State v. Williams

• Decision Date: 30 October 2012
• Docket Number: No. WD 73550.,WD 73550.
• Citation: 382 S.W.3d 232
• Parties: STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Damiun WILLIAMS, Appellant.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

382 S.W.3d 232

STATE of Missouri, Respondent,

v.Damiun WILLIAMS, Appellant.

No. WD 73550.

Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District.

Oct. 30, 2012.

Richard A. Starnes, Jefferson City, MO, for appellant.

Richard W. Johnson, Kansas City, MO, for respondent.

Before: JOSEPH M. ELLIS, P.J., and ALOK AHUJA and MARK D. PFEIFFER, JJ.

ALOK AHUJA, Judge.

Damiun Williams ¹ appeals the judgment of the Circuit Court of Jackson County convicting him of one count of possession of a controlled substance (phencyclidine or “PCP”). He argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress the PCP found in a warrantless search of the vehicle he was driving, because both the initial vehicle stop, and the subsequent vehicle search, were illegal. We conclude that the search of Williams' vehicle was unlawful, and reverse his conviction without addressing the legality of the traffic stop.

Factual Background

On March 26, 2009, Kansas City Police Officers Megan Laffoon and Andrew Henry stopped the vehicle Williams was driving for running a stop sign at the intersection of Benton Boulevard and 41st Street. After determining that Williams was driving with a suspended license, Officer Laffoon arrested and handcuffed him, and then conducted a search of the vehicle. As part of her search, Officer Laffoon lifted up the leather or leather-like boot or cover over the vehicle's gearshift lever, and discovered a lemon extract bottle containing a liquid PCP solution. She also found a package of cigarettes in the side compartment of the driver's side door. Officer Laffoon testified that PCP is frequently consumed by dipping a cigarette in a liquid containing the drug, and then smoking the PCP-impregnated cigarette.

Williams was charged with one count of possession of a controlled substance in violation of § 195.202, RSMo. Williams filed a motion to suppress the evidence seized during the vehicle search. After he waived his right to a jury trial, the circuit court heard his motion to suppress, and the trial of the underlying offense, together on November 12, 2010. The State put on two witnesses, Officer Laffoon and Detective Karen Jenkins. Officer Laffoon testified to the circumstances surrounding Williams' stop and arrest, and the vehicle search. She testified that, on learning that Williams was driving with a suspended license, she made the decision to arrest him and have his vehicle towed. Officer Laffoon testified that she conducted a search of the vehicle pursuant to the Kansas City Police Department's policy requiring the inventory of a vehicle's contents when it is being towed. Detective Jenkins testified as to her post-arrest interrogation of Williams, during which he admitted to smoking PCP earlier on the day of his arrest, and that PCP was his drug of choice. The State also introduced several exhibits, including a video recording of the stop taken by a dashboard camera in the police car, and the vehicle towing and inventory policy of the Kansas City Police Department.² Williams did not present any evidence.

The circuit court denied William's motion to suppress, and found him guilty as charged. It sentenced him to five years' imprisonment, and recommended Williams' placement in the long-term substance abuse treatment program pursuant to § 217.362, RSMo. Williams appeals.

Standard of Review

“At a hearing on a motion to suppress, ‘the state bears both the burden of producing evidence and the risk of nonpersuasion to show by a preponderance of the evidence that the motion to suppress should be overruled.’ ” State v. Grayson, 336 S.W.3d 138, 142 (Mo. banc 2011) (quoting State v. Franklin, 841 S.W.2d 639, 644 (Mo. banc 1992)). “The Court defers to the trial court's determination of credibility and factual findings, inquiring only ‘whether the decision is supported by substantial evidence, and it will be reversed only if clearly erroneous.’ ” Id. (quoting State v. Goff, 129 S.W.3d 857, 862 (Mo. banc 2004)). “By contrast, ‘legal determinations of reasonable suspicion and probable cause’ are reviewed de novo.” Id. (quoting Ornelas v. United States, 517 U.S. 690, 699, 116 S.Ct. 1657, 134 L.Ed.2d 911 (1996)). “ ‘[T]he facts and reasonable inferences from such facts are considered favorably to the trial court's ruling and contrary evidence and inferences are disregarded.’ ” State v. Norfolk, 366 S.W.3d 528, 531 (Mo. banc 2012) (citations omitted).

Analysis

Williams challenges the legality of both the vehicle stop, and the subsequent search. Because we conclude that the search was unlawful, we need not separately address the legality of the stop.

The State sought to justify Officer Laffoon's warrantless search of the vehicle Williams was driving on the ground that it constituted an inventory search incident to towing the vehicle following Williams' arrest. We summarized the law concerning inventory searches in State v. Ramires, 152 S.W.3d 385 (Mo.App. W.D.2004), where we explained:

The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, enforceable against the states through the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, guarantees the right of the people to be secure from unreasonable searches and seizures. This same right is guaranteed by article I, section 15 of the Missouri Constitution.³ Pursuant to these constitutional guarantees, warrantless searches and seizures are deemed per se unreasonable,subject only to a few specifically established and well-delineated exceptions. One such exception is an inventory search of a motor vehicle, which permits a law enforcement officer to make a warrantless search of a lawfully seized vehicle, provided that it is conducted according to standardized criteria or an established routine adopted by the law enforcement agency conducting the search....

... Inventory searches are now a well-defined exception to the warrant requirement of the Fourth Amendment. In the case of a valid inventory search, the Fourth Amendment policies requiring a warrant or probable cause are not implicated. The purpose of the inventory search exception is threefold: (1) the protection of the vehicle owner's property, (2) the protection of the police from false claims of lost property, and (3) the protection of the police from potential danger. An inventory search is valid where reasonable police regulations for inventory procedures are administered in good faith....

[A]n inventory search must not be a ruse for a general rummaging in order to discover incriminating evidence. The policy or practice governing inventory searches should be designed to produce an inventory. The individual police officer must not be allowed so much latitude that inventory searches are turned into a purposeful and general means of discovering evidence of crime.

Id. at 391, 402, 403 (citations and internal quotation marks omitted).

Adherence to established police department procedures is essential to the lawfulness of an inventory search. “[I]n order to ensure that the inventory search is ‘limited in scope to the extent necessary to carry out the caretaking function,’ it must be carried out in accordance with the standard procedures of the local police department.” United States v. Wanless, 882 F.2d 1459, 1463 (9th Cir.1989) (quoting South Dakota v. Opperman, 428 U.S. 364, 375, 96 S.Ct. 3092, 49 L.Ed.2d 1000 (1976)). “The reasonableness requirement is met when an inventory search is conducted according to standardized police procedures, which generally ‘remove the inference that the police have used inventory searches as “a purposeful and general means of discovering evidence of a crime.” ’ ” United States v. Taylor, 636 F.3d 461, 464 (8th Cir.2011) (citation omitted); see also, e.g., United States v. Maple, 348 F.3d 260, 265 (D.C.Cir.2003) (“[T]he reasonableness of the officer's conduct is to be determined by reference to whether he followed the [local police department's] procedures.”). “[The] decisions [of the Supreme Court] have always adhered to the requirement that inventories be conducted according to standardized criteria.” Colorado v. Bertine, 479 U.S. 367, 374 n. 6, 107 S.Ct. 738, 93 L.Ed.2d 739 (1987).

The Kansas City Police Department's inventory search policy, see note 2 above, provides the following definition of a “content inventory”:

A content inventory is a detailed inventory and listing of items located inside of the vehicle being towed. It is required for the towing and protective custody of all vehicles. A content inventory permits locked and/or closed compartments (e.g., trunk or glove compartment) and containers to be opened either by key or by force to determine the content. Any contraband property of evidentiary value, or portable locked compartment that is not opened will be recovered and forwarded to the Property and Evidence Section.

In the event of an inventory search precipitated by an arrest, the policy provides:

A complete content inventory of the interior and trunk will be completed to prevent any article of valuable property from being overlooked.

(1) It is permissible to open closed containers when their contents cannot be determined from examining the container's exterior. If a container cannot be inventoried, it will be recovered and forwarded to the Property and Evidence Section.

The policy also sets forth the treatment of valuable property found in the vehicle:

D. Valuable property, other than firearms, which is attached to or part of the vehicle, e.g., radio/tape player, wire wheels, cellular telephone, etc., will be inventoried and listed on the Tow–In Report, Form 36 P.D., in the appropriate section. The officer will indicate on the Tow–In Report, Form 36 P.D., the disposition of all other property contained in the vehicle.

1. Valuable property in small quantities should be inventoried and forwarded to the Property and Evidence Section in accordance with the procedural instruction entitled, “Recovered Property Procedure.” Property other than evidence and contraband may be released at the scene by...