State v. Wisdom
| Decision Date | 19 May 2015 |
| Docket Number | No. 31832–0–III.,31832–0–III. |
| Citation | 349 P.3d 953,187 Wash.App. 652 |
| Parties | STATE of Washington, Respondent, v. Heath Tyler WISDOM, Appellant. |
| Court | Washington Court of Appeals |
Kristina M. Nichols, Nichols Law Firm, PLLC, Spokane, WA, for Appellant.
James Patrick Hagarty, Attorney at Law, Eustis, FL, David Brian Trefry, Yakima County Prosecutors Office, Spokane, WA, for Respondent.
¶ 1 We address the legality of a law enforcement officer's search of a zipped shaving kit bag found on the seat of a truck. The officer had arrested the truck's driver because the truck was stolen. The driver informed the officer of methamphetamine being on the seat, but did not consent to a search of his bag. Despite the triviality of the circumstances, this appeal concerns a critical issue surrounding Washington's constitutional prohibition against law enforcement disturbing private affairs “without authority of law.” Despite the banality of the facts, this appeal raises a fundamental question concerning whether Washington State will be a police state, in which law enforcement officers employ their own discretion when determining to search property, or a state under the rule of law with magistrates prejudging the validity of police searches. Defendant Heath Wisdom, the driver of the stolen truck, moved the trial court to suppress as evidence the cornucopia of pharmacopeia found in the shaving kit as fruit of an unlawful warrantless search. The trial court denied the motion and found Wisdom guilty of one count each of possession of cocaine, ecstasy, and heroin, and one count of possession with intent to deliver methamphetamine. We reverse.
¶ 2 Heath Wisdom drove, near Moxee, a Chevrolet pickup truck with an ATV in its back. Someone earlier reported both vehicles as stolen. Yakima County Sheriff Deputy Nate Boyer, while on patrol, passed the pickup, and Boyer's automated license plate reader identified the pickup as stolen. Deputy Boyer pulled Wisdom over and arrested him for possession of a stolen vehicle. Boyer handcuffed Wisdom, searched his body, and escorted him to the patrol vehicle. Boyer found on Wisdom's body a pipe that Wisdom admitted he used for smoking methamphetamine.
¶ 3 Deputy Nate Boyer advised Heath Wisdom of his Miranda rights, which the latter waived. Boyer asked if there were drugs in the truck, and Wisdom replied that methamphetamine lay on the front seat. Boyer looked inside the cab of the truck and saw filters, some cleaner, and a black “shaving kit type” bag. Clerk's Papers (CP) at 24. Boyer concluded that the bag contained the methamphetamine. The toiletry bag was closed, but Boyer espied money through the mesh side of the bag. We do not know if an additional lining partitioned the money inside the mesh from the remaining contents of the bag.
¶ 4 After photographing the truck, Deputy Boyer removed the bag from the vehicle, opened it, and found methamphetamine, cocaine, ecstasy, heroin, drug paraphernalia, and two thousand seven hundred dollars in cash. Heath Wisdom told Deputy Boyer that he owned the black bag. Deputy Boyer had not asked Wisdom if he owned the black bag before searching inside the bag.¶ 5 Deputy Boyer never obtained a warrant for his search, nor did he request Heath Wisdom's consent before opening the black bag. Law enforcement impounded the truck and ATV, since the legal owner could not be located.
¶ 6 The State of Washington charged Heath Wisdom with three counts of possession of a controlled substance in violation of RCW 69.50.4013(1) () and one count of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver under RCW 69.50.401(1) (methamphetamine). Wisdom moved under CrR 3.6 to suppress all evidence found in the black toiletry bag. Wisdom argued: (1) Deputy Boyer's warrantless search of the truck and the bag did not fall within the exceptions allowing a search incident to arrest, (2) Boyer's “inventory search” of the black bag was actually an investigatory search for evidence of a crime, and (3) Wisdom's concession that there was methamphetamine in the truck was not consent to search the vehicle or the bag. The State responded that: (1) the impound and search of the vehicle was lawful, and (2) the search of the black bag was a lawful inventory search. The State conceded that Wisdom's statement to Boyer did not amount to an implied consent to search.
¶ 7 At the suppression hearing, Deputy Nate Boyer testified that he opened and searched the black bag pursuant to department policy, and in order to protect against potential liability claims for loss of property:
Report of Proceedings (RP) at 8–9.
¶ 8 On cross-examination, Deputy Boyer admitted that he suspected the black bag contained drugs, but he did not obtain a warrant prior to opening and searching the bag:
¶ 9 On redirect examination, Deputy Nate Boyer stated that he did not seek a search warrant because he instead performed an inventory search of the vehicle and collected property during the inventory. But on recross-examination, Boyer encountered difficulty answering yes or no to whether he believed he would find drugs in the black bag when he started his search:
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
State v. Peck
... ... Peck and Tellvik argue there is no constitutional difference between a locked container and one that is merely closed. Respts Suppl. Br. (Tellvik) at 8 (citing State v. Wisdom, 187 Wash. App. 652, 675-76, 349 P.3d 953 (2015) ; Houser, 95 Wash.2d at 158, 622 P.2d 1218 ; White, 135 Wash.2d at 771-72, 958 P.2d 982 ). Having examined the three cases cited, we disagree. 15 First, in Houser , the defendant was charged with two counts of possession of a controlled ... ...
-
State v. Peck
... ... Peck and Tellvik argue there is no constitutional difference between a locked container and one that is merely closed. Resp't's Suppl. Br. (Tellvik) at 8 (citing State v ... Wisdom , 187 Wn. App. 652, 675-76, 349 P.2d 953 (2015); Houser , 95 Wn.2d at 158; White , 135 Wn.2d at 771-72). Having examined the three cases cited, we disagree. First, in Houser , the defendant was charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance. Houser , 95 Wn.2d at 145. The ... ...
-
State v. Ingram
... ... State v. Wisdom , 187 Wash.App. 652, 349 P.3d 953, 965 (2015). While Washington state courts recognize warrantless inventory searches may serve legitimate government interests, the courts have emphasized that warrantless searches are not limitless and do not outweigh the privacy interests of Washington citizens ... ...
-
State v. Palacios-Farias
... ... 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966) ... [3] Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 ... S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968) ... [4] Mr. Palacios-Farias may not have had ... automatic standing to contest the search of the backpack ... See State v. Wisdom, 187 Wn.App. 652, 664-65, 349 ... P.3d 953 (2015). Nevertheless, because the State does not ... address standing, neither do we ... ...
-
Motor vehicle searches
...constitutions are: • Washington: Closed containers may not be searched unless they are designed to contain valuables. State v. Wisdom , 349 P.3d 953 (Ct. App. 2015). Locked trunks may not be searched unless there is a “manifest necessity” to do so. State v. White , 958 P.2d 982 (Wn. 1998). ......
-
Motor vehicle searches
...constitutions are: • Washington: Closed containers may not be searched unless they are designed to contain valuables. State v. Wisdom , 349 P.3d 953 (Ct. App. 2015). Locked trunks may not be searched unless there is a “manifest necessity” to do so. State v. White , 958 P.2d 982 (Wa. 1998). ......