Com. v. Bailey

• Decision Date: 25 July 1988
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Edmund BAILEY, Appellant.
• Court: Pennsylvania Superior Court

Page 942

545 A.2d 942

376 Pa.Super. 291

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Edmund BAILEY, Appellant.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued April 27, 1988.

Filed July 25, 1988.

John D. Fognano, Philadelphia, for appellant.

Sandra L. Elias, Deputy Dist. Atty., Media, for Com., appellee.

Before CAVANAUGH, WIEAND and DEL SOLE, JJ.

CAVANAUGH, Judge:

This is an appeal from a judgment of sentence entered in the Court of Common Pleas of Delaware County, sentencing the appellant to an eighteen (18) month to five (5) year term of incarceration following his conviction on the charge of possession with intent to deliver or manufacture a controlled substance and a six (6) to twelve (12) month term of incarceration on the charge of delivery of, possession with intent to deliver, or manufacture with the intent to deliver, drug paraphernalia. ¹ We affirm.

The facts as developed at trial are as follows. On May 22, 1986, State Trooper James D. Caccimelio observed the appellant operating a blue Chevrolet sedan on Interstate 95. The officer testified that he clocked the appellant travelling at a rate of 79 mph in the 55 mph zone; accordingly, he stopped the vehicle and asked for the appellant's driver's license and registration. When the appellant was unable to provide the foregoing documentation, Officer Caccimelio requested additional identification, whereupon the appellant removed a clear plastic bag containing a smaller bag filled with a white substances from the right breast pocket of his shirt. The officer testified that he "suspected it was a controlled substance of some sort." (N.T. 12/1/86 at p. 14.) He thereafter demanded to see the bag which the appellant had by that time returned to his pocket. In response to the trooper's request, the appellant produced a white opaque envelope from the same pocket but, not satisfied, Officer Caccimelio reached into the pocket himself and retrieved the clear plastic bag he had previously observed. He described the bag in the following manner at trial:

It was a small plastic bag containing a white substance inside. Now within the--within that small plastic bag was a smaller plastic bag probably one by two inches. And it had a substance inside of that.

(N.T. 12/1/86 at p. 16.)

Suspecting that the substance was methamphetamine, Officer Caccimelio directed the appellant to step out of the vehicle. He then led him to the rear of said vehicle, applied handcuffs and reached into the appellant's right front pants pocket; this search revealed an additional plastic bag containing a white substance. Miranda warnings were subsequently administered, whereupon Officer Caccimelio placed the appellant in his vehicle and proceeded to conduct a search of the Chevrolet sedan. He testified that during the course of this search, he detected a "chemical-type smell." ² After obtaining the keys from the appellant, the trooper opened the trunk of the Chevrolet sedan and found the following items:

... [T]wo metal pots. Within one pot was a plastic bag in--inside that was shredded aluminum foil. On the other side there was a a hot plate, a funnel, a brown bottle with the word methylamine on it, and a plastic bag containing suspected controlled substance.

(N.T. 12/1/86 at p. 33.)

The contents of the trunk were admitted into evidence at the jury trial, which commenced on December 2, 1986. ³ Verdicts of guilty as to all charges were rendered on December 3, 1986. Subsequent to the denial of Post-Trial motions, sentence was imposed on June 22, 1987. This is an appeal from the judgment of sentence.

The following issues have been raised on appeal:

Was it in error for the trial court to permit the introduction into evidence of items seized from the defendant's locked trunk as a result of a warrantless search, absent the police officer's independent probable cause to believe that contraband or the fruits of a crime can be found within the car's locked trunk?

Was it error for the trial court to permit the introduction into evidence of items seized from defendant's locked trunk as being incident to a lawful arrest?

After a thorough review of the record and controlling authority, we affirm.

In United States v. Ross, 456 U.S. 798, 102 S.Ct. 2157, 72 L.Ed.2d 572 (1982), the Supreme Court of the United States held that, "If probable cause justifies the search of a lawfully stopped vehicle, it justifies the search of every part of the vehicle and its contents that may conceal the object of the search." Id. at 825, 102 S.Ct. at 2173, 72 L.Ed.2d at 594. The Ross court was presented with a situation in which police had probable cause to conduct a warrantless search of a vehicle. A search of the trunk compartment yielded a closed paper bag which, when opened, revealed glassine bags containing a substance later determined to be heroin. An additional search disclosed a zippered red leather pouch containing currency. The driver of the vehicle was charged with violating 21 U.S.C. § 841(a) [21 USCS § 841(a) ], and the contents of both the paper bag and the pouch were submitted into evidence at trial. The defendant was convicted, but the conviction was reversed on appeal on the grounds that the warrantless search of the containers found within the trunk was invalid. ⁴ The Supreme Court reversed the lower court's ruling and held that the search was permissible. Justice Stevens, writing for the majority, examined a line of cases dealing with the automobile exception to the warrant requirement, and concluded that:

The scope of a warrantless search of an automobile thus is not defined by the nature of the container in which the contraband is secreted. Rather, it is defined by the object of the search and the places in which there is probable cause to believe that it may be found.

456 U.S. at 824, 102 S.Ct. at 2172, 72 L.Ed.2d at 593 (emphasis added).

It follows from the foregoing that if a police officer possesses probable cause to search a motor vehicle, he may then conduct a search of the trunk compartment without seeking to obtain probable cause relative to the particularized area.

Appellant herein challenges the applicability of Ross to the case sub judice. He cites Commonwealth v. Long, 489 Pa. 369, 414 A.2d 113 (1980) ⁵ in support of the proposition that, before a warrantless search is authorized, there must be "independent probable cause to believe that contraband or the fruits of a crime can be found within the car's locked trunk." (Appellant's Brief at 9). In Long, a case decided two years before Ross, our Supreme Court held that, "In reviewing the validity of a warrantless automobile search it must be recognized that the open areas of the car differ from the locked trunk, where the owner of the vehicle manifests a greater expectation of privacy." Id. at 375, 414 A.2d at 116. The decision in Long was based in part upon a suggestion in United States v. Chadwick, 433 U.S. 1, 97 S.Ct. 2476, 53 L.Ed.2d 538 (1976) that the diminished expectation of privacy normally attributable to motor vehicles does not apply to those areas "in which the owner has justifiably manifested a greater expectation of privacy." Id. 489 Pa. at 376, 414 A.2d at 116. However, both Long and Chadwick predate the ruling in Ross. Moreover, the Ross decision has frequently been cited by the Courts of this Commonwealth. ⁶ In Commonwealth v. Milyak, 508 Pa. 2, 493 A.2d 1346 (1985), our Supreme Court recognized that Ross authorized the warrantless search of unopened containers discovered within vehicles. Id. at 9, 493 A.2d at 1349-1350. More recently, in Commonwealth v. Neary, 355 Pa.Super. 92, 512 A.2d 1226 (1986), allocatur denied 515 Pa. 576, 527 A.2d 537 (1987) this court held that the search and seizure of a gym bag's contents was proper under the Ross rationale. Id. 355 Pa.Super. at 100, 512 A.2d at 1230. In Commonwealth v. Fleck, 324 Pa.Super. 227, 471 A.2d 547 (1984), we noted that, "A lawful search of fixed premises generally extends to the entire area in which the object of the search may be found and it is not limited by the possibility that separate acts of entry or opening may be required to complete the search." Id. at 234, 471 A.2d at 550 ( quoting Ross, supra, 456 U.S. at 820-821, 102 S.Ct. at 2170, 72 L.Ed.2d at 591). In light of the above, we are persuaded that the Ross rationale represents the standard which must be applied when reviewing searches and seizures of this nature in Pennsylvania. We specifically recognize that we cannot and ought not overrule Long. However, it is obvious to us that, while not explicitly reversing the ruling, our Supreme Court has recognized the validity of the Ross rationale and has implicitly adopted it for application in this Commonwealth.

Applying this standard to the facts at bar, it is clear that Officer Caccimelio had probable cause to search the trunk of the appellant's vehicle. The appellant was initially stopped for a traffic violation. The validity of this stop is not at issue. Officer Caccimelio first noticed what he suspected to be methamphetamine when the appellant removed a bag containing a white substance from his shirt pocket. He also detected a "chemical-type smell" during the course of his conversation with the appellant. This eventally led to a search of the Chevrolet sedan, during the course of which the trooper detected a "chemical-type smell." Based upon these observations, Officer Caccimelio searched the trunk of the appellant's car and uncovered the paraphernalia described above.

Under examination by the prosecution, the trooper testified with respect to his background and his competency in identifying narcotics. He had been a police officer in State College prior to joining the State Police force, a position which required twelve weeks of training at the State Police Academy in Hershey. Part of this training included some classroom experience with narcotics. As Officer Caccimelio stated, "There were several days devoted to training with controlled substances." (N...