Fruit v. State

1974 OK CR 192, 528 P.2d 331, 1974 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 459
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedNovember 5, 1974
DocketF-74-155
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 1974 OK CR 192 (Fruit v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fruit v. State, 1974 OK CR 192, 528 P.2d 331, 1974 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 459 (Okla. Ct. App. 1974).

Opinions

OPINION

BUSSEY, Judge:

Appellant Bobby Fruit, a/k/a Bobby Joe Fruit, hereinafter referred to as defendant, was charged, tried and convicted in the District Court, Woodward County, Case No. CRF-73-22, of the offense of Burglary in the Second Degree, in violation of 21 O.S. § 1435, After Former Conviction of a Felony. At the conclusion of his two-stage trial, the jury recommended, and the trial court imposed, a sentence of ten (10) years imprisonment. From said judgment and sentence a timely appeal has been perfected to this Court.

Defendant was convicted of a burglary of a resort cabin at Boiling Springs State Park near Woodward, in which the cabin was broken into and several items of park property (linens, silverware, and blankets) were stolen. As to the circumstances surrounding the burglary, the State introduced the testimony of one of defendant’s two alleged accomplices, Larry McGowan. McGowan testified that he, defendant, and a third companion, Louis Christensen, drove to the unoccupied cabin in defendant’s car. After prying the door open with a screwdriver, they removed the park property in question, putting most of it in the trunk of defendant’s car. After the three returned to Woodward at approximately 2:00 a. m., defendant was stopped and arrested by a Woodward police officer for running a stopsign and for driving without a license and under suspension. During the ensuing inventory search of defendant’s car, the stolen items were discovered. Upon observing the park’s insignia embossed on the items, the police made further investigation which revealed that one of the park cabins had been burglarized. In the interest of brevity, further discussion of the facts will be omitted except as they relate to defendant’s four propositions of error.

In his first two propositions, combined here for purposes of discussion, defendant alleges that the stolen items found in the [333]*333trunk .of his car, should have been suppressed as the product of the above-mentioned inventory search, which defendant claims was illegal. Further, for the same reasons, he argues that the police officers who testified at trial should not have been allowed to describe the conduct and results of the inventory search. Before passing on defendant’s argument we will carefully review the facts surrounding the search, as the validity of any search procedure depends upon the facts and circumstances in the particular case.

The first police officer to observe defendant’s car following the alleged burglary, was Officer Gary Teter. He testified that he and his partner, Randy Lahann, at approximately 2:00 a. m. on April 16, 1973, observed defendant’s car pull normally out of a supermarket parking lot in downtown Woodward. His suspicion aroused by a carload of boys driving about at such a late hour, the officer followed them for a few blocks. After observing defendant’s car failing to stop for a stop sign, he decided to arrest him on that charge, and stopped him. Two other Woodward policemen, in a backup unit, arrived momentarily. Defendant stated that he did not have a driver’s license, as he was driving under suspension. At that point, Officer Teter decided to arrest defendant on the additional charge of driving without a license, and asked the backup officers, Sel-man and Barker, to “check- out” the other two passengers in defendant’s car. The backup officers, who were acquainted with McGowan and Christensen, felt that McGowan was intoxicated,1 and discovered that Christensen had no driver’s license, and thereupon ordered the two to go home on foot. When the two passengers claimed ownership of some property in the back seat of defendant’s car, the two officers allowed them to carry it off with them. Included was an ice chest and beer, as well as two blankets which, according to the testimony of McGowan, had been stolen from the park. Selman and Barker then began an inventory of the remaining contents of defendant’s car. As defendant was to be taken into custody, the officers determined that his car would be impounded, and Selman and Barker' proceeded to inventory its contents at the scene, pursuant to usual police department practice. Though defendant may have been present at the inception of the inventory, he was taken to police headquarters three to five minutes later in Officer Teter’s patrol unit and the rest of the inventory was conducted outside his presence. The officers testified that they had no knowledge of the burglary until the park property was discovered during the inventory. The car was then turned over to a wrecker, and placed in an enclosed “bullpen” area used to secure impounded vehicles.

On appeal, the State seeks to justify the inventory on the ground that it is reasonable to list the contents of a vehicle to be impounded, following a lawful arrest, in order to protect the property interest of the arrestee, and also to protect the police officers from later possible charges of theft of the vehicle’s contents during impoundment.

While he admits that some courts have upheld inventory searches on such grounds, defendant argues that four instances of police conduct in the instant case preclude the State from claiming such justification here. In particular, defendant claims (1) he was not allowed to observe the inventory to challenge its correctness; nor was he (2) provided a copy of the inventory list filled out by the officers; (3) also, argues defendant, the officers gave away part of the car’s contents to McGowan and Christensen without consulting defendant to see if it was his; (4) and further, the vehicle was not locked when it was turned over to the wrecker driver for impoundment. [334]*334These four facts, says defendant, indicate that the officers’ motives were simply to rationalize an unreasonable warrantless search, rather than the stated purpose of protection of the arrestee’s property and the officers taking the inventory.

We find that none of the four instances of alleged police misconduct is sufficient to undermine what we view as an otherwise valid inventory search. First, we note that Officer Teter lawfully arrested defendant for running a stop sign. At that point he could have arrested him for that crime. The fact that defendant was driving under suspension provided another justification, if any was needed, for the arrest and being taken into custody. The arrest being lawful, we next consider whether the vehicle was lawfully impounded. We find that it was, as the police were not obliged to leave the vehicle unattended after defendant was taken into custody. This is one of the “certain situations” in which municipalities may properly authorize the impoundment of vehicles, as discussed recently in State v. Shorney, Okl.Cr., 524 P.2d 69 (1974) ,2

Having established the lawfulness of the arrest and the validity of the im-poundment, we are next faced with the question of the reasonableness of the inventory then performed. We agree with defendant that inventory searches are not exempt from Fourth Amendment standards of reasonableness.3 Our inquiry narrows to the question of whether the four instances of alleged police misconduct cited by defendant renders the inventory in question unreasonable. We find that they did not, and that the instant inventory search was reasonable and proper in line with prior cases decided by this Court. See Bennett v. State, Okl.Cr., 507 P.2d 1252 (1973).

First, we note that no authority has been cited to the effect that a defendant must, be present for the inventory search, or that a defendant must be afforded a copy of the inventory list.

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Fruit v. State
1974 OK CR 192 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1974)

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Bluebook (online)
1974 OK CR 192, 528 P.2d 331, 1974 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 459, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fruit-v-state-oklacrimapp-1974.