Miller v. State

• Decision Date: 28 May 1981
• Docket Number: No. 56831,56831
• Citation: 403 So.2d 1307
• Parties: David Allen MILLER, Petitioner, v. STATE of Florida, Respondent.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

Page 1307

403 So.2d 1307

David Allen MILLER, Petitioner, v. STATE of Florida, Respondent.

No. 56831.

Supreme Court of Florida.

May 28, 1981.

Rehearing Denied July 28, 1981.

Jerry Hill, Public Defender, Bartow, and Karal B. Rushing, Asst. Public Defender, St. Petersburg, for petitioner.

Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., and James S. Purdy, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tampa, for respondent.

OVERTON, Justice.

This is a petition for writ of certiorari to review the decision of the Second District Court of Appeal, reported at 369 So.2d 619 (Fla.2d DCA 1979), and concerns the impoundment and inventory search of a motor vehicle owned by the petitioner. The police failed to advise the petitioner, who was present, of alternatives other than impoundment. There is conflict that needs resolution. The Second District Court of Appeal, in the decision sought to be reviewed, in State v. Sanders, 387 So.2d 391 (Fla.2d DCA 1980), and in State v. Dearden, 347 So.2d 462 (Fla.2d DCA 1977), has held that a law enforcement officer has no duty to advise a silent arrestee that his car is being impounded or to tell a defendant of the options to impoundment. On the other hand, the Fourth District Court of Appeal has clearly held that an officer has an obligation to advise an arrestee of the alternatives available to him instead of impoundment. Session v. State, 353 So.2d 854 (Fla. 4th DCA 1977); Jones v. State, 345 So.2d 809 (Fla. 4th DCA 1977); State v. Jenkins, 319 So.2d 91 (Fla. 4th DCA 1975). We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(3), Fla.Const. (1972).

We resolve the conflict and approve the doctrine of an inventory search as authorized by the United States Supreme Court in South Dakota v. Opperman, 428 U.S. 364, 96 S.Ct. 3092, 49 L.Ed.2d 1000 (1976). In summary, in accordance with that decision, we hold: (1) the purpose of an inventory search is a caretaking function exclusively for (a) protection of the owner's property, (b) protection of the police from claims and disputes over lost or stolen property which has been impounded, and (c) protection of the police from danger; (2) an inventory search is not conducted in order to discover evidence of a crime, and any suggestion that standard police procedure for an inventory search is actually a pretext for an investigative search will require the search to meet traditional probable cause standards or be invalidated; (3) there must be a threshold inquiry by the trial court to determine that the impoundment was for the above purposes and was reasonable and necessary under the circumstances; and (4) when the owner or possessor of the vehicle is present, the arresting officers must advise him or her that the motor vehicle will be impounded unless the owner or possessor can provide a reasonable alternative to impoundment; however, consultation with the owner or possessor is not required in circumstances where the vehicle is unattended, its owner is not reasonably available, or its owner or possessor is mentally incapacitated.

The relevant facts in the instant case are as follows. The arresting officers initially saw petitioner drive through a red light. They motioned him to stop, and petitioner drove into a parking lot of a private business. When asked for his driver's license, the petitioner gave the officers a license receipt, which the officers discovered was not petitioner's. The officers arrested petitioner for obstruction of justice, and he was placed in the police cruiser. The arresting officers then inventoried the contents of petitioner's truck, during which they discovered the controlled substance phencyclidine. In the trial court, petitioner filed a motion to suppress on the grounds that it was an improper search without a warrant and that the officers had failed to tell the petitioner that they were going to impound his vehicle. The trial court granted the motion to suppress. On appeal the district court reversed, holding the search valid and stating: "(W)e do not think that a law enforcement officer has a duty to tell a silent arrestee that his car is being impounded." 369 So.2d at 619. The district court qualified this holding by stating that its ruling in this cause "should not be interpreted to mean that the police may in any way mislead a defendant as to their intention to impound or that a defendant may otherwise be denied the right to request a reasonable alternative to impoundment." 369 So.2d at 620, n.1.

The fourth amendment to the United States Constitution ¹ and section 12 of Article I of the Florida Constitution ² prohibit unreasonable searches and require warrants issued by a detached magistrate upon a showing of probable cause. There are, however, a number of "exceptions" to this warrant requirement. In the words of Justice Black:

(T)he fourth amendment does not require that every search be made pursuant to a warrant. It prohibits only "unreasonable searches and seizures." The relevant test is not the reasonableness of the opportunity to procure a warrant but the reasonableness of the seizure under all the circumstances. The test of reasonableness cannot be fixed by per se rules; each case must be decided on its own facts.

Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443, 509-10, 91 S.Ct. 2022, 2059-60, 29 L.Ed.2d 564 (1971) (Black, J., concurring and dissenting).

Exceptions to the warrant requirement include: (1) items or communications within the officer's sight, under certain circumstances such as the "plain view" doctrine, Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443, 91 S.Ct. 2022, 29 L.Ed.2d 564 (1971), or the "open fields" doctrine, Hester v. United States, 265 U.S. 57, 44 S.Ct. 445, 68 L.Ed. 898 (1924); (2) abandoned premises or property involving no invasion of privacy, Abel v. United States, 362 U.S. 217, 80 S.Ct. 683, 4 L.Ed.2d 668 (1960); (3) a search by consent or waiver of one's fourth amendment right against an unreasonable search, Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218, 93 S.Ct. 2041, 36 L.Ed.2d 854 (1973); (4) a "stop-and-frisk" upon restricted circumstances and limited to a pat-down search to protect the officer from possible danger, Ybarra v. Illinois, 444 U.S. 85, 100 S.Ct. 338, 62 L.Ed.2d 238 (1979); Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968); (5) a search by officers who are in "hot pursuit," which is allowed by the exigency of the circumstances, Warden v. Hayden, 387 U.S. 294, 87 S.Ct. 1642, 18 L.Ed.2d 782 (1967); (6) the search incident to a lawful arrest of a suspect, conducted to protect the officer's safety and prevent the possible loss or destruction of evidence, Chimel v. California, 395 U.S. 752, 89 S.Ct. 2034, 23 L.Ed.2d 685 (1969); and (7) a "motor vehicle search" based upon probable cause that it contains evidence of a crime, justified by the inherent mobility and the diminished expectation of privacy connected with a vehicle. United States v. Chadwick, 433 U.S. 1, 97 S.Ct. 2476, 53 L.Ed.2d 538 (1977); Chambers v. Maroney, 399 U.S. 42, 90 S.Ct. 1975, 26 L.Ed.2d 419 (1970); Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132, 45 S.Ct. 280, 69 L.Ed. 543 (1925).

The automobile inventory search is different. It is not an investigative search but is allowed because it is a necessary part of the caretaking function of the police when an impoundment occurs. It is a relatively new exception to the warrant requirement and is still in a sensitive, developing stage. An inventory of an automobile lawfully impounded has as its purpose the protection of the owner's property, whereas the other warrantless searches, with the exception of inadvertent "searches" such as those coming under the "plain view" doctrine, have as their intent the discovery of weapons or evidence of a crime. Because an inventory's purpose is basically for the protection of the owner, the use of discovered criminal evidence used to his detriment in criminal proceedings has been the subject of several critical commentaries. ³ It is apparent from the case law that there is still some confusion among law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and judges about the nature and purpose of this unique type of warrantless search. The doctrine has, under certain conditions, been approved by the United States Supreme Court. South Dakota v. Opperman, 428 U.S. 364, 96 S.Ct. 3092, 49 L.Ed.2d 1000 (1976).

In Opperman the Supreme Court expressly identified the automobile inventory procedure as a caretaking, noncriminal one having three purposes: (1) the protection of the owner's property while it remains in police custody; (2) the protection of the police against claims or disputes over lost or stolen property; and (3) the protection of the police from potential danger from the contents in their custody. 428 U.S. at 369, 96 S.Ct. at 3097. The first and primary purpose is for the benefit of the vehicle owner, and the other two purposes are incidental to and supportive of the first. These latter two justifications do not arise at all unless there is sufficient reason for the police to impound and take responsibility for the vehicle in the first instance.

Impoundment in Opperman was held necessary and proper, since the vehicle was unattended, illegally parked in a restricted zone, and had received two parking tickets over a seven-hour period. The second ticketing officer reported the vehicle to police headquarters, which resulted in the vehicle's impoundment in accordance with standard procedure. While at the city's impoundment lot, an officer using a standard inventory form itemized the contents of the vehicle. In so doing, he found marijuana contained in a plastic bag in the unlocked glove compartment. The owner of the vehicle was subsequently arrested on charges of possession of marijuana. Its discovery by inventory search was the critical issue on the motion to suppress. The Supreme Court upheld the search and conviction, holding that the inventory procedure was a search under the fourth amendment, but characterized the process in this manner:

The ... police were indisputably engaged in a...