Danielle Kelly v. State of Indiana

997 N.E.2d 1045, 2013 WL 6122278, 2013 Ind. LEXIS 904
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 21, 2013
Docket30S01-1303-CR-220
StatusPublished
Cited by53 cases

This text of 997 N.E.2d 1045 (Danielle Kelly v. State of Indiana) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Danielle Kelly v. State of Indiana, 997 N.E.2d 1045, 2013 WL 6122278, 2013 Ind. LEXIS 904 (Ind. 2013).

Opinion

MASSA, Justice.

Danielle Kelly here appeals the denial of her motion to suppress evidence found in a search of her vehicle and inculpatory statements she made to police. We reverse.

Facts and Procedural History

On September 15, 2010, Sergeant Michael Fuller of the Fortville Police Department received a phone call from dispatch to inform him that Ms. Carolyn Goodwin wished to speak with him. After talking to *1048 Goodwin on the phone, Sergeant Fuller went to Goodwin’s home, and she told him that in an effort to “help clean up her community” she had arranged a sort of amateur sting operation. Tr. at 10. Specifically, Goodwin stated she “knew of’ an African-American man from Indianapolis who had been selling cocaine to several of her friends in Fortville bars, and she became “tired of seeing it,” so she obtained his phone number and arranged to purchase some cocaine from him. 1 Tr. at 11. This man, Goodwin told Sergeant Fuller, was now on his way to her home to make delivery, but she had no money to pay him, and she was afraid he had a gun and would harm her. Goodwin did not provide Sergeant Fuller with the man’s name or any further physical description of him or his vehicle.

Sergeant Fuller proceeded to Goodwin’s home. After he arrived, he overheard Goodwin taking several phone calls from a man asking directions to her residence, but he never heard Goodwin mention drugs during the calls. In anticipation of the caller’s arrival, Sergeant Fuller contacted Fortville Police Chief Benjamin Kiphart and another officer for assistance, and they waited outside in the squad car while Sergeant Fuller waited inside with Goodwin.

Soon, a vehicle pulled into a parking lot near Goodwin’s home. Kelly’s cousin, Lamont A. Day, was driving, and Kelly was sitting in the passenger seat. Goodwin confirmed that Day was the man she had been expecting. Police approached the vehicle with their guns drawn, ordered Kelly and Day to exit the vehicle, and handcuffed them. Chief Kiphart began to interview Kelly in the parking lot while Sergeant Fuller and another officer began an inventory search of the vehicle. During that search, the officers came upon a screwdriver with a yellow handle; the handle had been hollowed out, and they found cocaine inside.

Some portion of Chief Kiphart’s interview with Kelly in the parking lot was recorded on his shoulder mic camera. The video shows Kelly sitting on the front bumper of her car with her hands cuffed behind her back. Chief Kiphart informed Kelly they had found the cocaine:

Chief Kiphart: “Well, he didn’t throw it out the window. It’s still in the car.”
Kelly: “OK, well, I didn’t know that. Oh Lord.”
Chief Kiphart: “You said you knew about it.”
Kelly: “I did know about it, but he said he felt something when we passed McCordsville and seen the red car.”
Chief Kiphart: “OK. Well, unfortunately, you knew about it. It was in the car.
Kelly: “OK.”
Chief Kiphart: “So ...”

Ex. 1 at 21:19. At this point, Kelly rose to her feet and turned to her left side.

Kelly: “Can we go now?”
Chief Kiphart: “Nope. You’re gonna sit down there. Right now.”
Kelly: “I don’t feel like sitting right now. My nerves are bad. I just need to breathe.”
Chief Kiphart: “Sit down, please, before I put you down.”
Kelly: “This car is hot. It’s really hot.” Chief Kiphart: “OK, it’s not that hot.”
Kelly: “Yes, it — ”
Chief Kiphart: “Sit down before you get yourself in more trouble.”

*1049 Ex. 1 at 21:42. Kelly sat back down on the front bumper of the car.

Kelly: “I can’t breathe.”
Chief Kiphart: “You are smart, right?”
Kelly: ‘Tes.”
Chief Kiphart: “OK.”
Kelly: “I’m just trying to get home to my baby ... [inaudible]”
Chief Kiphart: “What’s your name?”
Kelly: “My name is Danielle Kelly.”
Chief Kiphart: “Danielle, OK.”
Kelly: “Oh, Lord.”
Chief Kiphart: ‘Tou ever heard of Miranda warning?”
Kelly: [shaking her head]
Chief Kiphart: “OK. Miranda warning — I’m gonna read this to you, OK? You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have a right to speak with a lawyer before you’re asked any questions and have him with you during questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be appointed for you. Do you understand your rights?”
Kelly: [nodding]
Chief Kiphart: “OK. Do you want to answer any questions?”
Kelly: “How soon can I have a phone call?”
Chief Kiphart: ‘You can have a phone call when you go to jail.”
Kelly: “My parents going to kill me
Chief Kiphart: “Do you wish to answer any questions now?”
Kelly: “What am I going to jail for?” Chief Kiphart: “Do you want to be cooperative with us? At this point right now, probably possession of cocaine and intent to deal.”
Kelly: “But I wasn’t dealing.”
Chief Kiphart: ‘You were in the vehicle.”
Kelly: “But — at the time ...”
Chief Kiphart: “You knew about it. You knew your cousin had cocaine on him. It is your car.
Kelly: “OK.”
Chief Kiphart: “I mean, they just keep stacking up.”
Kelly: “OK.”
Chief Kiphart: ‘You said. You told me.”
⅜ ⅝ ⅜ ⅝ ⅜ ⅜
Chief Kiphart: “Did he say what he was riding for?”
Kelly: “No.”
Chief Kiphart: “Oh. That’s not what you told me, like, thirty seconds ago.”
Another Officer: “You just told us you did.”
Chief Kiphart: “You knew he had the cocaine.” •
Kelly: ‘Yeah. Once he ...”
Chief Kiphart: “Once you got in the car, you knew he had it. You should have said ‘Get out.’ ”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
997 N.E.2d 1045, 2013 WL 6122278, 2013 Ind. LEXIS 904, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/danielle-kelly-v-state-of-indiana-ind-2013.