State v. White

• Decision Date: 11 April 1973
• Docket Number: No. 7326SC53,7326SC53
• Citation: 195 S.E.2d 576,18 N.C.App. 31
• Court: North Carolina Court of Appeals
• Parties: STATE of North Carolina v. John Phillip WHITE.

Page 576

195 S.E.2d 576

18 N.C.App. 31

STATE of North Carolina v. John Phillip WHITE.

No. 7326SC53.

Court of Appeals of North Carolina.

April 11, 1973.

Certiorari Denied and Appeal Dismissed June 1, 1973.

Atty. Gen., Robert Morgan by Henry T. Rosser, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

Arthur Goodman, Jr., and Howard J. Greenwald, Charlotte, for defendant appellant.

BRITT, Judge.

Defendant contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence obtained from a search of his car and the search and seizure of the bag containing 37 packets of heroin found therein. Defendant argues that the officer who seized the bag did not have probable cause to believe that the bag contained either 'the instrumentalities or the fruits of a crime' and that this warrantless search was unreasonable and therefore violated defendant's Fourth Amendment Constitutional rights. We do not agree.

It is clear that the police officers were authorized to stop defendant's car to make a routine driver's license check. G.S. § 20--183(a); G.S. § 20--7; State v. Allen, 282 N.C. 503, 194 S.E.2d 9 (1973). When defendant removed the revolver from the bag, the police properly arrested him without a warrant inasmuch as they had reasonable ground to believe defendant was committing a misdemeanor--carrying a concealed weapon in violation of G.S. § 14--269--in their presence. G.S. § 15--41. Defendant does not challenge the legality of the arrest.

A warrantless search and seizure may be made when incident to a valid arrest. Chimel v. California, 395 U.S. 752, 89 S.Ct. 2034, 23 L.Ed.2d 685 (1969); State v. Allen, Supra. An element of the crime for which defendant was arrested is concealment of the deadly weapon; therefore, the bag was proper evidence in proving the crime for which defendant was arrested. The record does not indicate that the bag was taken for any other purpose.

Defendant argues that the subsequent examination of the bag and discovery of the 37 packets of heroin was not incident to the arrest but occurred at a later time and was therefore unlawful. We reject this argument.

While our research discloses no precedent directly in point--and defendant cites none--we believe the analogy that follows is sound. It has been held that a car that may be searched without a warrant where it is stopped may be searched later at a police station without a warrant. Chambers v. Maroney, 399 U.S. 42, 90 S.Ct. 1975, 26 L.Ed.2d 419 (1970). Recognizing that the paper bag could have been opened at the time the car was stopped as a lawful search incident to the arrest, we feel that the bag could lawfully be opened without a warrant later at the Law Enforcement Center as a valid extension of the Chambers v. Maroney rule. Furthermore, it has been held that discovered evidence not related to the crime which created a basis for the original search is admissible. Harris v. United States, 331 U.S. 145, 67 S.Ct. 1098, 91 L.Ed. 1399 (1947); State v. Higgins, 16 N.C.App. 581, 192 S.E.2d 699 (1972). We hold that under the facts in this case, the court did not err in admitting the challenged evidence.

Defendant next contends that the trial judge erred in permitting Officer Gibson to testify using notes made by Officer Frye. To support this contention, defendant argues that the two officers gave inconsistent testimony at the preliminary hearing; that at the trial the court granted defendant's motion to have State's...