State V. Urioste

¶1 Defendant Rudolfo Urioste entered into a conditional plea for possession of a controlled substance contrary to NMSA 1978, § 30-31-23(D) (1990), reserving the right to appeal his conviction on the issue of suppression of evidence. Defendant argued that the cocaine should be suppressed because the information leading to his arrest was received by police through an anonymous tip and was not sufficiently corroborated to constitute reasonable suspicion to justify stopping Defendant on the highway. The district court entered findings of fact and conclusions of law and determined that the information and corroboration provided enough reasonable suspicion that the law was being violated. Defendant appealed his conviction. The Court of Appeals, in a memorandum opinion, affirmed the district court's finding that the information came from a confidential informant. State v. Urioste, NMCA 20,257, slip op. At 5-6 (Mar. 23, 2000). The Court determined the information was sufficiently corroborated and held that the information provided the reasonable suspicion necessary for the investigative stop. Id. We affirm the Court of Appeals.