Montgomery v. State
| Decision Date | 20 April 2009 |
| Docket Number | No. 49A04-0810-CR-636.,49A04-0810-CR-636. |
| Citation | 904 N.E.2d 374 |
| Parties | Brian MONTGOMERY, Appellant-Defendant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff. |
| Court | Indiana Appellate Court |
Stephen Gerald Gray, Todd Ess, Indianapolis, IN, Attorneys for Appellant.
Gregory F. Zoeller, Attorney General of Indiana, Tiffany N. Romine, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, IN, Attorneys for Appellee.
Following a bench trial, Brian Montgomery was convicted of dealing in cocaine, a Class A felony. On appeal, Montgomery raises the issue of whether the trial court abused its discretion in admitting evidence obtained by police during a warrantless search of his motel room. Concluding that the police did not violate the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution or Article I, section 11 of the Indiana Constitution and, therefore, the trial court properly admitted the evidence, we affirm.
On September 22, 2008, several Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers were involved in a high-speed chase of a vehicle that had pulled suddenly away from a traffic stop. The female driver, later identified as Abigail Vargas, lost control of the vehicle and drove into a ditch. Vargas ran from the scene but was apprehended by Officer Ronald Hicks, who knocked her to the ground and used chemical spray to subdue her. As she was placed in handcuffs, Vargas yelled, "They are after us, they are after us, they are trying to get us." Transcript of Suppression Hearing at 15. She continued to make similar statements while officers questioned her and investigated the scene. In inventorying the contents of the vehicle before having it towed, officers found what they believed to be drug paraphernalia with drug residue; a baggie of hydrocodone, a scheduled narcotic; and a baggie of marijuana. Officers believed Vargas was under the influence of alcohol or drugs, although a portable breath test administered at the scene excluded alcohol as the source of her apparent intoxication. As officers were inventorying Vargas's possessions, they found a room keycard to a Days Inn motel located near the scene of her arrest. Vargas indicated that she was staying at the Days Inn with Montgomery, her boyfriend, and that she believed he was in danger. Officers asked if Vargas wanted them to check on Montgomery, and she stated that she did. Officer Steven Ferklic asked "if we did go to that location and got no answer at the door, did she want us to enter the room and check on him and she said yes." Tr. of Supp. Hrg. at 22. Officer Hicks testified that Id. at 41.
Officers went to Vargas's room at the motel and knocked on the door, identifying themselves as police officers. They could hear a television on inside the room, but no one answered. They used Vargas's keycard to enter the room and observed Montgomery sprawled asleep on the bed, his head back, mouth open, and face ashen. Officers entered the room and saw a baggie of white powder, later determined to be cocaine, hanging out of his left pants pocket. Officers retrieved the baggie and roused Montgomery. When he got up from the bed, officers found two pipes on the bed near where he had been laying. Officers placed Montgomery under arrest and upon conducting a search incident to the arrest discovered two additional baggies in his right front pants pocket. Montgomery admitted that two of the bags officers found contained cocaine and the other contained a cutting agent. The total weight of the cocaine was 43.58 grams.
Montgomery was charged with dealing in cocaine, a Class A felony because it was in an amount greater than three grams, and possession of cocaine, a Class A felony because it was in an amount greater than three grams and said possession took place within 1,000 feet of the Days Inn, a family housing complex. Montgomery filed a motion to suppress alleging that "the warrantless search of [Montgomery's] motel room was made without exigency, actual or apparent authority or [Montgomery's] consent." Appellant's App. at 29. Following a hearing, the trial court denied Montgomery's motion to suppress, finding that despite being in custody, Vargas voluntarily requested that the officers go to the motel room2 and that "[b]ased on the totality of the circumstances it was reasonable for the officers to believe that [Vargas's] boyfriend was in the room and that he was [or] could be in danger[; t]herefore exigent circumstances justified the warrantless entry into [Montgomery's] motel room." Appellant's App. at 27-28.
Following a bench trial at which Montgomery renewed his objection to the admission of evidence recovered in the entry and search of the motel room, Montgomery was found guilty of both charges. At sentencing, the trial court merged the two counts, entered judgment of conviction only on the dealing charge, and sentenced Montgomery to twenty years with eighteen years suspended. Montgomery now appeals.
Montgomery originally challenged the admission of the drug evidence through a pretrial motion to suppress, but appeals following a completed trial at which he objected to its admission. Our standard of review of rulings on the admissibility of evidence is essentially the same whether the challenge is made by a pretrial motion to suppress or by trial objection. Ackerman v. State, 774 N.E.2d 970, 974-75 (Ind.Ct.App.2002), trans. denied. We review the admission of evidence for an abuse of the trial court's discretion. Taylor v. State, 891 N.E.2d 155, 158 (Ind. Ct.App.2008), trans. denied, cert. denied. ___ U.S. ___, 129 S.Ct. 1008, ___ L.Ed.2d ___ (2009). An abuse of discretion occurs if the decision is clearly against the logic and effect of the facts and circumstances before the trial court. Cochran v. State, 843 N.E.2d 980, 982-83 (Ind. Ct.App.2006), trans. denied, cert. denied, 549 U.S. 1122, 127 S.Ct. 943, 166 L.Ed.2d 722 (2007). We do not reweigh the evidence, and we consider conflicting evidence in a light most favorable to the trial court's ruling. Cole v. State, 878 N.E.2d 882, 885 (Ind.Ct.App.2007). We consider evidence from the trial as well as evidence from the suppression hearing that is not in direct conflict with the trial evidence. Kelley v. State, 825 N.E.2d 420, 427 (Ind.Ct. App.2005).
Montgomery contends the trial court abused its discretion in admitting evidence discovered in a warrantless search of his motel room "without a valid consent or exigent circumstances, in violation of the U.S. Fourth Amendment and Article I, Section 11 of the Indiana Constitution." Brief of Appellant at 1.
The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution states in relevant part, "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated...." The Fourth Amendment applies to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment. Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 650, 81 S.Ct. 1684, 6 L.Ed.2d 1081 (1961). The fundamental purpose of the Fourth Amendment is to protect the legitimate expectations of privacy that citizens possess in their persons, their homes, and their belongings. Taylor v. State, 842 N.E.2d 327, 330 (Ind.2006) (citing Ybarra v. Illinois, 444 U.S. 85, 91, 100 S.Ct. 338, 62 L.Ed.2d 238 (1979)). For a search to be reasonable under the Fourth Amendment, a warrant is required unless an exception to the warrant requirement applies. Id. The State bears the burden of proving that at the time of a warrantless search an exception to the warrant requirement existed. Rush v. State, 881 N.E.2d 46, 50 (Ind.Ct.App.2008). The propriety of a warrantless search is subject to de novo review. Engram v. State, 893 N.E.2d 744, 748 (Ind.Ct.App.2008), trans. denied.
The State offered exigent circumstances as the basis for the warrantless search. See Tr. of Supp. Hrg. at 43 (); Tr. of Bench Trial at 10 (). Where exigent circumstances exist, a warrant is not required. Peters v. State, 888 N.E.2d 274, 278 (Ind. Ct.App.2008) (), trans. denied. Among the exigent circumstances that have justified a warrantless search or seizure are entries to prevent bodily harm or death or to aid a person in need of assistance. Mincey v. Arizona, 437 U.S. 385, 392, 98 S.Ct. 2408, 57 L.Ed.2d 290 (1978) (); McDermott v. State, 877 N.E.2d 467, 473-74 (Ind.Ct.App.2007), trans. denied, A search extending beyond the exigencies presented violates the Fourth Amendment, however. Bryant v. State, 660 N.E.2d 290, 301 (Ind.1995), cert. denied, 519 U.S. 926, 117 S.Ct. 293, 136 L.Ed.2d 213 (1996). Moreover, "while exigent circumstances justify dispensing with a search warrant, they do not eliminate the need for probable cause." Cudworth v. State, 818 N.E.2d 133, 140 (Ind.Ct.App. 2004), trans. denied, "[I]n an emergency, the probable cause element may be satisfied where the officers reasonably believe a person is in danger." Id. at 140-41 (quoting United States v. Holloway, 290 F.3d 1331, 1338 (11th Cir.2002), cert. denied, 537...
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