State v. Lewis

454 P.2d 360, 80 N.M. 274
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 18, 1969
Docket260
StatusPublished
Cited by49 cases

This text of 454 P.2d 360 (State v. Lewis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Lewis, 454 P.2d 360, 80 N.M. 274 (N.M. Ct. App. 1969).

Opinion

OPINION

WOOD, Judge.

Defendant appeals his conviction for unlawful possession of marijuana. Section 54-7-13, N.M.S.A. 1953 (Repl.Vol. 8, pt. 2). He asserts: (1) he was illegally arrested, (2) the application for a search warrant was defective and (3) his in-custody statement was obtained in absence of counsel.

Asserted illegal arrest.

Two State Police Officers were investigating an accident east of San Jon. Defendant, driving an automobile in a circumspect manner, was passing the accident-scene. One of the officers waved defendant to the side of the road. The officer did so because the numbers on the license plate indicated the car driven by defendant was a rented vehicle.

The officer checked defendant’s authority to possess and drive the car. Defendant produced an agreement indicating the car had been rented to a Mr. Katzoff and a card indicating Katzoff had given defendant permission to drive the car. However, the dates on the rental agreement had been altered.

The evidence is in conflict as to whether the officer asked or told defendant to wait and as to whether the officer took the keys to the automobile that defendant had been driving. The record is clear that defendant and the car were detained at this point.

There is a conflict as to how long defendant waited at the accident scene. However, the record is clear that the wait lasted only so long as the officers were completing their work in connection with the accident. Upon clearing the accident scene, defendant, accompanied in the car by one of the officers, drove to San Jon.

Upon reaching San Jon, a telephone call was placed to the car rental company. Both the officer and defendant talked to Mr. Curto, a manager of the rental company. In the telephone conversation, Mr. Curto asked the officer to hold the car; he confirmed this request by a telegram.

The officer, accompanied by defendant, then drove the car to State Police headquarters in Tucumcari. The contents of the car were being unloaded and inventoried in preparation for storage of the car. A blanket was removed from the trunk. A package fell from the blanket. The package contained approximately seven ounces of marijuana. Upon discovery of this package, defendant was arrested for unlawful possession of marijuana.

Defendant contends that his detention at the accident scene east of San Jon was an arrest and that this arrest was illegal because made without probable cause. He asserts that discovery of the seven ounces of marijuana resulted from a search incident to this illegal arrest. Defendant claims the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress. He attacks various findings made by the trial court in denying the motion. The attacked findings are to the effect that defendant consented to return to San Jon, and then to Tucumcari and consented to removal of the contents of the car.

We hold that the detention of defendant at the accident scene was not an arrest as that term is normally used and understood, and, therefore, we need not decide whether there was probable cause to make an arrest. Nor need we determine whether the evidence supports the trial court’s finding concerning defendant’s consent. The issue is the reasonableness of the initial detention and the reasonableness of the police action taken pursuant to that detention.

In appropriate circumstances and in an appropriate manner, a police officer may approach a person to investigate possibly criminal behavior even though the officer may not have probable cause for an arrest. To justify such an invasion of a citizen’s personal security, the police officer must be able to specify facts which, together with rational inferences therefrom, reasonably warrant the intrusion. These facts are to be judged by an objective standard — would the facts available to the officer warrant a person -of reasonable caution to believe the action taken was appropriate? Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968); State v. Slicker, 79 N.M. 677, 448 P.2d 478 (Ct. App.1968).

It was reasonable for the officer to stop defendant and ask defendant to show his authority to be operating a car known to the officer to be a rented car. Compare § 64-3-11, N.M.S.A. 1953 (Repl.Vol. 9, pt. 2). Upon being shown a rental agreement that had been altered, it was reasonable to detain defendant until the rental company could be asked about the altered agreement. That’s what the trip to San Jon was about.

Defendant does not assert that, after the telephone conversation in San Jon, the officer acted improperly in holding the car. He claims, however, that at that point, he should have been dropped off at a bus station or otherwise been allowed to go on his way. We disagree. Since the car was to be taken to storage, it was reasonable for the officer to inventory the contents of the car. Police headquarters were in Tucumcari, not in San Jon. It was reasonable to go to police headquarters before beginning the inventory. The blanket was being removed from the car for the purpose of being inventoried; the marijuana fell from the blanket.

The trial court did not err in refusing to suppress the marijuana discovered under these circumstances.

Application for a search warrant.

After being stored, the car was searched pursuant to search warrant. Debris was taken from between the back rests and the seats of the car and from the car’s carpet. The debris amounted to approximately six grams of material. A portion of this material was marijuana.

Defendant contends the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress this evidence. He claims the application for the search warrant was improper. Since we agree with this contention, we dispose of three preliminary matters before discussing the application for the search warrant.

These preliminary matters are:

(a) The officer who applied for the search warrant interviewed defendant a short time prior to making the application. The officer testified that defendant had no objection to a search of the car “* * * because I had told them [defendant and his female companion] that I was going to get a search warrant for it anyway, * * * ” The officer testified that defendant then affirmatively consented to a search of the car. This consent does not justify the search since it is “* 4 4 no more than acquiescence to a claim of lawful authority * * Bumper v. North Carolina, 391 U.S. 543, 88 S.Ct. 1788, 20 L.Ed.2d 797 (1968).

(b) A California statute provides that an officer making an arrest for a narcotics violation shall seize any vehicle used to facilitate the possession of narcotics. The vehicle is to be held as evidence until a forfeiture has been declared or a release ordered. A vehicle held pursuant to these statutory provisions was searched without a warrant a week after the arrest. Cooper v. California, 386 U.S. 58, 87 S.Ct.

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Bluebook (online)
454 P.2d 360, 80 N.M. 274, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-lewis-nmctapp-1969.