State v. Gant

Citation162 P.3d 640,216 Ariz. 1
Decision Date25 July 2007
Docket NumberNo. CR-06-0385-PR.,CR-06-0385-PR.
PartiesSTATE of Arizona, Appellee, v. Rodney Joseph GANT, Appellant.
CourtSupreme Court of Arizona

Michael G. Rankin, Tucson City Attorney by Baird S. Greene, Principal Assistant City Attorney, Lisa A. Judge, Principal Assistant City Attorney, Tucson, Attorneys for Amicus Curiae City of Tucson.

OPINION

BERCH, Vice Chief Justice.

¶ 1 This case requires us to determine whether the search incident to arrest exception to the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement permits the warrantless search of an arrestee's car when the scene is secure and the arrestee is handcuffed, seated in the back of a patrol car, and under the supervision of a police officer. We hold that in such circumstances, a warrantless search is not justified.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

¶ 2 On August 25, 1999, two uniformed Tucson police officers went to a house after receiving a tip of narcotics activity there. When Defendant Rodney Gant answered the door, the officers asked to speak with the owner of the residence. Gant informed the officers that the owner was not home, but would return later that afternoon. After leaving the residence, the officers ran a records check and discovered that Gant had a suspended driver's license and an outstanding warrant for driving with a suspended license.

¶ 3 The officers returned to the house later that evening. While they were there, Gant drove up and parked his car in the driveway. As he got out of his car, an officer summoned him. Gant walked eight to twelve feet toward the officer, who immediately arrested and handcuffed him. Within minutes, Gant had been locked in the back of a patrol car, where he remained under the supervision of an officer. At least four officers were at the residence by this time and the scene was secure. Two other arrestees had already been handcuffed and locked in the back of separate patrol cars and there were no other people around.

¶ 4 After Gant had been locked in the patrol car, two officers searched the passenger compartment of his car and found a weapon and a plastic baggie containing cocaine. Gant was charged with one count of possession of a narcotic drug for sale and one count of possession of drug paraphernalia for the baggie that held the drug.

¶ 5 Gant filed a motion to suppress the evidence seized from his car, which the superior court denied. Gant was convicted of both charges and appealed. The court of appeals held that the evidence should have been suppressed and therefore reversed Gant's convictions. State v. Gant, 202 Ariz. 240, 246, ¶ 18, 43 P.3d 188, 194 (App.2002). After this Court denied review, the State petitioned the United States Supreme Court for certiorari. The Supreme Court granted the petition, vacated the court of appeals' opinion, and remanded to that court to reconsider its opinion in light of this Court's opinion in State v. Dean, 206 Ariz. 158, 76 P.3d 429 (2003). Arizona v. Gant, 540 U.S. 963, 124 S.Ct. 461, 157 L.Ed.2d 308 (2003). In Dean, we held that when an arrestee is not a recent occupant of his vehicle at the time of the arrest, the reasons supporting a "warrantless search of the vehicle — protection of the arresting officers and preservation of evidence" — no longer justify the search and therefore the police must obtain a warrant. 206 Ariz. at 166, ¶¶ 32-34, 76 P.3d at 437.

¶ 6 Following the Supreme Court's remand, the court of appeals remanded Gant's case to the trial court to determine whether Gant was a recent occupant of his car when he was arrested. After an evidentiary hearing, the superior court determined that Gant was a recent occupant and concluded that the search of his car was thus justified as incident to his arrest. Gant appealed and the court of appeals again reversed, finding that the search of Gant's car was not incident to his arrest because it was not contemporaneous with his arrest and did not satisfy the rationales set forth in Chimel v. California, 395 U.S. 752, 89 S.Ct. 2034, 23 L.Ed.2d 685 (1969), for dispensing with the warrant requirement. State v. Gant, 213 Ariz. 446, 452, ¶ 18, 143 P.3d 379, 385 (App.2006).

¶ 7 The State petitioned for review, which we granted because this case presents an important question regarding vehicle searches incident to arrest. We have jurisdiction pursuant to Article 6, Section 5(3), of the Arizona Constitution, Arizona Revised Statutes ("A.R.S.") section 13-4032(3) (2001), and Arizona Rule of Criminal Procedure 31.19.

II. DISCUSSION

¶ 8 The Fourth Amendment guarantees the right of citizens to be free from unreasonable governmental searches. U.S. Const. amend. IV; see also Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 9, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968).1 "[S]ubject only to a few specifically established and well-delineated exceptions," a search is presumed to be unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment if it is not supported by probable cause and conducted pursuant to a valid search warrant. Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 357, 88 S.Ct. 507, 19 L.Ed.2d 576 (1967).

¶ 9 The Supreme Court has recognized a "search incident to a lawful arrest" as one of the exceptions to the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement. See, e.g., Chimel, 395 U.S. at 755, 89 S.Ct. 2034. The Court justified the search incident to arrest exception by the need to protect officers and preserve evidence:

When an arrest is made, it is reasonable for the arresting officer to search the person arrested in order to remove any weapons that the latter might seek to use in order to resist arrest or effect his escape. Otherwise, the officer's safety might well be endangered, and the arrest itself frustrated. In addition, it is entirely reasonable for the arresting officer to search for and seize any evidence on the arrestee's person in order to prevent its concealment or destruction. And the area into which an arrestee might reach in order to grab a weapon or evidentiary items must, of course, be governed by a like rule. A gun on a table or in a drawer in front of one who is arrested can be as dangerous to the arresting officer as one concealed in the clothing of the person arrested.

Id. at 762-63, 89 S.Ct. 2034. Based on the rationales of officer safety and preservation of evidence, the Court limited the permissible scope of a search incident to arrest to the "arrestee's person and the area `within his immediate control'" — that is, "the area from within which he might gain possession of a weapon or destructible evidence." Id. at 763, 89 S.Ct. 2034.

¶ 10 Although the rule has worked reasonably well in some contexts, it has proved difficult to apply to automobile searches incident to arrest, prompting the Supreme Court to reconsider and redefine the permissible scope of such a search. See New York v. Belton, 453 U.S. 454, 455, 101 S.Ct. 2860, 69 L.Ed.2d 768 (1981). In Belton, a police officer stopped a speeding vehicle and made contact with the driver and three passengers while all occupants were seated in the vehicle. Id. at 455-56, 101 S.Ct. 2860. Upon smelling marijuana, the officer ordered the occupants out of the car, arrested them, and searched each one. Id. at 456, 101 S.Ct. 2860. As the driver and passengers stood by, the officer searched the car's passenger compartment and found a jacket containing cocaine. Id.

¶ 11 The sole question before the Court in Belton was the "constitutionally permissible scope" of an otherwise lawful search of an automobile incident to arrest, given the exigencies of the arrest situation. Id. at 455, 457, 101 S.Ct. 2860; see also Thornton v. United States, 541 U.S. 615, 619, 124 S.Ct. 2127, 158 L.Ed.2d 905 (2004) (describing Belton as deciding "the constitutionally permissible scope of a search" incident to arrest). Noting the lack of consistency among courts in deciding how much of the automobile the police could search incident to arrest and the desirability of a bright-line rule to guide police officers in the conduct of their duties, the Supreme Court held that the area within an arrestee's immediate control encompassed not only "the passenger compartment of an automobile" that the arrestee recently occupied, but also containers within the passenger compartment. Belton, 453 U.S. at 458-60, 101 S.Ct. 2860.

¶ 12 The State and our dissenting colleagues seek to bring Gant's case within the Belton rule. Unlike Belton, however, this case deals not with the permissible scope of the search of an automobile, but with the threshold question whether the police may conduct a search incident to arrest at all once the scene is secure. Because Belton does not purport to address this question, we must determine whether officer safety or the preservation of evidence, the rationales that excuse the warrant requirement for searches incident to arrest, justified the warrantless search of Gant's car. Cf. Dean, 206 Ariz. at 166, ¶¶ 32-34, 76 P.3d at 437 (relying on Chimel rationales in holding that arrestee was not a recent occupant of vehicle).

¶ 13 Neither rationale supports the search here. At the time of the search, Gant was handcuffed, seated in the back of a locked patrol car, and under the supervision of a police officer. The other two arrestees at the scene were also handcuffed and detained in the back of patrol cars, and the record reflects no unsecured civilians in the vicinity. At least four officers were on the scene. At that point, the police had no reason to believe that anyone at the scene could have gained access to...

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