Clark v. State, 41A01-0306-CR-224.

• Decision Date: 03 March 2004
• Docket Number: No. 41A01-0306-CR-224.,41A01-0306-CR-224.
• Parties: James E. CLARK, Appellant-Defendant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff.
• Court: Indiana Appellate Court

804 N.E.2d 196

James E. CLARK, Appellant-Defendant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff.

No. 41A01-0306-CR-224.

Court of Appeals of Indiana.

March 3, 2004.

Mark W. Rutherford, Laudig George Rutherford & Sipes, Indianapolis, IN, Attorney for Appellant.

Steve Carter, Attorney General of Indiana, Cynthia L. Ploughe, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, IN, Attorneys for Appellee.

OPINION

MATHIAS, Judge.

James Clark ("Clark") has been charged with Class A misdemeanor possession of marijuana in Johnson Superior Court. He filed a motion to suppress the marijuana found during a search of his vehicle after he was stopped for a seatbelt violation. The trial court denied his motion to suppress. Clark has filed this interlocutory appeal arguing that under Indiana Code section 9-19-10-3 and Article One, Section Eleven of the Indiana Constitution, a law enforcement officer investigating a seatbelt violation is prohibited from requesting and obtaining consent to search a vehicle. Concluding that the trial court abused its discretion when it denied Clark's motion to suppress, we reverse and remand with instructions to grant Clark's motion to suppress.

Facts and Procedural History

On December 13, 2002, Franklin Police Department Officer Joe Dillon ("Officer Dillon") was on patrol and observed Clark driving without wearing his seatbelt. Officer Dillon began to follow Clark and saw Clark put his seatbelt on. Officer Dillon then initiated a traffic stop, approached Clark's vehicle, and requested his driver's license and registration. Clark produced his driver's license, but did not have the vehicle registration. Officer Dillon noted that Clark appeared to be "unusually nervous." Tr. p. 7.

After confirming that the vehicle was registered, Officer Dillon returned Clark's license to him and gave him a warning ticket. Officer Dillon also asked Clark if he had anything illegal in the vehicle. Tr. p. 7. Clark responded that he did not. Officer Dillon then asked if he could take "a quick look in his car." Tr. p. 8. Clark said that that would be all right, but stated that his vehicle was running low on gas, which Officer Dillon confirmed. Therefore, Officer Dillon offered to follow Clark to a gas station and "take a quick look at his car" while Clark was purchasing gas. Tr. p. 8. Clark and Officer Dillon then drove to a nearby gas station.

When they arrived at the gas station, Clark exited his vehicle and told Officer Dillon that he could "go ahead and look." Tr. p. 10. Dillon proceeded to search the vehicle and found a plastic bag of marijuana inside the glove box. Clark was subsequently charged with Class A misdemeanor of possession of marijuana.

On February 25, 2003, Clark moved to suppress the marijuana. A hearing was held on his motion on March 25, 2003. At the hearing, Clark's counsel argued that Officer Dillon's search of Clark's vehicle was in violation of Indiana Code section 9-19-10-3 and Article One, Section Eleven of the Indiana Constitution.¹ On April 14, 2003, the trial court denied Clark's motion to suppress, but later certified its order for interlocutory appeal. Our court accepted jurisdiction of Clark's appeal on July 21, 2003.

Standard of Review

A trial court is afforded broad discretion in ruling on the admissibility of evidence, and we will reverse such a ruling only upon a showing of an abuse of discretion. Goodner v. State, 714 N.E.2d 638, 641 (Ind.1999). Additionally, our standard of review for the denial of a motion to suppress evidence is similar to other sufficiency issues. Edwards v. State, 759 N.E.2d 626, 630 (Ind.2001). We determine whether substantial evidence of probative value exists to support the trial court's denial of the motion. Simmons v. State, 781 N.E.2d 1151, 1154 (Ind.Ct.App.2002). We neither reweigh the evidence nor judge the credibility of witnesses. Id. Rather, we consider the evidence most favorable to the ruling together with any adverse evidence that is uncontradicted. State v. Glass, 769 N.E.2d 639, 641 (Ind.Ct.App. 2002), trans. denied.

Discussion and Decision

Clark argues that the search of his vehicle violated Article One, Section Eleven of the Indiana Constitution.² Under that Section, the State is required to show that, in the totality of the circumstances, the intrusion was reasonable. Baldwin v. Reagan, 715 N.E.2d 332, 337 (Ind.1999) (citing Brown v. State, 653 N.E.2d 77, 79 (Ind.1995)). Generally, where a law enforcement officer reasonably suspects that the individual is engaged in, or about to engage in illegal activity, a brief police detention of that individual is reasonable. Id. (citing Taylor v. State, 639 N.E.2d 1052, 1054 (Ind. Ct.App.1994)). "Reasonable suspicion exists where the facts known to the officer, together with the reasonable inferences arising from such facts, would cause an ordinarily prudent person to believe that criminal activity has or is about to occur." Id. (citing Taylor, 639 N.E.2d at 1054).

We also observe that "[t]he purpose of Article One, Section Eleven is to protect from unreasonable police activity those areas of life that Hoosiers regard as private." Brown, 653 N.E.2d at 79. Further, Section Eleven "must receive a liberal construction in its application to guarantee the people against unreasonable search and seizure." Id. Our supreme court has acknowledged that "Hoosiers regard their automobiles as private and cannot easily abide their uninvited intrusion." Id. at 80. The court has also indicated that it is "extremely hesitant to countenance their casual violation, even by law enforcement officers who are attempting to solve serious crimes." Id. at 80 n. 3.

In Baldwin, our supreme court addressed a challenge to the constitutionality of the Indiana Seatbelt Enforcement Act. Specifically, the plaintiffs argued that Indiana Code section 9-19-10-3 violated Article One, Section Eleven of the Indiana Constitution because it authorized law enforcement officers to stop vehicles without probable cause. Baldwin, 715 N.E.2d at 336. The court disagreed and concluded that the statute could be constitutionally applied because under Article One, Section Eleven law enforcement officers may only stop motorists where they have a reasonable suspicion that a seatbelt violation has occurred. Id. at 337.

Indiana Code section 9-19-10-3 provides: "A vehicle may be stopped to determine compliance with this chapter. However, a vehicle, the contents of a vehicle, the driver of a vehicle, or a passenger in a vehicle may not be inspected, searched, or detained solely because of a violation of this chapter."³ In Baldwin, the plaintiffs argued that the phrase "to determine compliance" provided law enforcement officers with unrestrained discretion to stop motorists to determine whether they were wearing their seatbelts. Id. at 338. In response to that argument, the Court noted the Attorney General's assertion that the General Assembly intended to limit, rather than expand, police authority when it passed the seatbelt law. Id. "More specifically, the legislature's principal concern could have been circumscribing the power of police to use a seatbelt stop as an opportunity to inspect, search, or detain on other grounds, even if federal constitutional law would permit such a stop."⁴Id.

The court then noted that under the Attorney General's interpretation of the statute, the second sentence of section 9-19-10-3 "is of prime importance" and "the first sentence is no more than an introduction." Id. at 339.

Read this way, the statute requires that when a stop to determine seat belt law compliance is made, the police are strictly prohibited from determining anything else, even if other law would permit. The Attorney General emphasized this point at oral argument by saying that he thought the statute could be read to prohibit a police officer making a seat belt stop from even asking the driver for consent to search the vehicle or its occupants.

Id. (emphasis added). The court then observed:

Although the consent issue is not before us today, we are inclined to think that this view is consistent with the statute's language that "a vehicle, the contents of a vehicle, the driver of a vehicle, or a passenger in a vehicle may not be inspected, searched, or detained solely because of a violation of" a seat belt stop.

Id. at 339 n. 8. The court concluded that the Attorney General's interpretation of the statute, i.e. that the General Assembly intended to provide motorists with protection from pretextual seatbelt searches and seizures previously sanctioned under federal law, was "reasonable and constitutional." Id.

In State v. Morris, 732 N.E.2d 224 (Ind. Ct.App.2000), our court addressed a challenge to the search of a vehicle made subsequent to a traffic stop for a seatbelt violation. In that case, during the traffic stop, the officer discovered that Morris' driver's license had been suspended. Id. at 226. After the officer asked Morris to step out of the vehicle, he also noted the odor of alcoholic beverage on Morris' breath. Id. A chemical breath test revealed that Morris' breath alcohol content was 0.10. Id.

After he was charged with driving while suspended and Class D felony operating a vehicle while intoxicated, Morris successfully moved to suppress the evidence of his license suspension and intoxication. Id. Morris argued that the evidence was obtained in violation of the Seatbelt Enforcement Act. Id. On appeal, we initially observed that under Baldwin and the plain language of the statute, a traffic stop based on the failure of either a driver or passenger to wear a seatbelt does not, standing alone, "provide reasonable suspicion for the police to unilaterally expand their investigation and `fish' for evidence of other possible crimes." Id. at 228. However, we concluded:

when circumstances arise after the initial stop that create reasonable suspicion of other crimes, further reasonable inspection, search, or detention is no longer "solely" because

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