State v. Young

• Decision Date: 21 July 1981
• Citation: 432 A.2d 874,87 N.J. 132
• Parties: STATE of New Jersey, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. William Edward YOUNG, Defendant-Respondent.
• Court: New Jersey Supreme Court

Page 132

87 N.J. 132

432 A.2d 874

STATE of New Jersey, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. William Edward YOUNG, Defendant-Respondent.

Supreme Court of New Jersey.

Argued March 10, 1981.

Decided July 21, 1981.

Lorane L. Posner, Deputy Atty. Gen., for plaintiff-appellant (John J. Degnan, Atty. Gen., attorney).

Salvatore T. Alfano, Garfield, for defendant-respondent (Miles Feinstein, Passaic, attorney).

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

PASHMAN, J.

At issue in this case is the legality under the Fourth Amendment of the federal Constitution and Article 1, paragraph 7 of the New Jersey Constitution of a roadside search of a suitcase taken from defendant's car. Defendant was stopped by State Police for erratic driving and eventually placed under arrest. Subsequently, the police searched his car and a locked suitcase lying on the back seat. Inside the suitcase they found two bags of cocaine.

In United States v. Chadwick, 433 U.S. 1, 97 S.Ct. 2476, 53 L.Ed.2d 538 (1977), and Arkansas v. Sanders, 442 U.S. 753, 99 S.Ct. 2586, 61 L.Ed.2d 235 (1979), the United States Supreme Court held generally that absent exigent circumstances police could not, consistently with the Fourth Amendment, conduct a warrantless search of luggage found in an automobile. The State contends, however, that Chadwick and Sanders should not be applied retroactively to invalidate this search, which occurred before the dates of those decisions. We agree with the State's contention. Furthermore, unlike in State v. Patino, 83 N.J. 1, 414 A.2d 1327 (1980), we find that the circumstances in this case gave the police adequate probable cause to conduct the search. Accordingly, the search was legal at the time it occurred and the evidence derived therefrom need not have been suppressed.

I

On the afternoon of January 5, 1977 a State trooper observed a 1975 Chevrolet with Ohio license plates traveling at an unusually slow speed on Route 3 in Clifton. The trooper stopped the automobile to investigate the reason for the abnormal driving and to check the driver's license and registration. Defendant, the only occupant of the car, informed the trooper that the car did not belong to him. He displayed an Ohio driver's license and proceeded to look in the glove compartment for the registration of the car.

At this time, the trooper moved to the passenger side of the car and peered inside. He noticed what he believed to be a partially consumed marijuana cigarette in plain view on the floor of the passenger side. He also noticed a New Jersey driver's license in the glove compartment, which upon further inspection turned out to be blank. The trooper then called for additional help and arrested defendant for possession of marijuana and a counterfeit driver's license.

Upon his arrest, defendant stepped out of the car carrying an overnight bag. The trooper patted down the defendant's clothing, discovering $9,700 in cash inside a pocket, and searched the overnight bag, finding various pills. ¹ He continued to search the whole car and discovered a leather suitcase on the back seat. Upon inquiry, defendant denied ownership or knowledge of the suitcase.

A second State trooper then arrived at the scene to assist in the arrest. He proceeded to search the car again, still without a warrant, and removed the suitcase from the back seat. Finding it locked with a combination lock, he nevertheless tried a succession of three-number combinations until he hit upon the right number and opened the suitcase. Inside he found a woman's purse and, looking further inside the purse, he found two bags of white powder later identified as cocaine.

Defendant was indicted for possession of cocaine and desoxyn (count one) and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute (count two). He made a pretrial motion to suppress the State's use of the cocaine against him on the ground that it was the product of an illegal warrantless search. The trial court denied the motion. Subsequently, defendant pleaded guilty to count two of the indictment pursuant to a plea bargain. The other count and several disorderly person charges were dismissed. The trial court sentenced defendant to ten to twelve years in State Prison for the conviction on possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.

On appeal, the Appellate Division reversed the trial court's judgment entered on the denial of the motion to suppress and vacated the conviction and guilty plea. The reversal was based on the Supreme Court decisions in United States v. Chadwick, supra, and Arkansas v. Sanders, supra.

We granted the State's petition for certification and summarily remanded to the Appellate Division for reconsideration of the issue whether Chadwick and Sanders should be applied retroactively to this case in light of our decision in State v. Howery, 80 N.J. 563, 404 A.2d 632, cert. den., 444 U.S. 994, 100 S.Ct. 527, 62 L.Ed.2d 424 (1979). 82 N.J. 296, 412 A.2d 802 (1980).

After reconsideration the Appellate Division affirmed its earlier judgment suppressing the cocaine and vacating the conviction. The majority of the panel held that Chadwick and Sanders present no issue concerning retroactivity because the two cases did not establish a new constitutional doctrine. Therefore, the majority again applied the holdings of the two cases to the facts of this case and found the search unconstitutional. Additionally, the majority concluded without discussion that the search violated the holding of our recent decision in State v. Patino, supra.

One judge dissented, believing that Chadwickk and Sanders should not be applied retroactively to searches that occurred before the date of those decisions. He also concluded that the search in this case did not violate our holding in Patino. The present appeal therefore comes before us as of right because of the dissent in the Appellate Division. R. 2:2-1(a)(2).

II

We consider first whether Chadwick, supra, and Sanders, supra, should apply retroactively to a search that occurred before the date of those decisions. The State contends that those cases announced a new constitutional doctrine that should not be applied retroactively to this search. The majority in the Appellate Division disagreed, believing that Chadwick and Sanders were simply applications of established Fourth Amendment doctrine to particular facts. We think the State is correct.

The date relevant to this retroactivity issue is June 21, 1977, the date of the Chadwick decision. In Chadwick the Supreme Court invalidated a warrantless search of a footlocker placed, moments before its seizure by federal agents, in the trunk of an automobile parked outside a railroad station. Two years later, in Sanders, the Court invalidated the warrantless search of a suitcase taken from the trunk of a taxi after it had moved only a short distance from the airport where defendant had begun the ride. These two cases are based upon the same constitutional doctrine. If Chadwick announced a new Fourth Amendment rule, Sanders applied that same rule to slightly different facts. Therefore, Sanders by itself does not raise a retroactivity problem since it did not establish a new rule. See State v. Burstein, 85 N.J. 394, 403, 427 A.2d 525 (1981). Cf. United States v. Dien, 609 F.2d 1038, 1046 (2d Cir. 1979) (retroactive application of Sanders to search occurring before Sanders but after Chadwick); United States v. Meier, 602 F.2d 253 (10th Cir. 1979) (same). ² We need consider only whether Chadwick announced a new constitutional doctrine and, if so, whether that new doctrine should be applied retroactively to prior searches.

Despite the sharp disagreements reflected in this Court's recent decisions on the issue of retroactivity in the criminal context, the law of this State has been established by State v. Burstein, supra; State v. Carpentieri, 82 N.J. 546, 414 A.2d 966 (1980) and State v. Howery, supra. ³ under those decisions, Chadwick must be considered a new constitutional rule. While no previous case or statute before Chadwick specifically authorized the search of luggage taken from a car, several decisions did give the police a broad scope of authorization to conduct warrantless searches of automobiles stopped on the highway and of items found within them. See State v. Waltz, 61 N.J. 83, 293 A.2d 167 (1972); State v. Gray, 59 N.J. 563, 285 A.2d 1 (1971); see also Cady v. Dombrowski, 413 U.S. 433, 93 S.Ct. 2523, 37 L.Ed.2d 706 (1973); United States v. Tramunti, 513 F.2d 1087 (2d Cir.), cert. den. 423 U.S. 832, 96 S.Ct. 54, 46 L.Ed.2d 50 (1975). Since Chadwick reduced the scope of permissible warrantless searches and marked a departure from the direction of prior cases, it presents a retroactivity issue that must be resolved.

The test for retroactivity, fully elaborated in State v. Nash, 64 N.J. 464, 471, 317 A.2d 689 (1974), was most recently stated in State v. Burstein, supra:

In deciding whether to apply a new rule of law retroactively, three factors must be considered: (1) the purpose of the new rule and whether it would be furthered by retroactive application; (2) the reliance placed on the old rule by those charged with administering it; and (3) the effect that retroactive application would have on the administration of justice. (85 N.J. at 406, 427 A.2d 525)

The application of this test as favored by a majority of this Court and explained in detail in Burstein, Carpentieri and Howery requires that the rule of Chadwick and Sanders invalidate only searches that occurred after June 21, 1977, the date of the Chadwick decision. Those charged with enforcing our criminal laws could have reasonably relied on the pre-Chadwick rule recognizing the search of all items found within a car as part of the automobile exception to the warrant requirement. Furthermore, limited retroactive application of the Chadwick rule to cases not yet tried or pending direct review has been viewed by some as burdening the administration of justice. The deciding factor in...