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Ward v. State

The defendant's consent did not validate a search, which was the product of an unlawful detention.

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Karen Lynn Ward appeals her conviction for possessing methamphetamine, arguing that she was unlawfully detained and patted down by the arresting officer and that the trial court should have suppressed the drugs the officer found. For reasons that follow, we reverse. When considering the denial of a motion to suppress where the facts are undisputed, we review de novo the trial court’s application of the law to the facts.1 Here, Officer Reuben Beltran testified that while on routine patrol in the early morning hours of July 3, 2003, he noticed a vehicle with the driver’s side door ajar parked in front of a closed gas station. He stopped at the gas station and approached the vehicle. He noted two women in the vehicle; Ward was the driver. Initially, Officer Beltran suspected someone might be breaking into the vehicle. When he saw the two women, it also occurred to him that the vehicle might be disabled and the women in need of assistance.

Officer Beltran asked Ward why she was in the parking lot, and she replied that she was looking for a Super Wal-Mart. Officer Beltran asked Ward what route she had taken; when she responded, he told her that she had passed directly by the store. Ward then confessed that she had lied and that she and her passenger were going to a game room behind the gas station.

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