Meister v. State

• Citation: 864 N.E.2d 1137
• Decision Date: 27 April 2007
• Docket Number: No. 68A04-0604-CV-196.,68A04-0604-CV-196.
• Parties: Virginia MEISTER, Appellant-Defendant, v. STATE of Indiana, and the City of Union City, Indiana, Appellees-Plaintiffs.
• Court: Indiana Appellate Court

864 N.E.2d 1137

Virginia MEISTER, Appellant-Defendant, v. STATE of Indiana, and the City of Union City, Indiana, Appellees-Plaintiffs.

No. 68A04-0604-CV-196.

Court of Appeals of Indiana.

April 27, 2007.

Dale W. Arnett, Winchester, IN, Attorney for Appellant.

Steve Carter Attorney General of Indiana, Elizabeth Rogers, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, IN, Attorneys for Appellees.

OPINION

FRIEDLANDER, Judge.

Virginia Meister appeals the trial court's judgment forfeiting her truck, which was seized after her son, John Wymer, drove her truck, was arrested for driving while suspended, and had methamphetamine in the truck. Meister presents the following restated issues for review:

1. Did the trial court abuse its discretion by admitting police officers' testimony regarding the methamphetamine found during the search of the truck and the results of a field test identifying a powder substance as methamphetamine?

2. Did the State present sufficient evidence to support the trial court's forfeiture order?

We affirm.

During the evening of October 22, 2003, Union City Police Officer William Bradbury was on patrol when he observed Wymer driving a 1996 Chevrolet truck on Columbia Street in Union City. The truck was titled in the name of Wymer's mother, Meister. Officer Bradbury, who had information that Wymer's driver's license had been suspended as a result of a prior conviction, followed Wymer, activated his in-car video camera, and contacted the dispatcher to run a license check. Wymer pulled into a convenience store parking lot and went into the store, and Officer Bradbury pulled into an adjacent parking lot and parked so that he was facing Wymer's truck.¹ When Wymer came out of the convenience store, he walked over to Officer Bradbury's vehicle and asked if the officer knew something or had a reason to be there. Officer Bradbury, who was waiting for dispatch to contact him, told Wymer, "no." Transcript at 6. Wymer returned to his truck and sat in it for a few minutes. The dispatcher contacted Officer Bradbury and told him that Wymer's license was suspended as a result of a prior conviction, and Officer Bradbury moved his vehicle near Wymer's truck and walked up to Wymer's driver's side door. Wymer got out of the truck, and Officer Bradbury told him that his license was suspended, arrested Wymer, and placed him in handcuffs. Officer Bradbury searched Wymer's person, and inside Wymer's pocket, Officer Bradbury found a hollowed out ink pen containing a "powdery looking residue." Id. at 7. Officer Bradbury and Union City Ohio Police Officer Dave McHenry searched Wymer's truck, and under the driver's seat, Officer McHenry found a pill bottle, which had the name Doug Curtner on it and contained a "powder residue" that had a "real strong chemical odor." Id. at 8. Upon discovering the pill bottle, Officer Bradbury contacted Captain Dennis Smith to come to the scene to conduct a field test. Captain Smith processed the evidence and conducted "a micro field test" on the substance in the pill bottle, which tested positive for methamphetamine. Id. at 32. Wymer was ultimately arrested for possession of methamphetamine, possession of paraphernalia, and driving while suspended, and Meister's truck was seized.

At the time of Wymer's arrest, he had a reputation in Union City for being involved with illegal drugs and was known as "one of the main suppliers of methamphetamine in Union City." Id. at 36. On February 28, 2003, Wymer was arrested for possession of a controlled substance and possession of cocaine during a traffic stop, and Meister bonded Wymer out of jail. At that time, Wymer was driving the same truck that he was driving when this instant case occurred in October 2003.² On August 28, 2003, Wymer was arrested for possession of a controlled substance, and on August 30, 2003, he was arrested for possession of cocaine, possession of marijuana, and carrying a handgun without a license. Each of these three times that Wymer was arrested, he reported that he lived at the same address where Meister resided or in a residence owned by Meister that was located on the same lot where Meister resided. In addition, Wymer had previously been incarcerated in Texas during the 1990s for a drug offense relating to marijuana.

In February 2004, the State of Indiana and the City of Union City (collectively, "the State") filed a complaint for forfeiture against Wymer and Meister for the forfeiture of Meister's truck and alleged, in part, that Meister was "the registered owner of [the truck] and either knew or should have known [that the truck] was being utilized by defendant John W. Wymer for purposes which would make said vehicle subject to seizure pursuant to I.C. 34-24-1-1(a)." Appellant's Appendix at 14. In April 2004, Meister filed an answer and counterclaim, alleging that the lawsuit was filed "merely for harassment" and that it was "a frivolous lawsuit." Id. at 20-21. Thereafter, the State filed a motion to dismiss Meister's counterclaim pursuant to Indiana Trial Rule 12(B)(6), and the trial court granted the motion. In December 2004, the trial court, pursuant to a motion by the State, entered default judgment against Wymer.

In June 2005, the trial court held a bench trial on the forfeiture complaint against Meister. During the trial, the State introduced testimony from Officer Bradbury regarding the powder substance found in the pill bottle under Wymer's seat, and Meister objected, arguing that the warrantless search was unconstitutional—under both the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and article 1, section 11 of the Indiana Constitution— and was not incident to Wymer's arrest because it had no nexus to his arrest for the driving while suspended.³ The State argued that Meister did not have standing under the Fourth Amendment to challenge the search pursuant to Wymer's arrest. The trial court took Meister's objection under advisement and stated that it would rule upon the objection when it issued its judgment.

Meister also objected to Captain Smith's testimony regarding the results of the field test conducted on the powder substance in the pill bottle, which revealed that it was methamphetamine, because it was "only a presumptive field test" and argued that the identification of the drug should be established by a State chemist's report. Transcript at 32. The trial court also took this objection under advisement pending entry of its judgment.

During the trial, Meister testified she was aware that Wymer had been arrested for drug offenses prior to October 2003. Specifically, she testified that she knew he had served time in prison in Texas in the 1990s for a marijuana-related offense and that she knew he was arrested in February 2003 because she bonded him out of jail. She also testified that, at the time of Wymer's two August 2003 arrests, she "might have" known that he was arrested but that she did not remember it at the time of trial. Id. at 48.

On March 14, 2006, the trial court entered judgment in favor of the State and ordered Meister's truck forfeited. In its written order, the trial court overruled Meister's objections regarding the warrantless search⁴ and the identification of the powder substance as methamphetamine and found that the State had proven by a preponderance of the evidence that "Meister had reason to know that the vehicle was being used in the commission of the offense" as required by Indiana Code Ann. § 34-24-1-4(a) (West, PREMISE current through 2006 2nd Regular Sess.). Appellant's Appendix at 7. Meister now appeals.

Meister argues that: (1) the trial court abused its discretion by admitting certain testimony into evidence; and (2) the evidence was insufficient to support the trial court's judgment ordering her to forfeit her truck. We will review each argument in turn.

1.

Meister first argues that the trial court abused its discretion by admitting testimony into evidence. Specifically, Meister contends that the trial court erred by admitting Officer Bradbury's testimony regarding the methamphetamine found during a search of her truck incident to Wymer's arrest and by admitting Captain Smith's testimony regarding the field test results identifying the powder substance as methamphetamine into evidence.

Because the admission and exclusion of evidence falls within the sound discretion of the trial court, we review the admission of evidence only for abuse of discretion. Wilson v. State, 765 N.E.2d 1265 (Ind. 2002). An abuse of discretion occurs "where the decision is clearly against the logic and effect of the facts and circumstances." Smith v. State, 754 N.E.2d 502, 504 (Ind.2001).

We will first address Meister's argument that the trial court abused its discretion by admitting Officer Bradbury's testimony regarding the methamphetamine found during the search of the truck. Meister argues that the search of the truck was unconstitutional—under both the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and article 1, section 11 of the Indiana Constitution—and that any evidence relating to methamphetamine found in the truck should not have been admitted at trial. The State counters that the evidence is admissible and that the search did not violate the Fourth Amendment because it was incident to a lawful arrest. The State makes no argument regarding the reasonableness of the search under the Indiana Constitution. We will address Meister's warrantless search arguments under both constitutions.

Meister does not challenge the legality of Wymer's arrest but argues the search violated her Fourth Amendment rights because the scope of the search of her truck incident to Wymer's arrest exceeded the permissible bounds for a search incident to arrest.⁵ The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides, in pertinent part: "The right of people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated. . . ."...