Traylor v. State

• Decision Date: 15 November 1982
• Citation: 458 A.2d 1170
• Parties: Marzette TRAYLOR, Defendant Below, Appellant, v. STATE of Delaware, Plaintiff Below, Appellee. . Submitted:
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Delaware

Page 1170

458 A.2d 1170

Marzette TRAYLOR, Defendant Below, Appellant, v. STATE of Delaware, Plaintiff Below, Appellee.

Supreme Court of Delaware.

Submitted: Nov. 15, 1982.

Decided: March 22, 1983.

Upon appeal from Superior Court. Affirmed.

Bettina C. Ferguson, Wilmington, for appellant.

James B. Ropp, Deputy Atty. Gen., Wilmington, for appellee.

Before HERRMANN, C.J., McNEILLY and MOORE, JJ.

MOORE, Justice:

Following a jury trial, Marzette Traylor was convicted of trafficking in illegal drugs [16 Del.C. § 4753A(a)(3) ], receiving a sentence of three years in prison and a $75,000 fine. ¹ In his appeal from that conviction, he contends that the police improperly searched his car and that he did not knowingly and intelligently waive his Miranda rights before making a statement. He also argues that section 4753A bears no rational relationship to the control of illegal drug sales, thus violating the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment. Finally, he asserts that the mandatory imposition of a $75,000 fine constitutes cruel and unusual punishment which is prohibited by the eighth amendment. We consider these points to be without merit, and we therefore affirm the defendant's conviction.

I.

A.

In January 1982, three undercover police officers were on patrol near the corner of Sixth and Madison Streets in Wilmington. That particular corner, a known drug-dealing area, had been the subject of several anonymous citizen complaints. As the officers first approached the intersection, they saw Traylor, whom they knew to be the subject of then-pending drug-related charges, sitting in the driver's seat of a parked car. After spotting him they drove around the block, parking about a block away to observe him. During the next half hour, the police saw five or six people enter Traylor's car at various times. Each person remained in the car with Traylor for two or three minutes and then left. Traylor only got out of the car once, when no one was with him.

After observing the activity, the officers checked with police headquarters to determine if Traylor had a valid driver's license or if there were any outstanding warrants on him. They learned that his license had been suspended, and they then asked for uniformed officers to be sent to the scene. Waiting for the additional officers, they saw another person drive up to Traylor's car and help him start the car. Traylor immediately drove away, and a uniformed policeman, followed by the undercover officers, stopped him a few blocks away.

Traylor was told he was under arrest for driving while his license was suspended (21 Del.C. § 2756). One officer told him to step out of the car, and a frisk of Traylor revealed that he had over $600 in a pants pocket. While Traylor was being handcuffed and searched, another officer started to search the car and immediately saw two large mittens or ski gloves in the middle of the front seat. Looking inside them, he saw several plastic bags filled with a white powder which was later determined to be heroin. A quick search of the car uncovered no other evidence.

Defendant moved to suppress this evidence, alleging that it was obtained in violation of the fourth amendment, but the trial court denied the motion. Traylor argues the warrantless search of his car was not justified as a search incident to arrest or under the automobile and plain view exceptions to the fourth amendment. The State contends that the search was permissible either as one incident to arrest or under the automobile exception. We conclude that under New York v. Belton, 453 U.S. 454, 101 S.Ct. 2860, 69 L.Ed.2d 768 (1981), defining the scope of a search incident to arrest when the arrestee is driving a car, the police conducted a proper search.

B.

Chimel v. California, 395 U.S. 752, 89 S.Ct. 2034, 23 L.Ed.2d 685 (1969), is the principal modern case on the doctrine of search incident to arrest. In order to protect himself and to prevent the concealment or destruction of evidence, an arresting officer may search the arrested person and "the area from within which he might gain possession of a weapon or destructible evidence". Id. at 763, 89 S.Ct. at 2040. Though Chimel specifically defined the extent to which the police could search the house in which the defendant had been arrested, the rule in Chimel has been applied when the defendant was the occupant of a car. Prior to the decision of the United States Supreme Court in New York v. Belton, 453 U.S. 454, 101 S.Ct. 2860, 69 L.Ed.2d 768 (1981), the permissible scope of a search of an automobile after the arrest of its occupants was in confusion since the search depended on the facts of each case, e.g., the proximity of the defendant to the car, the degree of restraint on the defendant, and the number of police compared to the number of suspects. See Belton, 101 S.Ct. at 2863. Instead of a case-by-case approach, Belton applies one rule: "when a policeman has made a lawful custodial arrest of the occupant of an automobile, he may, as a contemporaneous incident of that arrest, search the passenger compartment of that automobile". Id. 101 S.Ct. at 2864. Any container found within the passenger compartment may also be examined. Id.

Based on the fact that he was initially stopped for a traffic offense, Traylor argues that he was arrested solely in order to justify a search of his car. We recognize "the possibility that a police officer, lacking probable cause to obtain a search warrant, will use a traffic arrest as a pretext to conduct a search". United States v. Robinson, 414 U.S. 218, 248, 94 S.Ct. 467, 482, 38 L.Ed.2d 427 (1973) (Marshall, J., dissenting). See Robbins v. California, 453 U.S. 420, 101 S.Ct. 2841, 2859, 69 L.Ed.2d 744 (1981) (Stevens, J., dissenting); State v. Culver, Del.Supr., 288 A.2d 279, 285 (1972). Delaware law, though, gives a police officer the discretion to make a custodial arrest for violation of any motor vehicle law [21 Del.C. § 703(a), (b) ], ² and the exercise of that discretion, in itself, does not invalidate the search. Gustafson v. Florida, 414 U.S. 260, 265, 94 S.Ct. 488, 491, 38 L.Ed.2d 456 (1973). See Robinson, 414 U.S. at 221 n. 2, 94 S.Ct. at 470 n. 2. Furthermore, the arrest can hardly be called a pretext since the officers, learning that Traylor had a suspended driver's license, had probable cause to arrest him when they saw him drive away. It follows that when Traylor's car was searched, the police had made "a lawful custodial arrest".

Traylor also questions the need for the search since there was no evidence of the traffic offense that was in danger of being destroyed. That argument has been consistently rejected, and we reject it here. Robinson, 414 U.S. at 235, 94 S.Ct. at 476-77; Gustafson, 414 U.S. at 265-66, 94 S.Ct. at 491-92; Culver, 288 A.2d at 283. See Belton, 101 S.Ct. at 2864. In addition, he contends that he had no chance of obtaining any evidence or weapon from the car since at the time of the search, he had been removed from his car and handcuffed. Because he had no access to any part of the car, defendant argues, the search was unjustified under Chimel. In light of Belton, this argument has no force, and on facts substantially identical to this case, the search of a lunch pail that contained cocaine was held proper under Belton. United States v. Enriquez, 675 F.2d 98 (5th Cir.1982). See Belton, 101 S.Ct. at 2865 n. 5; United States v. Singer, 687 F.2d 1135 (8th Cir.1982); United States v. Burns, 684 F.2d 1066 (2d Cir.1982); Government of Virgin Islands v. Rasool, 657 F.2d 582 (3d Cir.1981). Cf. United States v. Fleming, 677 F.2d 602 (7th Cir.1982) (arrest on front porch of house); United States v. Brown, 671 F.2d 585 (D.C.Cir.1982) (arrest on street corner).

As we concluded above, Traylor was the subject of a lawful custodial arrest on a charge of driving with a suspended driver's license. The search of the car, instantly revealing the presence of the gloves containing packets of heroin, followed immediately upon that arrest. The gloves were located inside the passenger compartment of Traylor's car, and they were therefore in the area which was within Traylor's immediate control as defined by Belton. The search of the gloves was one incident to a lawful custodial arrest, and it did not violate Traylor's rights under the fourth and fourteenth amendments. ³

II.

During the trial, the State also introduced into evidence various remarks Traylor had made to the police. ⁴ Traylor and several police officers testified at a suppression hearing regarding these statements. According to the policemen, Traylor was given the Miranda warnings at the scene immediately after several plastic bags were found in a pair of gloves. At that time, he seemed to understand what was being said to him. He was taken to the police station and the police again recited the Miranda warnings after processing Traylor. Asked if he understood his rights, his reply was, "Yes, I do. I understand them." Traylor, in the officers' opinion, did not appear to be under the influence of any drug, and he was aware of what was happening at the police station.

Traylor's testimony was in stark contrast to that of the police. No Miranda warnings were ever given to him at any time. Though three officers testified that they had been present when Traylor made his remarks, Traylor said only one of the three had been there. That particular officer did not advise Traylor of his Miranda rights since he knew Traylor was aware of them. Much to Traylor's surprise, the officer asked about the drugs found in the gloves. He testified that he had used an unknown amount of heroin immediately before leaving the house the day of his arrest, about one and one-half hours prior to his arrest, and was still under its influence when he was questioned. He acknowledged, however, that he had understood what was happening when he was arrested and questioned.

Traylor now argues that when he was questioned, he was under the...