Camp v. State

751 N.E.2d 299, 2001 Ind. App. LEXIS 1082, 2001 WL 688222
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 20, 2001
Docket49A02-0009-CR-585
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 751 N.E.2d 299 (Camp v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Camp v. State, 751 N.E.2d 299, 2001 Ind. App. LEXIS 1082, 2001 WL 688222 (Ind. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

OPINION

MATTINGLY-MAY, Judge

Jimmy D. Camp brings an interlocutory appeal of the denial of his motion to suppress evidence, namely a crack pipe found in his pocket and cocaine found in his car. He raises one issue on appeal, which we expand and restate as 1) whether the police stop of Camp's vehicle was improper because it was used as a pretext to search his car for drugs, and 2) whether Camp's consent to the search of his car was invalid because the officer was "deceptive" about his reason for the stop.

We affirm. 1

FACTS

An Indianapolis police officer saw Jimmy Camp stop on a residential street in a high-crime area at 4:80 in the morning. A passenger in Camp's car went to a house where a woman met him, spoke to him for about twenty seconds, and appeared to *301 give him something. The passenger returned to the car, and he and Camp drove away. The officer followed and stopped the car after Camp failed to make a complete stop at an intersection.

The officer asked Camp if he could search the car, and Camp consented. When Camp got out of the car the officer did a "pat-down" search of Camp and found a crack pipe. The officer then found cocaine on the floor of the car. Camp was charged with possession 'of cocaine and possession of paraphernalia.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

A trial court has broad discretion in ruling on the admissibility of evidence, and on review we will disturb a trial court's ruling only upon a showing of an abuse of discretion. Sparkman v. State, 722 N.E.2d 1259, 1262 (Ind.Ct.App.2000). In reviewing a motion to suppress, we do not reweigh the evidence, but determine if there is substantial evidence of probative value to support the trial court's ruling. State v. Aynes, 715 N.E.2d 945, 949 (Ind.Ct.App.1999). We look to the totality of the cireumstances and consider all uncon-troverted evidence together with conflicting evidence that supports the trial court's decision. Id. If the basis for the ruling on a motion to suppress is unclear, we will uphold the trial court if a reasonable view of the evidence supports the trial court's decision. Willsey v. State, 698 N.E.2d 784, 789 (Ind.1998). We will affirm the judgment of the trial court if it is sustainable on any legal grounds apparent in the record. Alford v. State, 699 N.E.2d 247, 250 (Ind.1998).

VALIDITY OF STOP

Camp asserts the traffic stop was "a pretext for the officer to avoid Mr. Camp's constitutional protections," (Br. of Appellant at 5), and he notes the officer's testimony that he stopped Camp's car "to conduct an investigation, based on everything that I had seen, the totality of all of the cireumstances." (R. at 61.) Camp concedes that "pretextual" traffic stops have been upheld by the United States Supreme Court, but he urges this court to find them improper under the independent "reasonableness" analysis applied under Ind. Const. art I § 11. '

Camp is correct that we have, in a number of recent decisions, expressed our concern about such pretextual stops. Still, we must decline his invitation to hold that such stops are per se unreasonable under the Indiana Constitution. Our supreme court recently determined the Indiana Constitution does not prohibit pretextual stops, Mitchell v. State, 745 N.E.2d 775, 787 (Ind.2001), but noted that "[the potential for unreasonable search and seizure associated with such a traffic stop is not in the routine police handling of the observed traffic violation, but in the ensuing police investigatory conduct that may be excessive and unrelated to the traffic law violation." Id. 2

This court also recently held with some reluctance that a lawful traffic stop, even if pretextual, is not, without more, an unrea *302 sonable search and seizure. Callahan v. State, 719 N.E.2d 430, 487 (Ind.Ct.App.1999). In Callahan, a drug interdiction officer was traveling with a dog that was trained to detect drugs. The officer stopped Callahan because his car windows were improperly tinted. 3 Like Camp, Callahan gave the officer consent to search his car after the traffic stop had been concluded. We upheld the denial of Callahan's motion to suppress the drugs the officer found:

Although we, too, are troubled by the increasingly common practice of police stopping vehicles for minor traffic offenses and seeking consent to search with no suspicion whatsoever of illegal contraband, all in the name of the war on drugs, we are unwilling under the facts of this case to say that our state constitution prohibits police from doing so. - Callahan clearly and voluntarily consented to the search of his vehicle even after being told that he was free to go and that he did not have to cooperate with the officer. Thus, the State met its burden of proving an exception to the warrant requirement which rendered an otherwise unreasonable search presumably reasonable. The trial court did not err in denying Callahan's motion to suppress.

Id. at 489.

We share the concerns expressed by the Callahan panel. The officer who stopped Camp testified that he almost always asks to search cars he stops in the course of his traffic investigations in that area because of "a couple of various reasons, the location of, uh, via traffic stops, produce a lot of narcotics or handguns. Uh, just a consent to search, it's a standard procedure in all of my traffic stops." (R. at 55.) He also testified he did a "pat-down" search after stopping Camp for the traffic violation because "I have reason to think everybody has a weapon ... in my profession." (R. at 63) (ellipses in original).

Camp does not directly address the validity of the pat-down search exeept to assert, without explanation, that it "went beyond the scope of any consent given" (Br. of Appellant at 15) and that the crack pipe found in the pat-down search was "fruit of the poisonous tree." Id. at 4. Because the evidence could support a finding Camp consented to the pat-down, see, eg., R. at 63 (Q: He stepped out of the vehicle, and you said you then performed a Terry pat-down? A: After I explained to him that the search was voluntary, he exited the vehicle, voluntarily. I conducted a Terry pat.), we must decline to address the validity of the pat-down search. When an individual gives permission to a search of either his person or property, governmental intrusion thereon is presumably not unreasonable. Jones v. State, 655 N.E.2d 49, 54 (Ind.1995).

We are also troubled by this officer's statement that he felt his routine Terry searches are justified because "I have reason to think everybody has a weapon ... in my profession." Under this standard, every citizen would be subject to a Terry search at any time solely by virtue of that citizen's interaction with the police.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Kriss Eugene Bauman, II v. State of Indiana
Indiana Court of Appeals, 2023
William Michael Bean II v. State of Indiana
Indiana Court of Appeals, 2020
Stephanie Lucas v. State of Indiana
15 N.E.3d 96 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2014)
State v. Washington
875 N.E.2d 278 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2007)
Navarro v. State
855 N.E.2d 671 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2006)
Coleman v. State
847 N.E.2d 259 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2006)
Lamonte v. State
839 N.E.2d 172 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2005)
Clark v. State
804 N.E.2d 196 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2004)
Meyers v. State
790 N.E.2d 169 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2003)
Gibson v. State
777 N.E.2d 87 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2002)
Ammons v. State
770 N.E.2d 927 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2002)
Rybolt v. State
770 N.E.2d 935 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2002)
Crabtree v. State
762 N.E.2d 241 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2002)
Lewis v. State
755 N.E.2d 1116 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2001)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
751 N.E.2d 299, 2001 Ind. App. LEXIS 1082, 2001 WL 688222, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/camp-v-state-indctapp-2001.