Hammond v. State
| Decision Date | 18 December 1996 |
| Docket Number | No. 62A01-9608-CR-248,62A01-9608-CR-248 |
| Citation | 675 N.E.2d 353 |
| Parties | Sherry HAMMOND, Appellant-Defendant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff. |
| Court | Indiana Appellate Court |
Sherry Hammond brings this interlocutory appeal from the trial court's denial of her motion to suppress. Hammond was charged by information with two counts of Dealing in a Schedule I Controlled Substance, as a Class B felony, and one count of Possession of Paraphernalia, as a Class A misdemeanor. Hammond moved to suppress the State's evidence against her on the grounds that it was the result of an unlawful arrest, search and seizure. After a hearing, the motion was denied. She then filed two motions to reconsider which were also denied. On appeal, Hammond presents several issues for our review which we consolidate into one dispositive issue: whether Hammond's arrest was unlawful.
We reverse and remand.
On November 27, 1996, at approximately 3:20 a.m., Officers Jeffrey Woolridge and John Allen of the Tell City Police Department observed a car parked at Yum's Dairyland in Tell City. Woolridge contacted the police dispatcher and learned that the car's license plate was registered to a different car. The officers then observed two young men, one exiting from the store and the other from the restroom. Believing that they may have been in violation of curfew, the officers approached the men to learn their names and ages.
After the two men were detained and searched, Officer Woolridge noticed that Hammond was sleeping in the front seat of the parked car. Woolridge approached the vehicle at gunpoint, ordered Hammond to get out, handcuffed her and placed her in the police car. Allen then asked Hammond whether the car was properly insured. Hammond replied that it was and indicated that proof of financial responsibility was in her purse, which was inside her vehicle. Allen searched Hammond's purse but did not locate any such proof. He then placed Hammond under arrest for failure to provide proof of financial responsibility.
After Hammond's arrest, Officer Allen further searched her purse in which he found a closed leather pouch. Allen opened the pouch and discovered several pieces of drug paraphernalia. He then closed the purse and secured it in his vehicle. Hammond's car was impounded, and she was taken to the Tell City Police Station where the officers searched the leather pouch more thoroughly. That search uncovered additional drug paraphernalia and a small amount of what was later determined to be a controlled substance. Hammond was then jailed.
At 10:00 o'clock p.m. the following evening, Officers Woolridge and Allen came back on duty. They again searched Hammond's purse which was being held at the Tell City Police Station. They discovered four baggies containing what appeared to be cocaine and which tested positive for methacathinone and alprazolam. Hammond was eventually charged with two counts of possession with intent to deal in a controlled substance and one count of possession of drug paraphernalia.
According to Officer Allen's marginal notations on his police report, Hammond was allegedly arrested because she was "unable to prove financial responsibility" for her motor vehicle. Record at 70. Indiana Code § 9-25-8-2 provides:
(a) A person who:
(1) operates; or
(2) permits the operation of;
a motor vehicle on a public highway in Indiana commits a Class C misdemeanor unless financial responsibility is in effect with respect to the motor vehicle under IC 9-25-4-4.
Hammond maintains that her arrest was unlawful and that the evidence obtained as a result of the arrest should be suppressed. Specifically, she claims the statute does not require that the owner or operator of a motor vehicle show proof of financial responsibility but only that financial responsibility with respect to the vehicle be in effect. 1
We agree that as amended in 1994, Indiana Code § 9-25-8-2 does not require that an owner or operator of a vehicle show proof of financial responsibility. A statutory amendment which changes a prior statute indicates a legislative intention that the meaning of the prior statute has changed. Whitacre v. State, 619 N.E.2d 605, 606 (Ind.Ct.App.1993), aff'd, 629 N.E.2d 1236 (Ind.1994). Prior to 1994, Indiana law specified that:
A person who operates or permits the operation of a motor vehicle on a public highway in Indiana and who does not prove financial responsibility in the amounts and in a manner specified by this...
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Sandleben v. State
...(3) the extent of law enforcement needs. Id. Evidence which is the product of an unlawful arrest is inadmissible. Hammond v. State, 675 N.E.2d 353, 355 (Ind.Ct.App.1996).[26] We incorporate our discussion of the evidence from the previous section where we determine there was probable cause ......
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...Responsibility Act is an operator required to show proof of financial responsibility. In support, Rosenbaum cites Hammond v. State, 675 N.E.2d 353 (Ind.Ct.App.1996). Hammond, however, does not support Rosenbaum's position. In that case, Hammond was arrested because she was unable to show pr......
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