STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. JAMIR TIMMONS (17-01-0071, ESSEX COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) ( 2021 )

NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE
APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION
This opinion shall not "constitute precedent or be binding upon any court ." Although it is posted on the
internet, this opinion is binding only on the parties in the case and its use in other cases is limited. R. 1:36-3.
SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY
APPELLATE DIVISION
DOCKET NO. A-0204-18
STATE OF NEW JERSEY,
Plaintiff-Respondent,
v.
JAMIR TIMMONS, a/k/a
JAMIR MALIK TIMMONS,
and JAMIR M. TIMMINS,
Defendant-Appellant.
________________________
Submitted December 1, 2020 – Decided March 5, 2021
Before Judges Gilson and Moynihan.
On appeal from the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law
Division, Essex County, Indictment No. 17-01-0071.
Joseph E. Krakora, Public Defender, attorney for
appellant (Patrick D. Laconi, Designated Counsel, on
the brief).
Theodore N. Stephens II, Acting Essex County
Prosecutor, attorney for respondent (Frank J. Ducoat,
Special Deputy Attorney General/Acting Assistant
Prosecutor, of counsel and on the brief).
PER CURIAM
Defendant Jamir Timmons pleaded guilty to second-degree unlawful
possession of a loaded .38-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver, N.J.S.A. 2C:39-
5(b), recovered from a fanny pack he was wearing and appeals from that
judgment of conviction pursuant to Rule 3:5-7(d), arguing:
POINT I
THE PRE-TRIAL COURT SHOULD HAVE
SUPPRESSED THE EVIDENCE OF MARIJUANA
AND THE HANDGUN RECOVERED FROM
[DEFENDANT'S] PERSON DURING THE SEARCH
INCIDENT TO [DEFENDANT'S] ARREST
BECAUSE THE POLICE [OFFICER] SEIZED
[DEFENDANT] WITHOUT A REASONABLE
ARTICULABLE SUSPICION THAT [DEFENDANT]
WAS ENGAGED IN, OR ABOUT TO ENGAGE IN,
CRIMINAL ACTIVITY, RENDERING THE
RECOVERY OF MARIJUANA AND THE
HANDGUN FRUIT OF THE POISONOUS TREE. [1]
A. The Pre-Trial Court Erred in Failing to
Find [t]hat [Defendant] Had Turned Away
[f]rom and Walked Away [f]rom [the
Officer's] Patrol Vehicle Immediately Prior
[t]o [t]he Interaction Between [the Officer]
and [Defendant].
B. The Pre-Trial Court Erred in Holding the
Police's Initial Interaction with
1
Defendant was arrested for possession of the revolver and marijuana. After
defendant moved to suppress the revolver and the marijuana, the marijuana
possession charge, N.J.S.A. 2C:35-10(a)(4), was dismissed.
A-0204-18
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[Defendant] [W]as a Valid Field Inquiry
and Not a Seizure Under the Fourth
Amendment.
C. The Police Seized [Defendant] Without
Reasonable Suspicion that Criminal
Activity [W]as Afoot; Therefore the
Seizure Violated the Fourth Amendment.
D. The Pre-Trial Court Erred [i]n Not
Suppressing [t]he Evidence of Illegal
Drugs and the Handgun Found on
[Defendant's] [P]erson [A]s a Result of an
Unlawful Seizure [A]s Fruit of the
Poisonous Tree.
POINT II
IF THE COURT DOES NOT REVERSE THE PRE-
TRIAL COURT'S ORDERS DENYING
[DEFENDANT'S] MOTION TO SUPPRESS AND
MOTION TO RECONSIDER PURSUANT TO POINT
I ABOVE, AND HOLDS AT THE POINT WHEN
[THE OFFICER] SAID TO [DEFENDANT],
"EXCUSE ME, SIR," THE ENCOUNTER BETWEEN
[THE OFFICER] AND [DEFENDANT] DID NOT
RISE TO THE LEVEL OF A SEIZURE UNDER THE
FOURTH AMENDMENT, THE PRE-TRIAL COURT
ERRED IN FAILING TO SUPPRESS THE
MARIJUANA AND HANDGUN SEIZED FROM
[DEFENDANT'S] PERSON AS A RESULT OF AN
UNCONSTITUTIONAL FIELD INQUIRY BASED
ON IMPERMISSIBLE CRITERIA.
We determine these arguments are without merit and affirm substantially for the
reasons set forth in Judge Michael L. Ravin's well-reasoned written decisions
A-0204-18
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denying defendant's motion to suppress the handgun and marijuana and motion
to reconsider that denial.
At an evidentiary hearing, Judge Ravin heard testimony from the Irvington
police officer who found and seized the evidence. From that testimony, the
judge found that on September 26, 2016, the uniformed officer was assigned to
patrol a sector in Irvington which had experienced, as described by defendant in
his merits brief, "a slew of robberies" committed by suspects variously described
in a crime-alert flyer that was given to the officer prior to the start of his patrol:
DUE TO THE RECENT INCREASE IN FIREARM
ROBBERIES TOWN[-]WIDE[,] ALL UNITS ARE TO
BE ON THE LOOK OUT FOR TWO BL[AC]K
MALES BETWEEN THE
AGES: 20-25
WEIGHT: 130-160
SKIN TONE: LIGHT[-]SKINNED AND DARK[-
]SKINNED
HAIR STYLE: LOW[-]CUT HAIR—DREAD LOCKS
HOODED SWEAT . . . SHIRTS TO CONCEAL
THEIR FACES.
While on patrol that evening in a marked police unit, the officer observed
defendant walking with another male and deduced the two individuals matched
the description in the flyer. The judge noted defendant "was not doing anything
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illegal" and the officer did not "notice any contraband on [d]efendant." But,
because the two matched the description in the flyer, the officer drove in
defendant's direction, stopped and exited his vehicle. As defendant and the
officer approached each other, the officer said, "[e]xcuse me, sir."
Defendant contests the judge's findings as to what ensued during that
encounter, contending the officer's testimony contradicted his prior accounts
during the grand jury proceeding and in his incident report, as well as his
suppression-hearing testimony during cross-examination. Particularly,
defendant argues the judge erred by finding defendant was walking toward the
officer in light of other testimony in which the officer said defendant briskly
walked away from him.
While we review a motion judge's legal conclusions de novo, State v.
Dunbar, 229 N.J. 521, 538 (2017), our "review of a motion judge's factual
findings in a suppression hearing is highly deferential," State v. Gonzales, 227
N.J. 77, 101 (2016). We defer to those findings because they "are substantially
influenced by [the judge's] opportunity to hear and see the witnesses and to have
the 'feel' of the case, which a reviewing court cannot enjoy." State v. Lamb, 218
N.J. 300, 313 (2014) (quoting State v. Elders, 192 N.J. 224, 244 (2007)). We
are obliged to uphold a motion judge's factual findings so long as there is
A-0204-18
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sufficient credible evidence in the record to support the judge's findings, Elders,
192 N.J. at 243, and will reverse only when the trial court's findings "are so
clearly mistaken 'that the interests of justice demand intervention and
correction,'" id. at 244 (quoting State v. Johnson, 42 N.J. 146, 162 (1964)).
As Judge Ravin wrote in his opinion denying the suppression motion, he
"heard the testimony and observed the tone and demeanor of [the officer]" and,
observing that "[h]is testimony was reasonable [and that] he did not hesitate to
answer questions and was forthcoming when he did not remember or know an
answer[,]" found the officer credible. The judge recognized the discrepancies
between the officer's report and testimony but "did not detect an intent to
deceive." The judge's conclusion that defendant was walking toward the officer,
based on the officer's direct testimony deemed credible by the judge, is ent itled
to our deference.
Moreover, even if defendant had been walking away from the officer, that
fact would have had no impact on the judge's finding that the officer's initial
encounter with defendant was a field inquiry, described by our Supreme Court
as "a voluntary encounter between the police and a member of the public in
which the police ask questions and do not compel an individual to answer ," and
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during which the individual is free to leave. State v. Rosario, 229 N.J. 263, 271
(2017); see also Elders, 192 N.J. at 246.
Although defendant argues the encounter at that point was an
investigatory stop, sometimes referred to as a Terry2 stop, implicating
constitutional requirements of "specific and articulable facts which, taken
together with rational inferences from those facts," provide "a reasonable
suspicion of criminal activity," Elders, 192 N.J. at 247 (quoting State v.
Rodriguez, 172 N.J. 117, 126 (2002)); see also Rosario, 229 N.J. at 272, there
is no such impediment to an officer approaching a person and engaging in a
voluntary conversation, see State v. Stampone, 341 N.J. Super. 247, 252 (App.
Div. 2001). An individual's Fourth Amendment rights are not violated by police
simply "approaching [him] on the street or in another public place, by asking
him if he is willing to answer some questions, by putting questions to him if the
person is willing to listen, or by offering in evidence in a criminal prosecution
his voluntary answers to such questions." Florida v. Royer, 460 U.S. 491, 497
(1983); see also State v. Davis, 104 N.J. 490, 497 (1986). "[A] field [inquiry]
is not a Fourth Amendment event 'so long as the officer does not deny the
individual the right to move.'" State v. Egan, 325 N.J. Super. 402, 409 (Law
2
Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968).
A-0204-18
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Div. 1999) (quoting State v. Sheffield, 62 N.J. 441, 447 (1973)). As Judge Ravin
determined, that is precisely what happened here.
We have previously held a police officer does not illegally seize an
individual when an officer makes a U-turn to follow the individual where, as
here, the officer does so without activating the vehicle's siren or otherwise
asserting his or her authority. See State v. Hughes, 296 N.J. Super. 291, 296-97
(App. Div. 1997). Further, the officer did not "make demands or issue orders,"
and did not ask any questions that were "overbearing or harassing in nature,"
Davis, 104 N.J. at 497 n.6; see also Rodriguez, 172 N.J. at 126, nor did he, at
that point, accuse defendant of any wrongdoing, see State v. Nishina, 175 N.J.
502, 510 (2003).
As Judge Ravin concluded, the officer's simple statement—"[e]xcuse me,
sir"—would not cause an objectively reasonable person to have felt she or he
was not "free to leave or to terminate the encounter with police." Rosario, 229
N.J. at 273. Defendant made the decision—whether he was walking toward or
away—to stop and engage the officer. As stated in defendant's merits brief,
when the officer said, "[e]xcuse me, sir," "at that point, defendant stopped and
began speaking with [the officer]." He did not "attempt[] to terminate the
contact by departing" or "clearly express[] a desire not to cooperate." State v.
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Stovall, 170 N.J. 346, 358 (2002) (quoting 4 Wayne R. LaFave, Search and
Seizure § 9.3(a), at 102-03 (3d ed. 1996)).
That changed, however, when the officer asked defendant if he possessed
any marijuana. See State ex rel. J.G., 320 N.J. Super. 21, 30 (App. Div. 1999)
(holding an officer's question, "you do not have anything you shouldn't ,"
"converted [a] field inquiry into a Terry stop detention"); see also State v.
Contreras, 326 N.J. Super. 528, 540 (App. Div. 1999) (holding a police
encounter where "the officers spoke to defendants in a conversational tone and
. . . did not draw their weapons or use handcuffs," was converted to a seizure by
asking "defendants whether they had any contraband on them," questions
deemed "overbearing or harassing in nature").
Judge Ravin correctly determined defendant was seized at that juncture;
but the officer had "specific and articulable facts which, taken together with
rational inferences from those facts," provided "a reasonable suspicion of
criminal activity." Elders, 192 N.J. at 247 (quoting Rodriguez, 172 N.J. at 126).
As the judge found, from a distance of about sixty-two inches the officer
detected the smell of "raw marijuana emanating from [d]efendant." The judge
credited the officer's testimony that, in his fifteen years on the force, he had
training and experience in the smell of marijuana, and found that under the
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totality of the circumstances, the officer had a reasonable suspicion that
defendant possessed marijuana, thus justifying the investigatory stop.
Judge Ravin's ruling followed the two-step analysis, recognized by our
Supreme Court, set forth in United States v. Cortez, 449 U.S. 411, 418 (1981),
for determining whether the totality of circumstances
creates a "particularized suspicion." A court must first
consider the officer's objective observations. The
evidence collected by the officer is "seen and weighed
not in terms of library analysis by scholars, but as
understood by those versed in the field of law
enforcement." "[A] trained police officer draws
inferences and makes deductions . . . that might well
elude an untrained person. The process does not deal
with hard certainties, but with probabilities." Second,
a court must determine whether the evidence "raise[s] a
suspicion that the particular individual being stopped is
engaged in wrongdoing."
[Davis, 104 N.J. at 501 (alterations in original)
(citations omitted) (quoting Cortez, 449 U.S. at 418).]
We agree with his assessment that the stop was supported by the reasonable and
articulable suspicion that defendant possessed marijuana based on the officer's
recognition of the smell coming from defendant.
Responding to the officer's inquiry, defendant admitted he had marijuana
in his fanny pack. The officer told defendant to surrender the marijuana. When
defendant opened the fanny pack, the officer immediately recognized the handle
A-0204-18
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of a gun protruding from the bag. Defendant was arrested for possessing the
firearm. Marijuana was discovered in the search incident to defendant's arrest.
Defendant does not challenge that the firearm was properly seized under
the plain view doctrine 3 or the marijuana was seized pursuant to a valid search
incident to arrest. See Chimel v. California, 395 U.S. 752, 762-63 (1969); see
also State v. Gibson, 218 N.J. 277, 299 (2014). He argues the seizure of that
evidence was the fruit of the improper investigatory stop. In that we agree with
3
The plain view doctrine permits law enforcement to seize contraband without
a warrant under the following conditions:
First, the police officer must be lawfully in the viewing
area.
Second, the officer has to discover the evidence
"inadvertently," meaning that he did not know in
advance where evidence was located nor intend
beforehand to seize it.
Third, it has to be "immediately apparent" to the police
that the items in plain view were evidence of a crime,
contraband, or otherwise subject to seizure.
[State v. Bruzzese, 94 N.J. 210, 236 (1983) (citations
omitted) (quoting Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403
U.S. 443, 466 (1971)), overruled in part by Gonzales,
227 N.J. 77.]
Later, in Gonzales, the Court "reject[ed] the inadvertence prong as a component
of the plain-view exception as articulated in Bruzzese." 227 N.J. at 101.
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Judge Ravin that the initial contact with defendant was a field inquiry that
transformed into an investigatory stop based on a reasonable and articulable
suspicion that defendant possessed marijuana, leading to the plain view seizure
of the handgun and the marijuana seizure following defendant's arrest, there is
no reason to suppress the evidence under the exclusionary rule.
We also reject defendant's contention that the field inquiry was
impermissibly based on defendant's race. Of course,
the questioning of [a] defendant as part of a field
inquiry is not sustainable if the officers approached him
and his companions solely because of their race and
age. Although a field inquiry may be conducted in the
absence of grounds for suspicion without violating the
Fourth Amendment or Article I, paragraph 7 of the New
Jersey Constitution, that does not mean the police may
rely on impermissible criteria to question individuals.
[State v. Maryland, 167 N.J. 471, 484 (2001).]
But that is not what happened in this case. The officer approached
defendant not solely because he was a black male, although that was part of the
description of the robbers in the flyer the officer received before beginning his
patrol. As Judge Ravin observed in his reconsideration-motion opinion,
defendant was in the same area where the robberies were committed. He was
wearing similar clothing to that described, albeit common garb. Defendant's
age—eighteen—was close to that of the suspects. And, as the officer testified,
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he believed both defendant and the person initially with him matched the
description.
Judge Ravin found the field inquiry was not based solely on defendant's
race, but on the legitimate need to inquire into the rash of robberies in the
officer's sector; the record contains sufficient, credible evidence to support this
finding. See Stovall, 170 N.J. at 363 (concluding that, if officer had "failed to
investigate suspicious behavior, he would have been derelict in his duty"
because "[a] police officer has the duty to investigate suspicious behavior").
That defendant may not have matched the exact description in the flyer should
not have curtailed the officer's initial approach. The rapidly unfolding events,
transitioning from field inquiry to investigatory stop after the officer smelled
marijuana when he closed to within about five feet from defendant at 9:30 p.m.
on a late-September evening, did not present the officer with any prolonged
exposure to defendant's appearance that would have lent support to defendant's
contention that "it should have been immediately obvious to [the officer] once
he observed [defendant] and the other person, that the two persons [did] not
match the suspects in the [flyer]."
We determine the balance of defendant's arguments to be without
sufficient merit to warrant discussion in this opinion. R. 2:11-3(e)(2).
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Affirmed.
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