MT: Other than def’s parking on a used car lot being suspicious, no other fact developed to show RS

Defendant’s vehicle was parked on a used car lot, but nothing else was going on. The officer who spotted the car called for backup and four officers came up to the vehicle from behind. Parking on the lot alone was suspicious, but no other fact developed that showed reasonable suspicion. State v. Hoover, 2017 MT 236, 2017 Mont. LEXIS 586 (Sept. 21, 2017):

[*P28] The foundation of the State’s cascading theory of particularized suspicion is similarly unsound here. Before the four uniformed officers appeared out of the dark and seized Hoover and his companion, they had no more than an undeveloped generalized suspicion or hunch of a possible break-in or illegal drug activity. As in Kaufman and Graham, even that initial generalized suspicion instantly evaporated the moment they shined a flashlight through the open passenger window and clearly saw exactly what Hoover and his companion were doing and no particularized indication of a possible break-in or illegal drug use. With their initial asserted justification gone, the officers neither saw nor articulated any particularized indication of anything other than lawful sexual activity between consenting adults. Reasonable or not, the officers’ belief that adults generally do not engage in consensual sexual activity in vehicles falls far short of what is necessary for an objectively reasonable, particularized suspicion of illegal sexual activity. As in Graham and Kaufman, the officers’ post-seizure observations could not in any event form a lawful basis for particularized suspicion justifying the stop in the first place. Based on our independent review of the record, we hold that the Justice Court’s ultimate finding that the officers had an objectively reasonable particularized suspicion that Hoover was engaged, or about to engage in, a storage unit break-in, illegal drug use, or nonconsensual sexual activity was clearly erroneous as a matter of fact.