Black v. State

• Citation: 795 N.E.2d 1061
• Decision Date: 16 September 2003
• Docket Number: No. 49A02-0207-CR-548.,49A02-0207-CR-548.
• Parties: Charles BLACK, Appellant-Defendant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff.
• Court: Court of Appeals of Indiana

795 N.E.2d 1061

Charles BLACK, Appellant-Defendant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff.

No. 49A02-0207-CR-548.

Court of Appeals of Indiana.

September 16, 2003.

John L. Tompkins, Brown, Tompkins & Lory, Indianapolis, IN, Attorney for Appellant.

Steve Carter, Attorney General of Indiana, Christopher L. Lafuse, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, IN, Attorneys for Appellee.

OPINION

BARNES, Judge.

Case Summary

Charles Black appeals the trial court's denial of his motion to suppress. We affirm.

Issue

The sole issue is whether the trial court erred in denying Black's motion to suppress cocaine that police discovered inside his automobile.

Facts

On December 3, 2001, Indianapolis Police Department Detective Anthony Farrell received information that Black was dealing cocaine from a 1972 gold Chevrolet Caprice on Central Avenue in Indianapolis. Detective Farrell, who had had previous contact with Black, drove to Central Avenue and observed Black standing near a 1972 gold Caprice. During approximately one hour of surveillance, Detective Farrell observed six to eight people walk up and talk to Black, who would briefly enter the car, exit and return to the person, then appear to shake hands or exchange something with the person, who would then leave. Detective Farrell believed, based on his training and experience, that he had observed street level narcotics dealing.

After Black drove away from the scene, Detective Farrell, who was aware that Black's driver's license was suspended, requested that a uniformed officer in a marked vehicle pull Black over. Before that happened, Black pulled into a parking lot and got out of the vehicle. Police arrived immediately thereafter and placed Black under arrest for driving while suspended. An officer conducted a cursory search of the Caprice but failed to discover any contraband. Detective Farrell, however, had received information that Black hid cocaine under the steering column of his car. After arriving on the scene, Detective Farrell looked under the steering column of Black's car and did find what immediately appeared to be cocaine.

The State charged Black with dealing in cocaine, a Class A felony, possession of cocaine, a Class C felony, and driving while suspended, a Class A misdemeanor. Black moved to suppress the cocaine found in his car, which motion the trial court denied on May 1, 2002. This court has now agreed to decide an interlocutory appeal from this denial.

Analysis

Black challenges the legality of Detective Farrell's search of his vehicle and the trial court's denial of his motion to suppress the evidence discovered by Detective Farrell. When reviewing the denial of a motion to suppress evidence, we do not reweigh the evidence and consider conflicting evidence in a light most favorable to the trial court's ruling. Roehling v. State, 776 N.E.2d 961, 962-63 (Ind.Ct.App. 2002), trans. denied (2003). However, unlike the typical sufficiency of the evidence case where only the evidence favorable to the judgment is considered, we must also consider the uncontested evidence most favorable to the defendant. Id. at 963. The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution generally prohibits warrantless searches and seizures. Id. The State has the burden of proving that an exception to the warrant requirement existed at the time of a warrantless search. Id.

One exception to the warrant requirement arises when there is probable cause to believe that a vehicle contains contraband or evidence of a crime.¹ Gibson v. State, 733 N.E.2d 945, 951 (Ind.Ct. App.2000). Probable cause exists where the facts and circumstances would lead a reasonably prudent person to conclude that a search of the premises will uncover evidence of a crime. Id. at 952. Black does not dispute that the police, specifically Detective Farrell, had probable to cause to believe that the 1972 Caprice contained contraband. Detective Farrell had received a tip that Black was dealing drugs from the vehicle, which was corroborated by surveillance of the vehicle for one hour and the observation of frequent short-term traffic, including Black repeatedly entering and exiting the vehicle and then apparently exchanging items with others, that was consistent with narcotics dealing. See Edwards v. State, 682 N.E.2d 800, 805 (Ind. Ct.App.1997)

(holding that observation by experienced officers of high volume of traffic consistent with drug dealing to and from residence corroborated informant's claim that defendant was dealing drugs from the residence). Detective Farrell also had received information as to precisely where Black hid drugs in the vehicle, which led him to look specifically under the steering column of the vehicle.

The contested issue in this case is whether the police were entitled to search Black's vehicle without a warrant, so long as they had probable cause it contained contraband, or whether they were required to first obtain a warrant once the vehicle was "immobilized" due to Black's arrest and the subsequent police impoundment of the vehicle. Black contends there were no "exigent circumstances" justifying a warrantless search of the vehicle, citing this court's decision in Edwards v. State, 762 N.E.2d 128 (Ind.Ct. App.2002), aff'd on rehearing, 768 N.E.2d 506 (Ind.Ct.App.2002),

trans. denied. In Edwards, we noted that the original justification for the automobile exception to the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement was "the exigent circumstances arising out of the likely disappearance of the vehicle."²

762 N.E.2d at 134 (citing California v. Acevedo, 500 U.S. 565, 569, 111 S.Ct. 1982, 114 L.Ed.2d 619 (1991)). Because the police had impounded the defendant's car, we found the car was no longer "inherently mobile" and therefore unlikely to disappear. Edwards, 768 N.E.2d at 508. We held that, in such a case, the automobile exception to the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement did not apply. Id. See also Scott v. State, 775 N.E.2d 1207, 1210 (Ind.Ct.App.2002),

trans. denied (2003) ("If a vehicle is no longer `inherently mobile' and obtaining a search warrant is reasonably practicable, then the automobile exception does not apply."); Shepherd v. State, 690 N.E.2d 318, 323 (Ind.Ct.App. 1997),

trans. denied ("Where it is practicable to obtain a search warrant, it is unreasonable to conduct a warrantless search of an automobile."); Green v. State, 647 N.E.2d 694, 696 (Ind.Ct.App.1995) ("[B]ecause it was practicable ... to obtain a search warrant, it was unreasonable ... to conduct a warrantless search of Green's automobile. To hold otherwise would obviate the need to obtain a warrant to search a car whenever probable cause exists, contrary to the holdings under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution....").

Other decisions by this court have reached conclusions opposite those of Edwards, Scott, Shepherd, and Green. For example, we held in Johnson v. State, 766 N.E.2d 426, 433 (Ind.Ct.App.2002), trans. denied:

The justification for a warrantless search does not vanish once a car has been immobilized, nor does it depend upon the likelihood that the automobile would have been driven away in that particular case, or that the contents of the vehicle would have been tampered with, during the period required for the police to obtain a warrant.

(citing Michigan v. Thomas, 458 U.S. 259, 261, 102 S.Ct. 3079, 3080-81, 73 L.Ed.2d 750 (1982) (per curiam)). See also Justice v. State, 767 N.E.2d 995, 996 (Ind.Ct.App. 2002)

("[T]he Fourth Amendment does not require a separate exigency requirement for the automobile exception."); Cody v. State, 702 N.E.2d 364, 366 (Ind.Ct.App. 1998) ("An automobile may be searched without a warrant where there is probable cause to believe that the automobile contains articles that the officers are entitled to seize.").

The State asks this court to reconsider and reject the holding of Edwards and other cases that have reached similar conclusions regarding the automobile exception to the warrant requirement under the Fourth Amendment. Although the author of this opinion concurred in Edwards, and the concurring judge authored Shepherd, upon reconsideration we agree with the State that Edwards, Scott, Shepherd, and Green are incorrect on this point, and that Johnson, Justice, and Cody are correct. We also observe that although our supreme court denied transfer in Edwards, Scott, and Shepherd, "the denial of transfer does not necessarily reflect Supreme Court approval of decisions of the Court of Appeals in which transfer is sought." Journal-Gazette Co. v. Bandido's, Inc., 712 N.E.2d 446, 481 n. 7 (Ind. 1999).³ Moreover, where the Fourth Amendment is concerned, the United States Supreme Court is the ultimate authority, and it is the decisions of that court to which we must adhere. See Arkansas v. Sullivan, 532 U.S. 769, 772, 121 S.Ct. 1876, 1878, 149 L.Ed.2d 994 (2001)

.

The automobile exception to the warrant requirement was first announced in the Prohibition-era bootlegging case of Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132, 45 S.Ct. 280, 69 L.Ed. 543 (1925). There, the Supreme Court held, "the true rule is that if the search and seizure without a warrant are made upon probable cause, that is, upon a belief, reasonably arising out of circumstances known to the seizing officer, that an automobile or other vehicle contains that which by law is subject to seizure and destruction, the search and seizure are valid." Id. at 149, 45 S.Ct. at 283-84. The original stated justification for the rule was that "the vehicle can be quickly moved out of the locality or jurisdiction in which the warrant must be sought." Id. at 153, 45 S.Ct. at 285. However, warrantless automobile searches are valid even "where no immediate danger was presented that the car would be removed from the jurisdiction." South Dakota v. Opperman, 428 U.S. 364, 367, 96 S.Ct. 3092, 3096, 49 L.Ed.2d 1000 (1976). There are essentially two reasons for this. First, later cases have established...