Muegel v. State

• Decision Date: 07 September 1971
• Docket Number: No. 1270S306,1270S306
• Citation: 257 Ind. 146,272 N.E.2d 617
• Parties: Henry D. MUEGEL, Appellant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee.
• Court: Indiana Supreme Court

Page 617

272 N.E.2d 617

257 Ind. 146

Henry D. MUEGEL, Appellant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee.

No. 1270S306.

Supreme Court of Indiana.

Sept. 7, 1971.

Rehearing Denied Oct. 26, 1971.

William R. Wilson, Hooper, Wilson & Hoffman, Lawrenceburg, for appellant.

Theodore L. Sendak, Atty. Gen. of Indiana, M. Daniel Friedland, Deputy Atty. Gen., for appellee.

ARTERBURN, Chief Justice.

On March 10, 1971, two criminal affidavits were filed against the appellant, Henry D. Muegel. The first affidavit contained two counts: Count 1 charged the appellant with having under his control and unlawfully possessing certain hypodermic syringes and needles with the intent to violate the Acts of the General Assembly of Indiana of 1935, ch. 280, Count 2 charged the appellant with unlawfully possessing narcotic drugs. The second affidavit charged the appellant with violation of the Dangerous Drug Act. Appellant entered a plea of not guilty to all charges. Trial was by jury, who found the appellant guilty of all the charges. The judgment entered by the court reads as follows:

'Mr. Muegel pursuant to the verdicts of the jury and the court finding you guilty of the three (3) counts at a jury trial guilty as charged. The probation officer having prepared and filed your presentence investigation as required by law of the court now coming to pass sentence, sentences you to two (2) to ten (10) years at the Indiana State Reformatory, one (1) to ten (10) years at the Indiana State Reformatory and one (1) to five (5) years at the Indiana State Reformatory as addition thereto on each fine of $500.'

The record shows that State Police Officer Jon Oldham was traveling on Interstate Highway 74, in Dearborn County, April 4, 1970, when he spotted what appeared to be an abandoned car parked alongside the highway. As was his duty, Officer Oldham approached the car and found it abandoned. The door on the drivers side was unlatched and the window partially down. He then began looking for a certificate of registration. He first looked on the steering column, finding nothing he then opened the glove box, whereupon a small bottle fell out onto the floor. Officer Oldham picked up the bottle and observed that it contained several small white pills. The bottle had no label but only a piece of paper inside. While Officer Oldham admitted he was not particularly suspicious, as to the bottle of pills, he was curious because it did not have a proper label. Soon after the bottle fell out of the glove box a wrecker drove up behind the parked car. Henry D. Muegel, the driver of the car found by Officer Oldham, got out of the wrecker and approached the car. Immediately, Officer Oldham observed that Mr. Muegel appeared to be intoxicated. In the course of his direct examination Officer Oldham in part gave the following testimony.

'Q. Did you notice anything unusual about him when he got out of the wrecker?

'A. Right. I thought it was a drunken driver. I thought he was a drunken driver as he stepped out of the car.

Q. Why did you think that?

'A. Because when he hit the ground he staggered and his walk was uneven and he just looked to me to be intoxicated.

'Q. Was there anything unusual about his manner in which he acted while he was talking to you?

'A. Right. He was constantly moving and he couldn't stand still and his hands were all over his head. He was doing unusual actions of swaying. We have a test which we put suspected people of driving under, as far as walking lines and walking straight lines, which he completely failed in my observation.

'Q. Now you said he failed. In what sense?

'A. The fact that he could not walk in a straight line and would go side to side and go completely off the line and almost fell to his knees one time.'

Officer Oldham also described Mr. Muegel's speech as 'thick tongue and slurred somewhat.' Officer Oldham testified, as did other witnesses, that he could not smell any odor of alcohol on Mr. Muegel, he therefore was still not certain what was wrong with Mr. Muegel. Thinking it might help clear up the mystery, Officer Oldham requested permission to look in the car, whereupon Mr. Muegel replied, 'Look the Son of a Bitch over.' Prior to the request, Officer Oldham had informed Mr. Muegel of his constitutional rights. Officer Oldham again looked in the dash pocket and found two glass vials, one containing a clear liquid and the other a brown liquid. Mr. Muegel told Officer Oldham that the clear liquid was an alcohol solution for removing stains, however, Officer Oldham said he smelled the liquid and could smell no alcohol. Officer Oldham then asked Mr. Muegel if he would go with him to the Dearborn County Jail to talk to State Police Detective Paul Alford, and Mr. Muegel said he would go. Mr. Muegel then took off his sports coat and threw it on the rear floor of his car and put on a windbreaker type jacket. Officer Oldham observing the unusual conduct picked up the coat from the back floor of the car and searched it. Officer Oldham found that the coat contained three hypodermic syringes and ten needles. Officer Oldham then took Mr. Muegel to the Sheriff's office. A urine sample was obtained from Mr. Muegel. The urine sample, pills, and vials of liquid were sent to the Indiana State Police laboratory for analysis, the urine sample was sent on to the Indiana Toxicology Laboratory. At trial expert testimony was given that the pills were Barbituric tablets, the clear liquid in one of the vials was Barbituric and Amphetamine, the brown liquid in the other vial was Paregoric (Camphorated Tincture of Opium), and the urine sample contained Barbiturates.

Appellant first contends that the initial search of the dash pocket was illegal and that the bottle of pills found was inadmissible because it was the fruit of an unlawful search. This initial search made by Officer Oldham was not an unreasonable search in...