid investigative stop, police briefly detained a suspect in the field
and asked for the person’s name, age, and account of the person’s presence or conduct to
confirm or dispel the initial particularized suspicion for the stop. Nor was this the situation
contemplated in Hulse where, during the lawful course of an initial temporary investigatory
stop, police developed additional particularized suspicion warranting further investigation,
including limited related questioning regarding the original or newly suspected criminal
activity. Both of those permissible Fourth Amendment scenarios had already transpired as
early as the point when Officer Parsons physically “guided” Kroschel downstairs to go “to
the station” against her will, and certainly at the point that the officers subsequently took
her into another building for a third round of questioning, this time alone in a secluded
closed room dominated by two uniformed police officers. This was a situation where, after
the exhaustion and failure of initial interrogative efforts incident to a valid temporary
investigative stop, police significantly upped the ante, i.e., the level of coercion, similar in
coercive degree to a formal, post-arrest incommunicado interrogation. The Municipal
Court clearly recognized as much in concluding that the circumstances could have
25
“constitute[d] probable cause for arrest” and then analogized the isolated concession room
questioning to a post-arrest or pre-citation custodial inquiry regarding “the basic
biographical data necessary” to complete booking or issue a “citation.”
¶32
Pursuant to Pennsylvania v. Muniz, 496 U.S. 582, 110 S. Ct. 2638 (1990), and
California v. Byers, 402 U.S. 424, 91 S. Ct. 1535 (1971), the State asserts that, even if
police ultimately subjected Kroschel to a custodial interrogation as recognized by the
Municipal Court, no Fifth Amendment violation occurred because police sought only her
correct name and date of birth, items of information generally not inherently incriminating
or testimonial and thus not subject to Fifth Amendment protection. In Muniz, the Supreme
Court considered inter alia whether police inquiries regarding a suspect’s name, age,
address, and date of birth during post-arrest, station house DUI processing were subject to
Fifth Amendment protection. Muniz, 496 U.S. at 584-86, 110 S. Ct. at 2641-42. While
rejecting the state assertion that such questioning did not constitute Fifth Amendment
interrogation because police were not seeking the information for investigative or
incriminating purposes, the Court nonetheless held that the questioning was not subject to
Fifth Amendment protection because the information fell within the “‘routine booking
question’ exception”―questions asked for administrative “record-keeping purposes only”
to obtain the “biographical data necessary to complete [post-arrest] booking or pretrial
services.” Muniz, 496 U.S. at 599-602, 110 S. Ct. at 2649-50.
¶33
In Byers, the Supreme Court considered the narrow issue of whether California’s
motor vehicle accident “stop and report” statute (requiring motorists involved in traffic
26
accidents to stop and self-identify by name and address12) violated the Fifth Amendment
protection against self-incrimination. Byers, 402 U.S. at 425, 91 S. Ct. at 1536. Finding
the primary purpose of the California statute to be non-incriminating, facially neutral, and
regulatory in nature (i.e., to facilitate determination and resolution of attendant civil
liabilities) with only an indirect potential for incrimination (via disclosure of information
that is itself not incriminating but may combine with or lead to independently incriminating
evidence), the Court held that the required stop and disclosure of a person’s name and
address was not sufficiently incriminating or testimonial to implicate Fifth Amendment
protection. Byers, 402 U.S. at 427-34, 91 S. Ct. at 1537-41.
¶34
Here, unlike in Muniz and Byers, police were not questioning Kroschel either for a
generally non-incriminating regulatory purpose or post-arrest administrative purpose (or
analogous post-probable cause citation purpose).13 Rather, after initially ascertaining that
Kroschel and her friend did not require medical or other assistance, the sole purpose of the
police questioning was to further a criminal investigation ― to confirm or dispel
12
See similarly, §§ 61-7-103 through -109, MCA.
We further distinguish the circumstances of this case from the situation where, incident to a
valid investigatory traffic stop, police demand to see a motorist’s vehicle registration, license to
operate a motor vehicle, and proof of insurance pursuant to §§ 46-5-401(2)(a), 61-3-322(3), 61-5116, and 61-6-302(2), MCA, in furtherance of the state’s broad power and authority to regulate
the ownership, operation, and safety of motor vehicles. See also Muniz, 496 U.S. at 590-92, 110
S. Ct. at 2644-45 (Fifth Amendment protects against compelled communication of information but
not against police observation, searches, or seizure of non-testimonial physical evidence including,
inter alia, requiring a suspect to perform a “volitional act” to permit to allow observation or
discovery of physical evidence or characteristics even though incriminating including, inter alia,
requiring a suspect to participate in a line-up, repeat a phrase or read a passage to display the
physical characteristics the suspect’s voice or manner of speech, provide a handwriting sample,
submit to a physical examination, or provide a physical sample of breath or blood. Muniz, 496
U.S. at 592-94, 110 S. Ct. at 2645-46.
27
13
particularized police suspicion that Kroschel had committed the offense of MIP and, as the
stop developed, the related offense of obstructing a police officer. Unlike the at most
indirectly incriminating biographical information at issue in Muniz and Byers, Kroschel’s
age and date of birth were directly incriminating under the circumstances of this case.
Kroschel’s age, proof of which was an invariable function of her name and date of birth,
was an essential element of the offense of MIP, the very offense in regard to which the
police were detaining and interrogating her. See § 45-5-624(1), MCA. At the point
Kroschel first gave false information, her name and date of birth also became the direct
proof of an essential element of the related offense of obstructing a police officer as initially
threatened and ultimately charged. See § 45-7-302(1), MCA.
¶35
“The Fifth Amendment . . . protects an accused from being compelled to testify
against himself, or otherwise provide the State with evidence of a testimonial or
communicative nature.” Muniz, 496 U.S. at 589, 110 S. Ct. at 2643. “A statement,
expression, or conduct is testimonial . . . if it explicitly or implicitly communicates or
relates a factual assertion, knowledge, or thought from the suspect’s mind.” Muniz, 496
U.S. at 594-95, 110 S. Ct. at 2646-47. “Testimonial evidence at least includes all responses
to questions that could elicit an incriminating response.” Muniz, 496 U.S. at 596-97, 110
S. Ct. at 2648. Unlike the only indirectly incriminating biographical information in Muniz
and Byers, Kroschel’s correct name and date of birth were directly incriminating and
available only from her mind under the circumstances of this case. Contrary to the State’s
assertion, Muniz and Byers are thus clearly distinguishable and of no consequence here.
28
See also Hiibel, 542 U.S. at 190-91, 124 S. Ct. at 2461 (distinguishing compelled disclosure
of name as non-testimonial where not directly incriminating from compelled disclosure
under circumstances presenting reasonable danger of self-incrimination);14 Byers, 402 U.S.
at 428-29, 91 S. Ct. at 1538 (distinguishing compelled disclosure of only indirectly
incriminating information from “compelled disclosures” which “will themselves directly
‘confront’” the suspect “with substantial hazards of self-incrimination”); United States v.
Disla, 805 F.2d 1340, 1347 (9th Cir. 1986) (post-booking custodial inquiry for defendant’s
address subject to 5th Amendment and Miranda where address “related to” an element of
the crime that that police suspected defendant of committing); United States v.
Mata-Abundiz, 717 F.2d 1277, 1280 (9th Cir. 1983) (post-booking question regarding
defendant’s resident country subject to 5th Amendment and Miranda where answer
constituted proof of an essential element of the subject crime and holding that
non-incriminating biographical information routinely requested incident to arrest and
booking not subject to booking exception if “reasonably likely to elicit an incriminating
response in a particular situation”). Under the particular circumstances of this case, the
14
In Hiibel, the Supreme Court rejected a defendant’s claim that his conviction for violating a
Nevada statute similar to § 46-5-401(2)(a), MCA, requiring a person to self-identify incident to a
valid Terry stop, violated his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Hiibel, 542 U.S.
at 180-91, 124 S. Ct. at 2455-61. The distinguishing factor noted by the Court was that Hiibel
“refused to identify himself only because he thought his name was none of the officer’s business”
rather than on “any articulable real and appreciable fear that his name would be used to incriminate
him, or that it would ‘furnish a link in the chain of evidence needed to prosecute him.’” Hiibel,
542 U.S. at 190-91, 124 S. Ct. at 2461. Foreseeing the Fifth Amendment matter at issue here, the
Court nonetheless noted that “a case may arise where there is a substantial allegation that
furnishing identity at the time of a stop would have given the police a link in the chain of evidence
needed to convict the individual of a separate offense.”
29
disclosure of Kroschel’s name and date of birth were directly incriminating and highly
testimonial thus implicating Fifth Amendment protection.
¶36
The narrow purpose of the Miranda rule is to minimize the risk of involuntary
self-incrimination in the inherently coercive circumstances of “incommunicado
interrogation” in a “police-dominated” environment. Miranda, 384 U.S. at 445-63, 86
S. Ct. at 1612-21.
Though initially starting and progressing as a valid temporary
investigative stop, with permissible non-custodial interrogation reasonably related thereto,
the permissible non-custodial interrogation evolved and ripened into an incommunicado
interrogation in a secluded, police-dominated environment under circumstances that were
highly coercive in their totality. Kroschel’s eventual disclosure of her true name and date
of birth, and the resulting police confirmation thereof, resulted from a Fifth Amendment
custodial interrogation seeking directly incriminating information without a Miranda
advisory and waiver. Consequently, the resulting State’s evidence of Kroschel’s age, date
of birth, and the fact that she gave false information to police was inadmissible pursuant to
the exclusionary rule of Miranda. See Morrisey, ¶ 29; Munson, ¶ 20; Miranda, 384 U.S.
at 476, 86 S. Ct. at 1629. Therefore, we hold that the Municipal Court erroneously denied
Kroschel’s motion to suppress evidence.
CONCLUSION
¶37
We hold that the Municipal Court correctly concluded that Officer Parsons had
sufficient particularized suspicion of criminal activity under the Fourth Amendment,
Article II, Section 11 of the Montana Constitution, and § 46-5-401, MCA, to initially stop
30
Kroschel and briefly question her about her name, age, and conduct regarding the offense
of minor in possession of alcohol. We hold further that the Municipal Court correctly
concluded that Officer Parsons had sufficient particularized suspicion of criminal activity
to continue to detain Kroschel for further investigation for a reasonable time after the initial
UM and CJIN database checks returned no record on the name and date of birth provided.
However, under the totality of the circumstances of this case, we hold that the continuing
temporary investigative stop and related non-custodial interrogation ripened into a
custodial interrogation without a Miranda advisory and waiver in violation of the Fifth
Amendment and Article II, Section 25 of the Montana Constitution. Therefore, we hold
that the Municipal Court erroneously denied Kroschel’s motion to suppress evidence under
the particular facts and circumstances of this case.
¶38
Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded.
/S/ DIRK M. SANDEFUR
We concur:
/S/ MIKE McGRATH
/S/ JIM RICE
/S/ BETH BAKER
Concurring
Ingrid Gustafson
31
Justice Ingrid Gustafson, specially concurring.
¶39
While I concur with the majority that this matter should be reversed and remanded
to the District Court to grant Kroschel’s motion to suppress evidence, I do not agree with
the majority’s conclusion that police had sufficient particularized suspicion to prolong the
investigatory stop after database checks returned no record on the name and date of birth
provided.
¶40
The majority concludes, “Here, unlike in Driscoll, the negative returns on the UM
and CJIN database checks on the name and date of birth given by Kroschel . . . added an
additional particularized factual basis upon which to continue to suspect that Kroschel had
committed the offense of MIP . . . .” Opinion, ¶ 19. The majority’s attempt to distinguish
this case from Driscoll is, at best, strained. In Driscoll, Driscoll was in a bar, holding an
alcoholic beverage. Based on Driscoll’s youthful appearance, officers approached him and
asked his age. When he reported he was twenty-two years old, officers then requested
proof of identification verifying his age. He declined to provide such. Driscoll, ¶ 5. The
officers then requested Driscoll step outside and provide his name and date of birth.
Driscoll, ¶¶ 5-6. Driscoll gave them a false name and date of birth. The name and date of
birth returned no record in the CJIN database. The officers immediately arrested Driscoll
and charged him with MIP and obstructing a peace officer. Driscoll, ¶¶ 6-7.
¶41
Here, the salient facts are nearly identical to Driscoll. Kroschel and her friend were
walking arm-in-arm in an unsteady manner. Officer Parsons approached the two women
and testified she smelled alcohol on them. Officer Parsons requested proof of identification
32
verifying their age. Kroschel declined to provide identification because it was back in her
coat pocket. Officer Parsons requested Kroschel’s name and date of birth.1 Kroschel gave
Officer Parsons her name, albeit misspelled, and a false date of birth. Kroschel’s name and
date of birth returned no record in the UM and CJIN databases. Officer Parsons then asked
Kroschel to accompany her “to the station.” Here, Officer Parsons had nearly identical
information regarding Kroschel as the officers had regarding Driscoll.
¶42
Despite the similar facts, the majority distinguishes Driscoll because “Officer
Parsons articulated additional facts supporting her continuing suspicion.” Opinion, ¶ 18.
The majority asserts, in addition to the articulated observations (similar to those articulated
in Driscoll), Officer Parsons had knowledge, based on experience, “that negative returns
on UM and CJIN database name checks on young people present on the UM campus
usually indicate a false name or date of birth.” Opinion, ¶ 18. However, the majority fails
to recognize the officers in Driscoll clearly possessed the same knowledge, because the
officers arrested Driscoll when the CJIN check returned no record of the name and date of
birth he provided. Driscoll, ¶ 6.
¶43
The majority also distinguishes Driscoll because “the negative returns on the UM
and CJIN database checks gave rise to additional particularized suspicion, as articulated
1
The majority fails to recognize requesting a date of birth is not within the information an officer
may request under § 46-5-401(2)(a), MCA (allowing a peace officer to “request the person’s name
and present address and an explanation of the person’s actions”). One’s date of birth is an element
of the offense of MIP. Section 45-5-624(1), MCA (“A person under 21 years of age commits the
offense of possession of an intoxicating substance if the person knowingly consumes or has in the
person’s possession an intoxicating substance.”). Therefore, when Officer Parsons asked Kroschel
for her date of birth, she was asking Kroschel to violate her Fifth Amendment right against
self-incrimination without having been read her Miranda rights.
33
by the officer based on her particular experience in similar circumstances, that Kroschel
had then also committed the additional offense of obstructing a peace officer.” Opinion,
¶ 20. However, Driscoll was also charged with both MIP and obstructing a peace officer
after he provided a false name and date of birth. Driscoll, ¶¶ 6-7. In Driscoll, we stated
that “the officers failed to articulate any reason in their report for continuing their
questioning of Driscoll after he responded that he was 22.” Driscoll, ¶ 14. Therefore,
without more facts, the investigatory stop in Driscoll should have stopped when Driscoll
stated he was twenty-two years old (prior to running his name and date of birth through
any database). Driscoll, ¶¶ 14-15. The majority’s reasoning that the databases search
constitutes additional articulated facts to extend the investigatory stop fails to
recognize that, based on Driscoll, when Kroschel gave Officer Parsons her name and date
of birth—stating she was over the drinking age—the investigatory stop should have ended.
Furthermore, Kroschel repeatedly stated the same name and date of birth to Officer
Parsons. Opinion, ¶ 3. Based on Driscoll, the investigatory stop should have ended after
Kroschel provide a name and date of birth, because at that point Officer Parsons had no
articulable facts that Kroschel was underage other than Officer Parsons’s assumption that
college students lie. At a minimum, the investigatory stop should have ended when the
databases returned nothing on the name and date of birth given by Kroschel because the
negative return failed to give rise to any additional articulable facts that Kroschel was
underage. Nevertheless, the majority’s assumption that the negative result in the databases
34
gave Officer Parsons cause to extend the scope of the investigatory stop is contrary to our
holding in Driscoll.
¶44
The record of the Municipal Court proceeding reflects that Officer Parsons observed
Kroschel’s companion, not Kroschel, to be unsteady on her feet. Neither student was
carrying a drink. Officer Parsons testified that she could smell alcohol. The focus appears
to have shifted to Kroschel based on her recalcitrance and refusal to answer questions,
rather than articulable suspicions she had committed a crime. The testimony reflects that
Kroschel was then subjected to questioning outside the scope of the statute, and was not
permitted to leave. Consistent with our holding in Driscoll, I would conclude Officer
Parsons did not have sufficient particularized suspicion of criminal activity to continue to
detain Kroschel for further investigation after the UM and CJIN database checks returned
no record on the name and date of birth provided.
¶45
Not only did Officer Parsons lack a basis for the stop under the Fourth Amendment,
the Montana Constitution more expansively protects citizens’ rights from unreasonable
searches and seizures and invasions of their privacy. Mont. Const. art. II, §§ 10 and 11.
This Court has previously held it is unreasonable for a police officer to arrest and detain a
person for a non-jailable offense when there are no circumstances to justify an immediate
arrest. State v. Bauer, 2001 MT 248, ¶ 33, 307 Mont. 105, 36 P.3d 892. In the absence of
special circumstances such as a concern for the safety of the offender or the public, a person
stopped for a non-jailable offense such as a MIP “should not be subjected to the indignity
35
of an arrest and police station detention when a simple, non-intrusive notice to appear
pursuant to § 46-6-310(1), MCA, will serve the interests of law enforcement.” Bauer, ¶ 33.
¶46
The holding in Bauer is consistent with the legislative history of § 46-5-401, MCA.
H.B. 40, 58th Leg. (2003). Representative Brad Newman carried the bill for the Montana
Department of Justice. Hearing on Mont. H.B. 40, 58th Leg., before the S. Comm. on
Judiciary at 11 (March 11, 2003). The original bill draft provided that an officer could
“demand” a name and address from a citizen even if she is not operating a motor vehicle.
Mont. H.B. 40.01, 58th Leg. (2003). The Legislature rejected the verb “demand” in favor
of a mere “request” for a name and address. Mont. H.B. 40.03, 58th Leg. (2003).
¶47
Officer
Parsons’s
extended
investigatory
stop
detaining
Kroschel
was
unconstitutional because MIP is a non-jailable offense and no special circumstances were
present to justify detention. In fact, Officer Parsons specifically dispelled any special
circumstances by asking Kroschel if she was okay, to which she replied affirmatively. In
accordance with Bauer and § 46-5-401, MCA, Officer Parsons’s investigatory stop for a
MIP should have ended by citing Kroschel for MIP at the site of the initial stop or letting
her go without citation. The majority’s opinion fails to set a clear line as to how long an
investigatory stop can extend when no special circumstances or probable cause exists for
immediate arrest. Therefore, Officer Parsons’s repeated demands for Kroschel’s name and
date of birth exceeded the scope of the statute and unlawfully detained Kroschel for a
non-jailable offense because there were no circumstances to justify immediate arrest.
36
¶48
I concur with the majority’s conclusion that the stop ripened into a custodial
interrogation without a Miranda advisory in violation of the Fifth Amendment and
Article II, Section 25 of the Montana Constitution such that Kroschel’s motion to suppress
evidence was erroneously denied.
/S/ INGRID GUSTAFSON
Judge Eli
Dissenting
James Jeremiah Shea
District Court Judge Elizabeth Best
Sitting for Justice Laurie McKinnon
Justice James Jeremiah Shea, specially concurring.
¶49
I join Justice Gustafson’s Concurrence and Dissent because it crafts a bright line for
what constitutes reasonably necessary detention and investigation when an individual is
suspected of committing a non-jailable offense. Beyond that, however, I write separately
because it bears noting that, as the majority acknowledges, this case is ultimately being
resolved on Fifth Amendment grounds. Opinion, ¶ 20, n.8. Thus, the ostensible holding
of Issue One is effectively an advisory opinion, if not outright dicta. The majority states:
Since we ultimately resolve this case on Fifth Amendment grounds, we need
not address Kroschel’s additional Fourth Amendment and related statutory
contention that, even if police permissibly prolonged the initial stop after the
UM and CJIN database checks returned no record contradicting the
information given by Kroschel, her continued detention and questioning soon
37
evolved into an unreasonably prolonged constitutional seizure and statutory
detention after the second round of questioning near the stadium exit
developed no new facts supporting a continuing particularized suspicion that
Kroschel was underage or provided false information to police.
Opinion, ¶ 20, n.8. In fact, since we ultimately resolve this case on Fifth Amendment
grounds, we need not address any of Kroschel’s Fourth Amendment and related statutory
contentions. Since the Court is unanimous in its conclusion that the police violated
Kroschel’s Fifth Amendment rights and the evidence should be suppressed on that basis, I
view an advisory opinion on the scope of any Fourth Amendment violations as both
unnecessary and imprudent. If the Court is determined to wade into that end of the pool,
however, I think it is incumbent upon us to get both feet wet and not simply ignore
Kroschel’s contention that “her continued detention and questioning soon evolved into an
unreasonably prolonged constitutional seizure and statutory detention . . . .” Opinion, ¶ 20,
n.8. Otherwise, it’s not clear to me what advice the advisory part of the majority’s opinion
is offering.
¶50
The majority concludes “Officer Parsons had sufficient particularized suspicion of
criminal activity . . . to continue to detain Kroschel for further investigation after the UM
and CJIN database checks returned no record on the name and date of birth provided.”
Opinion, ¶ 20. But as the majority notes, “the duration and scope of a stop may not exceed
what is reasonably necessary to confirm or dispel the predicate suspicion for the stop.”
Opinion, ¶ 13 (citing Royer, 460 U.S. at 500, 103 S. Ct. at 1325–26; Terry, 392 U.S. at
17-20, 88 S. Ct. at 1878–79). In this case, the predicate suspicion was that Kroschel was a
MIP, a non-jailable offense. This necessarily begs the question: What further investigation
38
is reasonably necessary and appropriate when the predicate suspicion is a non-jailable
offense? As Justice Gustafson correctly notes in her Concurrence and Dissent, we have
already answered that question in Bauer. Gustafson Concurrence and Dissent, ¶ 7.
¶51
In Bauer, we held that it is unreasonable for a police officer to arrest and detain a
person for a non-jailable offense when there are no circumstances to justify an immediate
arrest. Bauer, ¶ 33. The special circumstances we identified in Bauer were “a concern for
the safety of the offender or the public.” Bauer, ¶ 33. As Justice Gustafson notes, there
were no such special circumstances present here. Gustafson Concurrence and Dissent, ¶ 9.
Thus, there was no basis for Kroschel’s continued detention.
¶52
Officer Parsons was on uniformed foot patrol at the football game “with the specific
duty assignment of patrolling and issuing citations for underage drinking in violation of
§ 45-5-624, MCA . . . .” Opinion, ¶ 2 (emphasis added). If Officer Parsons thought she
had a valid basis to cite Kroschel for MIP, she could have issued her a citation on the spot,
consistent with her specific duty assignment. Yet, as the majority Opinion aptly describes,
this situation escalated into three rounds of questioning, culminating in a custodial
interrogation by two officers in a secluded room—all to investigate a non-jailable offense.
The majority Opinion’s endorsement of a nebulous right to continue to detain for further
investigation brings little, if any, clarity to this situation that may prevent such an
escalation in the future. Under these circumstances, it seems that the interests of law
enforcement—as well as our Constitution—would be better served by “a simple, nonintrusive notice to appear . . . .” Bauer, ¶ 33. I therefore agree with Justice Gustafson’s
39
conclusion that “[i]n accordance with Bauer and § 46-5-401, MCA, Officer Parsons’s
investigatory stop for a MIP should have ended by citing Kroschel for MIP at the site of
the initial stop or letting her go without citation.” Gustafson Concurrence and Dissent, ¶ 9.
/S/ JAMES JEREMIAH SHEA
40