State v. Daniels

• Decision Date: 24 June 2014
• Docket Number: No. 20130339.,20130339.
• Citation: 848 N.W.2d 670,2014 ND 124
• Parties: STATE of North Dakota, Plaintiff and Appellee v. Jennifer Lynn DANIELS, Defendant and Appellant.
• Court: North Dakota Supreme Court

848 N.W.2d 670

2014 ND 124

STATE of North Dakota, Plaintiff and Appellee

v.Jennifer Lynn DANIELS, Defendant and Appellant.

No. 20130339.

Supreme Court of North Dakota.

June 24, 2014.

Dawn M. Deitz, Assistant State's Attorney, Bismarck, ND, for plaintiff and appellee.

Chad R. McCabe, Bismarck, ND, for defendant and appellant.

KAPSNER, Justice.

[¶ 1] Jennifer Lynn Daniels appeals a district court judgment and order deferring imposition of sentence entered following Daniels' conditional plea of guilty to Possession of Alprazolam and Possession of Carisoprodol, both class C felonies. We hold the deputy's warrantless search of Daniels' purse was not justified under the consent exception to the search warrant requirement of the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution. We reverse the district court's judgment and order deferring imposition of sentence and denial of Daniels' motion to suppress, and we remand with instructions to allow Daniels to withdraw her conditional guilty pleas.

I

[¶ 2] In January 2013, a Burleigh County Sheriff Deputy stopped a vehicle for expired registration. Daniels was sitting in the front passenger's seat. The deputy asked the driver, Daniels, and another passenger for identification, and Daniels retrieved her North Dakota driver's license from her purse. The deputy saw Daniels grab her purse and remove her identification from the purse.

[¶ 3] The deputy obtained consent from the driver to search the vehicle, and the deputy asked the occupants to step out to the front of the vehicle. The deputy did not give the occupants any other instructions and did not tell anyone to leave anything or take anything with them. Daniels exited the vehicle, but left her purse inside. Daniels was aware that the deputy was going to search the vehicle. The deputy did not get permission from Daniels or the other passenger to search their belongings. Daniels did not give the driver permission to use or consent to a search of her purse.

[¶ 4] While searching the vehicle, the deputy searched a purse located on the floorboard of the front passenger's seat, which belonged to Daniels. In the purse, he found an Advil container that had an assortment of pills in it. Lab tests confirmed that the pills were Alprazolam and Carisoprodol. Daniels was arrested for Possession of Alprazolam and Possession of Carisoprodol, both class C felonies.

[¶ 5] Daniels moved to suppress the evidence obtained in the search, arguing that the driver's consent to the search of the vehicle did not extend to a search of Daniels' purse, and the search was therefore warrantless and unconstitutional. The district court denied Daniels' motion, and Daniels conditionally pled guilty, reserving the suppression issue for appeal.

II

[¶ 6] Daniels argues the warrantless search of her purse was unconstitutional because the deputy did not have her consent to search the purse and the driver's consent to search the vehicle did not extend to a search of her purse. “The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution, applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment, protects individuals from unreasonable searches and seizures.” State v. Guscette, 2004 ND 71, ¶ 7, 678 N.W.2d 126 (citation omitted). This Court has previously concluded that an individual's purse is an area subject to Fourth Amendment protection from unreasonable searches and seizures. See State v. Tognotti, 2003 ND 99, ¶ 20, 663 N.W.2d 642 (“A purse, like a billfold, is such a personal item that it logically carries for its owner a heightened expectation of privacy, much like the clothing the person is wearing.”). For a search to be reasonable under the Fourth Amendment, a warrant is required, unless an exception to the warrant requirement applies. State v. Genre, 2006 ND 77, ¶ 17, 712 N.W.2d 624. It is the State's burden to show that an exception to the search warrant requirement applies. State v. Mitzel, 2004 ND 157, ¶ 12, 685 N.W.2d 120.

[¶ 7] One exception to the warrant requirement is consent. State v. Uran, 2008 ND 223, ¶ 6, 758 N.W.2d 727 (citation omitted). The same standard is used to analyze cases under the consent exception, regardless of whether the search was of a vehicle or of a house. See id. at ¶ 7 (applying the United States Supreme Court's reasoning in a vehicle search case, Florida v. Jimeno, 500 U.S. 248, 251, 111 S.Ct. 1801, 114 L.Ed.2d 297 (1991), to a search of a house). “The scope of consent is measured objectively by what a reasonable person would have understood by the exchange between the police and the suspect.” Id. (citations omitted). In this case, consent was the only justification for the warrantless search of Daniels' purse offered by the State and relied on by the district court.

[¶ 8] When reviewing a district court's decision on a motion to suppress, this Court defers to the district court's findings of fact, recognizing the district court is in the best position to assess the credibility of witnesses and weigh the evidence. Genre, 2006 ND 77, ¶ 12, 712 N.W.2d 624. Although generally issues concerning the existence of consent and whether a search exceeds the scope of consent are considered questions of fact, see State v. Graf, 2006 ND 196, ¶ 10, 721 N.W.2d 381 and State v. DeCoteau, 1999 ND 77, ¶ 9, 592 N.W.2d 579, in this case, Daniels alleges the district court misapplied the law concerning consent. “Questions of law are reviewed under the de novo standard of review.” Genre, 2006 ND 77, ¶ 12, 712 N.W.2d 624 (citation omitted).

III

[¶ 9] The State argues that the driver's consent to the search of the vehicle extended to the containers inside the vehicle, including Daniels' purse. In support of its argument, the State relies on State v. Tognotti, 2003 ND 99, 663 N.W.2d 642. In Tognotti, an officer stopped a vehicle driven by the female defendant for driving at night with the headlights off. Id. at ¶ 3. A male passenger of the vehicle was arrested on an outstanding warrant, and the officer searched the vehicle incident to the passenger's arrest. Id. During the search, the officer searched the defendant's purse, which she had left in the vehicle, and discovered drug paraphernalia. Id. The defendant moved to suppress evidence from the search, that motion was granted, and the State appealed. Id. at ¶¶ 4–5.

[¶ 10] On appeal, this Court held “an arresting officer's search of a purse belonging to a nonarrested occupant which is voluntarily left in the vehicle is a valid search incident to the arrest of a passenger in the vehicle.” Id. at ¶ 14 (emphasis added). This Court's ruling was based on the conclusion that “imposing a restriction on searches of a vehicle incident to arrest based upon ownership of containers or other articles inside the vehicle unnecessarily dims the bright-line rule as announced by Belton.” Id. at ¶ 11. Belton 's bright-line rule allowed police to search the passenger compartment of a vehicle incident to the arrest of the occupants, in order to “remove any weapons that [the arrestee] might seek to use in order to resist arrest or effect his escape and ... prevent the concealment or destruction of evidence.” Tognotti, 2003 ND 99, ¶ 8, 663 N.W.2d 642 (citing New York v. Belton, 453 U.S. 454, 457–61, 101 S.Ct. 2860, 69 L.Ed.2d 768 (1981)) (internal quotation marks omitted).

[¶ 11] The viability of our holding in Tognotti is questionable, in light of Arizona v. Gant, 556 U.S. 332, 129 S.Ct. 1710, 173 L.Ed.2d 485 (2009). However, we need not address the merits of our holding in Tognotti, because that case is distinguishable from this case in a crucial way: Tognotti applied to searches incident to arrest, and this case deals with a search based on consent. Exceptions to the search warrant requirement are “jealously and carefully drawn.” 68 Am. Jur. 2d Searches and Seizures § 114; see also State v. Gilberts, 497 N.W.2d 93, 97 (N.D.1993), overruled on other grounds by State v. Tognotti, 2003 ND 99, 663 N.W.2d 642 (“Warrantless searches, to be valid, must fall within a narrow and specifically delineated exception to the warrant requirement of the Fourth Amendment.”). “The scope of a search must be strictly tied to and justified by the circumstances that permit its initiation.” Gilberts, at 97 (citing Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 18, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968)). The justifications and standards behind each exception are not interchangeable, and cannot be combined, as the State seeks to do here.

[¶ 12] This case deals only with the consent exception to the search warrant requirement. The concerns that justified a search under the bright-line rule in Belton and Tognotti—officer safety and preservation of evidence—are not at issue in a consent case. Therefore, even assuming it is still valid law, Tognotti does not control this case.

IV

[¶ 13] Daniels argues a driver's consent to a search of a vehicle does not justify a search of a purse which the officer knows belongs to a third party. Consent may be given by an individual with actual authority or apparent authority. State v. Zimmerman, 529 N.W.2d 171, 175 (N.D.1995). Apparent authority exists where a person of reasonable caution would believe, based on the facts available to the officer at the time of consent, that the consenting party had authority over the place or thing to be searched. State v. Fischer, 2008 ND 32, ¶ 12, 744 N.W.2d 760. Authority to consent to a search may be exclusive to one individual, or two or more people may have common authority. State v. Swenningson, 297 N.W.2d 405, 407 (N.D.1980).

[¶ 14] Although we have not previously addressed this issue, courts in other jurisdictions have concluded that a driver's consent to a warrantless vehicle search was not a valid consent to search a passenger's personal property found in the vehicle. In People v. James, 163 Ill.2d 302, 206 Ill.Dec. 190, 645 N.E.2d 195, 197 (1994), the defendant was a passenger in an automobile that was stopped by police. The driver and passengers, all women, were ordered...