People v. Greenwood, 25100
| Decision Date | 17 May 1971 |
| Docket Number | No. 25100,25100 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Robert Allen GREENWOOD, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | Colorado Supreme Court |
Stanley F. Johnson, Dist. Atty., Ralph S. Josephsohn, Deputy Dist. Atty., Boulder, for plaintiff-appellee.
Rollie R. Rogers, State Public Defender, John A. Purvis, Deputy State Public Defender, Denver, for defendant-appellant.
This is an interlocutory appeal by a defendant, charged with unlawful possession of marijuana, seeking review of the trial court's ruling which denied a motion to suppress the marijuana.
Defendant was observed by two police officers to be operating a vehicle in excess of the speed limit, and was stopped by those officers for that violation. By radio, the officers ascertained immediately that there was outstanding a 'pick-up request' for the defendant because he allegedly filed a false accident report. The defendant was asked 'if he would care to follow (the officers) down to the Police Station and (they) would clear this up,' to which the defendant apparently acceded. Defendant drove his vehicle to the station, and parked and locked it in the municipal parking lot behind the station.
Inside the police station further investigation was made, which revealed that the defendant's driving license had been suspended less than one year earlier. Defendant was cited by the officers for speeding and driving with a suspended license, and informed that he would have to post a cash bond of $323 for the two offenses, being $23 for the speeding charge and $300 for the other charge. As the defendant was unable immediately to post that amount in cash, he was incarcerated.
The officers advised defendant that 'we would have to impound the vehicle.' With keys obtained from the defendant, the officers made entry into the defendant's locked car for the purpose of making an inventory of the contents prior to having the car towed to an impounding garage. Apparently, it is standard procedure of this police department to impound the vehicles of all persons incarcerated by the police while driving their automobiles, and the automobile remains in police custody until that person is released.
A paper bag of marijuana was discovered under the front seat of the automobile.
The trial court ruled that this inventory procedure was not a search within the meaning of the constitutional prohibitions against unlawful searches; that the officers were conducting a good faith inventory and not an exploratory search; and that the marijuana should not be suppressed.
It appears that there is a paucity of cases as to the validity of such an inventory procedure which are...
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