State v. O'Neal
| Decision Date | 05 September 1968 |
| Citation | 251 Or. 163,444 P.2d 951 |
| Parties | STATE of Oregon, Respondent, v. William Van O'NEAL, Appellant. |
| Court | Oregon Supreme Court |
Gary D. Babcock, Public Defender, Salem, argued the cause and filed a brief for appellant.
Jacob B. Tanzer, Asst. Chief Deputy Dist. Atty., Portland, argued the cause for respondent. With him on the brief was George Van Hoomissen, Dist. Atty., Portland.
Before PERRY, C.J., and McALLISTER, SLOAN, O'CONNELL, GOODWIN, DENECKE and RODMAN, JJ.
The defendant was convicted of illegal possession of narcotics and appeals upon the ground that evidence introduced by the state was illegally obtained.
At 3:00 a.m., December 8, 1966, in Portland, police officers observed the defendant driving an automobile. The officers stopped the car because it had no rear license plate. The officers asked the defendant for his operator's license and the defendant produced an Oregon temporary operator's license which had expired several years before. The temporary license was issued to one Willy Van Rayburn. At this time the police did not know the defendant's true identity. The officers arrested the defendant for driving with no rear license plate and placed him in the back seat of the police car. He was also given citations for operating a vehicle without an operator's license and for operating a vehicle with an expired front license plate.
One of the officers got in the police car and asked the defendant to remove his money from his wallet and give his wallet to the officer. The defendant did so and the officer took papers from the wallet and examined them. When the officer unfolded one piece of paper a half-smoked marijuana cigarette fell out. The possession of this half-smoked cigarette is the basis for the conviction in this case.
The defendant moved to suppress the cigarette as evidence and the state sought to justify the search on the basis of a search incident to an arrest. The trial court upheld the state's position.
The justification for permitting a search incident to an arrest was stated by Mr. Justice Frankfurter in United States v. Rabinowitz, 339 U.S. 56, 70 S.Ct. 430, 94 L.Ed. 653 (1950). Although this was in a minority opinion, this statement is accepted as legal doctrine:
'* * * In plain English, the right to search incident to arrest is merely one of those very narrow exceptions to the 'guaranties and immunities which we had inherited from our English ancestors and which had, from time immemorial, been subject to certain well-recognized exceptions arising from the necessities of the case.' * * *
* * *.' 399 U.S. at 71--72, 70 S.Ct. at 437--438.
Stated more succinctly, a search incident to arrest is justified only for the safety of the arresting officer, or because it has relevance to the crime for which the accused is arrested. The safety-of-the-officer reason was recognized in State v. Chinn, 231 Or. 259, 267, 373 P.2d 392 (1962). This court recognized the second portion of this principle in the majority opinion in State v. Krogness, 238 Or. 135, 144, 388 P.2d 120, cert. den. 377 U.S. 992, 84 S.Ct. 1919, 12 L.Ed.2d 1045 (1964), and stated: 'As a general rule, the search must be reasonably related to the offense which prompts the arrest.' A majority of the court in that case approved the search of the car trunk of one who had been arrested for a minor traffic violation. However, this was on the basis of a finding of the trial court that the officer had probable cause to believe that a game violation had been committed. 1
The search of the wallet...
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State v. Flores
...decisions was often hazy. At times, as in State v. McCoy, supra, it relied solely on federal law. At other times, as in State v. O'Neal, 251 Or. 163, 444 P.2d 951 (1969), and State v. Cloman, 254 Or. 1, 456 P.2d 67 (1969), it cited no constitutional provision whatsoever. It also, as in Stat......
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United States v. Robinson 8212 936
...State, 3 Md.App. 394, 399, 239 A.2d 610, 613 (1968). Of like import is the decision of the Oregon Supreme Court in State v. O'Neal, 251 Or. 163, 444 P.2d 951 (1968) (en banc). Here defendant's automobile was stopped because it had no rear license plate. When asked to produce an operator's l......
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State v. Lowry
...such a search or seizure of "effects" incident to an arrest must relate to the offense which prompts the arrest, citing State v. O'Neal, 251 Or. 163, 444 P.2d 951 (1968); State v. Krogness, 238 Or. 135, 144, 388 P.2d 120 (1963), cert. den. 377 U.S. 992, 84 S.Ct. 1919, 12 L.Ed.2d 1045 (1964)......
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State v. Curtis, 42283
...dissenting opinion. 1 Seizure of a wallet containing marijuana in the process of searching for weapons was held improper in State v. O'Neal, 251 Or. 163, 444 P.2d 951.2 Under circumstances which had a striking similarity to these, the New Jersey Superior Court held the search of an automobi......