State v. 1983 Toyota Corolla

879 P.2d 830, 65 O.B.A.J. 2836, 1994 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 87, 1994 WL 441231
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedMarch 29, 1994
DocketNo. 81184
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 879 P.2d 830 (State v. 1983 Toyota Corolla) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. 1983 Toyota Corolla, 879 P.2d 830, 65 O.B.A.J. 2836, 1994 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 87, 1994 WL 441231 (Okla. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

OPINION

RAPP, Judge.

Claimant Janell Marie Akin appeals the forfeiture of her 1983 Toyota Corolla seized during her arrest for violation of-the Controlled Dangerous Substances Act (Act).

I

Akin and her passenger were stopped by a highway patrol officer near Atoka, Oklahoma, on February 25, 1992, for operating a vehicle with a headlight out. When the officer approached the car, he stated he smelled a strong odor of air freshener. He asked Akin to return to his patrol car and advised her he was going to write her a warning ticket. Once inside the patrol car, the officer radioed a Code 10, a probable drug stop. He wrote the warning ticket and still noticed the smell of air freshener because “[h]er clothes were just saturated with this smell.”

After writing the warning ticket, the officer read Akin a Miranda warning and asked for permission to search her car. She resisted. She asked what would happen if she did not consent to a search. The officer told her she would be detained and that he would call a canine unit to conduct a “sniff” search of her car. Upon hearing this, Akin signed the consent form.

The officer searched Akin’s ear wherein he found a small bag of green leafy substance and two pipes under the passenger’s seat. Akin and the passenger were arrested for possession of marijuana and paraphernalia. Upon booking, officers discovered four or five capsules in Akin’s purse which, upon testing, turned out to be methamphetamine.1

The State filed a Petition to Forfeit Property Seized During Arrest for Controlled Dangerous Substance on March 3, 1992. Akin filed her Notice of Claim and Objection to Forfeiture asserting, among other things: (1) the State erroneously interpreted 63 O.S. 1991 § 2-503(4) in that only vehicles used to transport distributable quantities of controlled dangerous substances are subject to [832]*832forfeiture; and (2) the search of her vehicle was invalid and conducted without a voluntary consent.

Akin subsequently filed a Motion for Summary Judgment asserting her car was exempt under 31 O.S.1991 § 1(A)(13),2 citing State ex rel. McCoy v. Lot One (1), 831 P.2d 1008 (Okla.Ct.App.1992). The State did not respond. The trial court, by court minute, overruled this motion.

AMn then filed a Motion to Suppress, which was denied, claiming her consent to the search of her car was invalid and, therefore, the fruits of the search were tainted and should be suppressed.

The trial court ordered forfeiture. It entered the following Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law in Support of Order of Forfeiture: (1) the ear was forfeitable pursuant to 63 O.S.1991 § 2-503(4); (2) 31 O.S. 1991 § 1(A)(13) applies to exemptions for payment of debt; and (3) the officer’s statement concerning consent was not “sufficiently coercive” to void the voluntary nature of AMn’s consent.

AMn appeals asserting: (1) the evidence utilized by the State in support of the trial court’s forfeiture order was seized in violation of the United States and OMahoma Constitutions; and (2) her automobile is exempt from attachment under OMahoma law.

We address here only the first issue presented.

II

A. The Search

The officer’s testimony establishes that, upon learning AMn’s parked vehicle smelled of “air freshener,” he, in his own mind, was convinced that he was involved in a probable drug interdiction stop. This is evidenced by his transmittal of a Code 10 immediately upon return to his patrol unit. The Code 10 occurred prior to writing the defective equipment warning ticket as an apparent result of continuous monitoring of the smell of air freshener in AMn’s clothing. As he stated:

I asked the driver to step out of the car and come back to my patrol car and advised her I was going to write her a warning for the headlight. We got back into my patrol ear and I wrote her the warning and still, her clothes [sic ] was just saturated with this smell. So, after I finished with the warning I advised her of her Miranda rights and asked her for consent to search her vehicle.

Further evidence of his mind set is shown by the following exchange, occurring during cross-examination:

Q Had you called anything in to the station or were—
A Yes, my headquarters in Durant.
Q When did you do that?
A After — when we first walked back to the patrol car.
Q So the defendant was in the vehicle when you first made radio contact with Durant?
A Yes.
Q Do you recall what you said when you made radio contact with Durant?
A I gave the 10 code for that type of stop.
Q And what type of stop was that?
[833]*833A Possible drug interdiction stop.
Q And that was based on the odor of the air freshener that you have already testified to, is that correct?
A Yes.

From the above, it becomes apparent: (1) the drug stop decision was based strictly upon the air freshener scent; (2) detention beyond the writing of the warning ticket was unlawful; and (3) Akin was not advised of her arrest even after the reading of her Miranda rights and request to search her vehicle. The consensual search of her vehicle was obtained only after she was informed a drug dog would be contacted and brought to the vehicle and that she would be detained until this was done.3 She was not informed of her arrest until after the induced search had been made.4 Her continued detention after the stated reason for the stop and the writing of the warning ticket raises a serious question concerning the legitimacy of the consent and any product of the search.

The question of whether a search was voluntary or coerced is a question of fact to be determined from a totality of circumstances. Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218, 227, 93 S.Ct. 2041, 2047-48, 36 L.Ed.2d 854 (1973); S.R.L. v. State, 733 P.2d 885, 886 (Okla.Cr.App.1987). The smell of air freshener, perfume or cologne from the interior of an automobile driven by a female is not, per se, a rationale or reasonable basis for suspicion of drug activity, nor does it establish probable cause, absent further correlating factors, to suspect drug activity. The question of the reasonableness of an officer’s actions in an automotive stop in which, after the stop, drugs are found, is examined in United States v. Guzman, 864 F.2d 1512 (10th Cir.1988).

Examining pretextual searches, the court stated that numerous supreme court cases recognize that a pretextual use of police power raises a problem of constitutional magnitude, and cited Jones v. United States, 357 U.S. 493, 499-500, 78 S.Ct. 1253, 1257-58, 2 L.Ed.2d 1514 (1958):

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Bluebook (online)
879 P.2d 830, 65 O.B.A.J. 2836, 1994 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 87, 1994 WL 441231, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-1983-toyota-corolla-oklacivapp-1994.