Scott v. State

• Decision Date: 22 June 2012
• Docket Number: No. A12A0624.,A12A0624.
• Citation: 729 S.E.2d 481,316 Ga.App. 341,12 FCDR 2130
• Parties: SCOTT v. The STATE.
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals

316 Ga.App. 341

729 S.E.2d 481

12 FCDR 2130

SCOTT

v.The STATE.

No. A12A0624.

Court of Appeals of Georgia.

June 22, 2012.

Charles E.W. Barrow, Savannah, for appellant.

Layla Hinton Zon, Marie Elizabeth Greene, for appellee.

BLACKWELL, Judge.

Following a stipulated bench trial in Walton County, Shelli Scott was convicted of possession of methamphetamine ¹ and possession of drug-related objects.² She appeals, asserting that the trial court erred when it denied her motion to suppress evidence that was recovered during a search of her car. Scott contends that the search of her car was unlawful because police did not have probable cause to search the car for contraband, and she argues that the search cannot be justified as an inventory search because it was not necessary to impound her car. We see no error and affirm the judgment of conviction.

When we review the denial of a motion to suppress, we owe no deference to the way in which the court below resolved questions of law, Barrett v. State, 289 Ga. 197, 200(1), 709 S.E.2d 816 (2011), but we accept its findings about questions of fact and credibility unless clearly erroneous, and we view the evidence in the light most favorable to its findings and judgment. Culpepper v. State, 312 Ga.App. 115, 115–116, 717 S.E.2d 698 (2011). So viewed, the evidence in this case shows that a Monroe County police officer activated his lights to pull over Scott's car, which Tomas Wright was driving, and in which Scott was a passenger, because it had a broken taillight. Wright, however, did not pull over immediately and instead turned onto a highway and then took an exit off the highway, where he finally stopped. Although Wright stopped the car on the shoulder of the exit ramp, it was parked close enough to the road that it would have impeded a large truck from exiting the highway.

When the officer learned that Wright had a suspended license, the officer brought him to the back of the car and announced an intent to arrest him. But as the officer attempted to handcuff Wright, he ran from the scene. The officer chased him through the woods, eventually apprehended him with pepper spray, and flagged down another officer to help put Wright in custody. When the officer finally returned to the stopped car, he attempted to question Scott about her license and any outstanding warrants. As a certified drug recognition expert, the officer concluded that Scott was under the influence of narcotics. She was hypervigilant, her pupils were dilated, and her muscle tone appeared rigid. The officer noticed a small jewelry bag on the ground just outside the car, and based on his training and experience, he concluded that Scott had attempted to dispose of an item containing narcotics. Before the officer searched the jewelry bag, however, he learned that Scott had a pending warrant for a probation violation involving a conviction for possession of methamphetamine, so the officer arrested Scott and placed her in the back of his patrol car.

Because both Scott and Wright had been arrested, the officer called a tow truck to remove the car from the scene, and pursuant to standard policy, a vehicle inventory search was conducted prior to impounding the car. During the search, police found syringes, needles, and a glass pipe containing methamphetamine residue in Scott's purse. They also found a glass pipe and drug paraphernalia containing methamphetamine residue in a backpack located in the trunk, though it was stipulated at trial that the backpack did not belong to Scott.

Scott first argues that the trial court erred in denying her motion to suppress because the police did not have probable cause to search her car for evidence of contraband. Pretermitting whether probable cause was present under the circumstances in this case, however, the trial court correctly denied Scott's motion to suppress because the evidence was lawfully seized during an inventory search prior to impounding the car. ³ Officers are sometimes permitted to impound a car, and when they do so, they may inventory its contents to protect the property of the owner and to protect the officers from potential danger and against claims for lost or stolen property. See Grizzle v. State, 310 Ga.App. 577, 579(1), 713 S.E.2d 701 (2011); State v. Lowe, 224 Ga.App. 228, 229, 480 S.E.2d 611 (1997). While officers cannot impound a car merely as a pretext to search for contraband, they may impound a car if they must take charge of it for some legitimate reason. See Lewis v. State, 294 Ga.App. 607, 611(2), 669 S.E.2d 558 (2008). So, to determine whether an inventory search was authorized, we must first determine whether the impoundment was reasonably necessary under the circumstances:

Impoundment of a vehicle is valid only if there is some necessity for the police to take charge of the property. In each instance, the ultimate test for the validity of the police's conduct is whether, under the circumstances then confronting the police, their conduct was reasonable within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment.

Lowe, 224 Ga.App. at 229–230, 480 S.E.2d 611 (citations and punctuation omitted). “[T]he test is whether the impoundment was reasonably necessary under the circumstances, not whether it was absolutely necessary.” Grizzle, 310 Ga.App. at 579(1), 713 S.E.2d 701 (citation and punctuation omitted).

Scott argues that the officer's decision to impound her car was unreasonable under the circumstances because the officer did not ask her first if she had a preference as to the disposition of her car. We disagree. We have said before that an officer is not required to ask the owner what she would like to do with her car when the owner has been arrested and there is no one present at the scene to take custody of the car and safely remove it:

In this case, the owner of the vehicle was under arrest, she had implicated her companion in criminal activity, and no one else remained to take custody of the car and remove it from the shopping center premises. [Cit.] Although the officer did not inquire whether the [appellant] could make other arrangements for the retrieval of her car, he was not required to do so. [Cit.]

State v. King, 237 Ga.App. 729, 730(1), 516 S.E.2d 580 (1999). See also Carlisle v. State, 278 Ga.App. 528, 629 S.E.2d 512 (2006) (“Police officers are not required to ask whether an arrestee desires to have someone come and get the car, nor are they required to accede to an arrestee's request that they do so.”) (citation and punctuation omitted). This is especially true when the vehicle impedes or poses a...