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A northeastern Indiana man has failed to convince the Court of Appeals of Indiana that deputies violated his Fourth Amendment rights when they patted him down and arrested him after an anonymous noise complaint was called in against him.
Around midnight on May 31, 2020, Whitley County Sheriff’s Department deputies Brendan Barber and Gary Archbold were dispatched to a rural home after an anonymous 911 caller complained about noise at the residence.
Barber recognized the address and described it as a “common nuisance” property because deputies had been dispatched to the residence several times before and arrested the homeowner for dealing in methamphetamine five months earlier.
Upon arrival, deputies found John C. Miller and another individual standing near a barn and a female sitting inside the cab of a pickup truck. As Barber started to walk toward the two individuals near the barn, Miller began to walk away in the direction of the pickup truck.
Barber then walked toward Miller and asked him to return toward the deputy. Barber noticed Miller putting his hands in his pockets and taking them out, and Miller “positioned himself behind a bulldozer when [Deputy Barber] approached him.”
Miller eventually walked back toward Barber, and once they met the deputy began to perform a pat-down search.
Barber instructed Miller to put his hands on the back of his head and interlock his fingers, and told him he was performing the pat-down to make sure Miller did not have any weapons.
As Barber began to perform the pat-down on the left side of Miller’s body, Miller stepped forward, “almost as if you’re blading your body, trying to get away from that person.”
Miller tripped over Barber’s leg and fell to the ground and the deputy then secured Miller’s hands behind his back in handcuffs.
Barber escorted Miller to his police cruiser and completed the pat-down, which resulted in him finding a methamphetamine pipe in Miller’s right rear pocket.
At that point, the deputy believed he had probable cause to arrest Miller for possession of paraphernalia, and he proceeded to search inside Miller’s pockets. Barber then found a clear plastic bag on Miller containing what was later determined to be 24.17 grams of methamphetamine.
The state charged Miller with Level 4 felony possession of methamphetamine and Class C misdemeanor possession of paraphernalia.In December 2020, Miller filed a motion to suppress the evidence found during the Terry stop. Whitley Circuit Court denied the motion before a jury found Miller guilty on both counts.
Miller was then ordered to 1 ½ years in the Indiana Department of Correction while suspending the remaining 4 ½ years of his sentence to probation.
On appeal, Miller continued to argue for the motion to suppress, arguing his Fourth Amendment rights were violated.The COA wasn’t convinced, finding the facts supported reasonable suspicion for a pat-down and citing Smith v. State, 121 N.E.3d 669, 675 (Ind. Ct. App. 2019) and Patterson v. State, 958 N.E.2d 478, 482-83 (Ind. Ct. App. 2011).
“Given Miller walked away from Deputy Barber, was wearing a large coat that could have concealed a weapon, put his hands in and out of his pockets, and positioned himself behind a bulldozer, Deputy Barber was justified in conducting a pat-down search to see if Miller was armed,” Judge Melissa May wrote. “Miller’s lack of cooperation during the pat-down search only increased the degree of suspicion that he was armed. Therefore, Deputy Barber’s pat-down search of Miller did not violate Miller’s Fourth Amendment rights.”
The case is John C. Miller v. State of Indiana, 22A-CR-1055.
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