White v. Com.
| Decision Date | 25 March 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. 2601-95-3,2601-95-3 |
| Citation | 482 S.E.2d 876,24 Va.App. 446 |
| Parties | Robert Edward WHITE v. COMMONWEALTH of Virginia. Record |
| Court | Virginia Court of Appeals |
Vanessa E. Hicks, Assistant Public Defender (Office of the Public Defender, on brief), for appellant.
John K. Byrum, Jr., Assistant Attorney General (James S. Gilmore, III, Attorney General, on brief), for appellee.
Present: MOON, C.J., and COLEMAN and OVERTON, JJ.
Robert Edward White appeals his conviction of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute in violation of Code § 18.2-248. White contends that the trial court erred: (1) in admitting evidence obtained in a search of his car; and (2) in finding that the evidence was sufficient beyond a reasonable doubt to convict him. Because the search of the passenger compartment and trunk of White's vehicle was a valid search pursuant to a lawful custodial arrest, and because the evidence was sufficient to support the finding that White possessed cocaine with intent to distribute, we affirm.
At approximately 4:00 a.m., on April 27, 1995, Officer Murphy of the Lynchburg Police Department cited White for driving on a suspended operator's license. At approximately 11:30 p.m., Murphy noticed White sitting in the driver's seat of a vehicle which was parked on the wrong side of traffic. As Murphy drove past, White pulled out and fell in behind Murphy's vehicle. Murphy turned off, circled, and fell in behind White. As White continued down the street, he entered oncoming traffic, accelerated, and turned into the driveway of his home. Murphy activated his emergency lights and pulled in behind White. White quickly exited his vehicle and began walking rapidly away from his car. Murphy ordered White back to the vehicle. After hesitating for a moment, White complied, returning to his car.
Murphy then arrested White for driving on a suspended operator's license and proceeded to search the passenger compartment of the car. During the search, White asked, "what are you doing to my car?" Between the driver and passenger seats, Murphy discovered a brown paper bag which would have been visible to anyone sitting in the driver's seat. In the bag, Murphy discovered a plastic bag containing two "large white chunks" of crack cocaine. Subsequent to the discovery of the drugs in the vehicle, officers searched the trunk of White's car and therein discovered $2,691 in mixed denominations. A search of White's person produced a pager and $131 in cash.
White moved to suppress the physical evidence and the statement he made while his vehicle was being searched. White argued that because "[he] had already pulled his car into his driveway and had gotten out of the car and was headed toward his house" before being apprehended, the vehicle should not have been searched because it was not in his general vicinity.
In Chimel v. California, 395 U.S. 752, 89 S.Ct. 2034, 23 L.Ed.2d 685 (1969), the United States Supreme Court held that a lawful arrest justifies a contemporaneous warrantless search of the individual arrested and of the immediately surrounding area. "Such searches have long been considered valid because of the need 'to remove any weapons that [the arrestee] might seek to use in order to resist arrest or effect his escape' and the need to prevent the concealment or destruction of evidence." New York v. Belton, 453 U.S. 454, 457, 101 S.Ct. 2860, 2862, 69 L.Ed.2d 768 (1981) (quoting Chimel, 395 U.S. at 763, 89 S.Ct. at 2040).
However, in New York v. Belton, the Court found that "[w]hile the Chimel case established that a search incident to an arrest may not stray beyond the area within the immediate control of the arrestee, courts have found no workable definition of 'the area within the immediate control of the arrestee' when that area arguably includes the interior of an automobile and the arrestee is its recent occupant." 453 U.S. at 460, 101 S.Ct. at 2864 (emphasis added). Recognizing that "the protection of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments 'can only be realized if the police are acting under a set of rules which, in most instances, makes it possible to reach a correct determination beforehand as to whether an invasion of privacy is justified in the interest of law enforcement,' " id. at 458, 101 S.Ct. at 2863 (citations omitted), the Court held "that 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. at 460, 101 S.Ct. at 2864.
In Michigan v. Long, 463 U.S. 1032, 103 S.Ct. 3469, 77 L.Ed.2d 1201 (1983), the Supreme Court stated that its ruling in Belton applies even where the arrestee voluntarily exits the vehicle prior to being arrested. In Long, after swerving into a ditch, Long exited his vehicle and met the investigating officers near the rear of his vehicle. Suspecting that Long was under the influence of alcohol, the police frisked him for weapons. An officer also noticed a hunting knife lying on the floorboard of the car. Searching for other weapons in the car, the officers discovered an open pouch which contained marijuana. A subsequent search of the trunk produced seventy-five pounds of marijuana. While ultimately finding the search of the passenger compartment valid under Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968), the Court noted that "[i]t is clear that if the officers had arrested Long ... they could have searched the passenger compartment under New York v. Belton, 453 U.S. 454, 101 S.Ct. 2860, 69 L.Ed.2d 768 (1981), and the trunk under United States v. Ross, 456 U.S. 798, 102 S.Ct. 2157, 72 L.Ed.2d 572 (1982)." Long, 463 U.S. at 1036 n. 1, 103 S.Ct. at 3473 n. 1.
The Supreme Court's ruling in Belton is readily applicable to the facts in this case. Here, the record indicates that White became aware that he was being followed by the police. Upon fleeing his vehicle he was immediately stopped and arrested for driving a motor vehicle with a suspended operator's license. Subsequent to his custodial arrest, the passenger compartment of the vehicle of which he had been a "recent occupant" was searched, producing a plastic bag containing crack cocaine. The search conducted was performed pursuant to a lawful custodial arrest and was contemporaneous with the arrest. We find this search indistinguishable from the type of search deemed valid by Belton. Accordingly, we hold the search of the passenger compartment of White's vehicle was valid.
We also hold that the subsequent search of the trunk of White's vehicle was valid. In United States v. Ross, 456 U.S. 798, 102 S.Ct. 2157, 72 L.Ed.2d 572 (1982), the Supreme Court found that "[i]f probable cause justifies the search of a lawfully stopped vehicle, it justifies the search of every part of the vehicle and its contents that may conceal the object of the search." Id. at 825, 102 S.Ct. at 2173. Here, the discovery of crack cocaine, pursuant to a valid search incident to a custodial arrest, provided the police with probable cause to believe that the vehicle might contain additional controlled substances.
White argues the evidence was insufficient to prove that he either possessed or had the intent to distribute drugs.
On appeal, we review the evidence in the light most favorable to the...
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