State v. Weaver, No. 21673
Court | United States State Supreme Court of Idaho |
Writing for the Court | McDEVITT; JOHNSON and TROUT, JJ., and TRANSTRUM; SILAK |
Citation | 127 Idaho 288,900 P.2d 196 |
Parties | STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Walter WEAVER, Defendant-Appellant, Boise, February 1995 Term |
Docket Number | No. 21673 |
Decision Date | 25 July 1995 |
Page 196
v.
Walter WEAVER, Defendant-Appellant,
July 25, 1995.
Page 197
[127 Idaho 289] Jonathan B. Hull, Kootenai County Public Defender, Coeur d'Alene, for appellant.
Hon. Alan G. Lance, Atty. Gen., Myrna A.I. Stahman, Deputy Atty. Gen., argued, Boise, for respondent.
McDEVITT, Chief Justice.
I.
The facts of this case, based on testimony at the suppression hearing, are as follows. The Weaver family came to the attention of the Kootenai County Sheriff's Department in the fall of 1992, when Appellant Walter Weaver's brother, Bob Weaver, took his wife, Charlotte, hostage during a domestic dispute. Bob was killed during the standoff. A few days after that incident, Charlotte contacted Sergeant Kenneth Sopher (Sgt. Sopher) at the Sheriff's Department about information she had received from members of Bob's family. They had informed Charlotte that Walter Weaver (Weaver) and his mother, Pearl Weaver (Mrs. Weaver), were on their way to Idaho to kill Charlotte in retaliation for Bob's death. They said that Mrs. Weaver possessed a gun. Charlotte conveyed this information to Sgt. Sopher and gave him a description of the car in which Weaver and his mother were travelling. Sgt. Sopher contacted Pennsylvania authorities who informed him that Weaver was on parole for a burglary conviction and was in violation of parole terms for failing to maintain contact with his parole officer.
On October 1, 1992, Sgt. Sopher received a warrant for Weaver's arrest from the State of Pennsylvania. On the same day, Sgt. Sopher received a telephone call from the Idaho State Patrol informing him that Weaver was at that moment standing in the State Patrol offices. Weaver was asking the location of Bob's remains and the address of Charlotte Weaver. Sgt. Sopher requested that the State Patrol officer, under the guise of giving directions to Charlotte's house, direct Weaver to the Kootenai County Sheriff's Department. The State Patrol officer complied. Weaver and his mother left, believing they were on their way to Charlotte's home, but actually driving toward the Sheriff's Department.
Their vehicle was stopped en route by Kootenai County Sheriff's deputies. Weaver was removed from the vehicle and arrested on the Pennsylvania warrant. Mrs. Weaver, who was more than seventy years of age, was also removed from the car and placed in the rear seat of a patrol car for her comfort. Sgt. Sopher then ordered a deputy to inventory the vehicle. The deputy, using a standard sheriff's department inventory form, began searching the automobile and listing the items found. He discovered a handgun under the spare tire in the trunk of the vehicle. A telexed inquiry to the National Crime Information Center yielded information that the gun was stolen. The officer then arrested Mrs. Weaver, who, in the interim had
Page 198
[127 Idaho 290] been determined to be the owner of the vehicle, for grand theft by possession of stolen property. The charge against Mrs. Weaver was subsequently dismissed.Walter Weaver was subsequently charged with unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, I.C. § 18-3316, and grand theft by possession of stolen property, I.C. §§ 18-2403(4), 18-2407(1). Weaver filed a motion to suppress the gun as evidence, contending that the warrantless search of the automobile was unconstitutional. The trial court denied the motion and held that the search was a valid inventory search following impoundment of the automobile. Weaver then entered a conditional plea of guilty to the charge of unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, reserving the right to appeal the denial of his motion to suppress. The grand theft charge against Weaver was dismissed.
On October 17, 1994, the Court of Appeals issued an opinion affirming the district court's order. In reaching its decision, the court reasoned that Sgt. Sopher's conclusion, that Mrs. Weaver was physically incapable of driving the car and impoundment of the vehicle was therefore necessary, was reasonable at the time that it was made. Thus, the court concluded, impoundment of the vehicle was permissible and an inventory search of its contents pursuant to standard police procedures was reasonable.
On November 7, 1994, this Court, pursuant to its authority to review Court of Appeals decisions sua sponte, issued an order for review.
II.
THE DISTRICT COURT ERRED IN FAILING TO SUPPRESS THE GUN AS EVIDENCE SEIZED IN A WARRANTLESS SEARCH OF THE VEHICLE.
A. STANDARD OF REVIEW.
On appeal from a decision of the Court of Appeals, this Court considers that it is hearing the matter in the first instance, and not merely reviewing the correctness of the Court of Appeals decision. Valley Bank v. Stecklein, 124 Idaho 694, 696, 864 P.2d 140, 142 (1993). In all cases when questions of law are presented, this Court is not bound by the district court's findings, but is free to draw its own conclusions from evidence presented. Automobile Club Ins. Co. v. Jackson, 124 Idaho 874, 865, 876, 865 P.2d 965, 967 (1993).
B. THE VEHICLE IMPOUNDMENT INVENTORY EXCEPTION TO THE FOURTH AMENDMENT PROHIBITION AGAINST WARRANTLESS SEARCHES.
The district court did not cite any case authority for its order denying Weaver's motion to suppress. However, there is a well-established body of jurisprudence, from this Court and the United States Supreme Court, governing the...
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State v. Williams, Docket No. 44300
...and seizures. Warrantless searches are presumed to be unreasonable and therefore violative of the Fourth Amendment. State v. Weaver , 127 Idaho 288, 290, 900 P.2d 196, 198 (1995). The State may overcome this presumption by demonstrating that a warrantless search either fell within a well-re......
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Miller v. Idaho State Patrol, No. 37032.
...State v. Mubita, 145 Idaho 925, 932, 188 P.3d 867, 874 (2008). A warrantless search is presumptively unreasonable. State v. Weaver, 127 Idaho 288, 290, 900 P.2d 196, 198 (1995). A search must be performed pursuant to a warrant supported by probable cause unless a recognized exception applie......
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Miller v. Idaho State Patrol, 37032.
...State v. Mubita, 145 Idaho 925, 932, 188 P.3d 867, 874 (2008). A warrantless search is presumptively unreasonable. State v. Weaver, 127 Idaho 288, 290, 900 P.2d 196, 198 (1995). A search must be performed pursuant to a warrant supported by probable cause unless a recognized exception applie......
-
State v. Williams, Docket No. 44300
...and seizures. Warrantless searches are presumed to be unreasonable and therefore violative of the Fourth Amendment. State v. Weaver , 127 Idaho 288, 290, 900 P.2d 196, 198 (1995). The State may overcome this presumption by demonstrating that a warrantless search either fell within a well-re......
-
State v. Williams, Docket No. 44300
...and seizures. Warrantless searches are presumed to be unreasonable and therefore violative of the Fourth Amendment. State v. Weaver , 127 Idaho 288, 290, 900 P.2d 196, 198 (1995). The State may overcome this presumption by demonstrating that a warrantless search either fell within a well-re......
-
Miller v. Idaho State Patrol, No. 37032.
...State v. Mubita, 145 Idaho 925, 932, 188 P.3d 867, 874 (2008). A warrantless search is presumptively unreasonable. State v. Weaver, 127 Idaho 288, 290, 900 P.2d 196, 198 (1995). A search must be performed pursuant to a warrant supported by probable cause unless a recognized exception applie......
-
Miller v. Idaho State Patrol, 37032.
...State v. Mubita, 145 Idaho 925, 932, 188 P.3d 867, 874 (2008). A warrantless search is presumptively unreasonable. State v. Weaver, 127 Idaho 288, 290, 900 P.2d 196, 198 (1995). A search must be performed pursuant to a warrant supported by probable cause unless a recognized exception applie......
-
State v. Williams, Docket No. 44300
...and seizures. Warrantless searches are presumed to be unreasonable and therefore violative of the Fourth Amendment. State v. Weaver , 127 Idaho 288, 290, 900 P.2d 196, 198 (1995). The State may overcome this presumption by demonstrating that a warrantless search either fell within a well-re......