State v. Meadors

580 P.2d 903, 177 Mont. 100, 1978 Mont. LEXIS 824
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedMay 31, 1978
Docket14028
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 580 P.2d 903 (State v. Meadors) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Meadors, 580 P.2d 903, 177 Mont. 100, 1978 Mont. LEXIS 824 (Mo. 1978).

Opinions

MR. CHIEF JUSTICE HASWELL

delivered the opinion of the Court.

Defendant Harold Jesse Meadors appeals his conviction on two counts of criminal possession of dangerous drugs and from denial of his pretrial motion to suppress certain evidence.

On June 4, 1977, between 7:00 and 8:00 a.m., Officer Bruce Oberg of the Billings Police Department responded to a call that a suspicious vehicle was parked on Black Otter Trail, on top of the rimrocks overlooking the City of Billings. Officer Oberg found an automobile with Wyoming license plates parked in the eastbound land facing west,' blocking the road. He observed defendant slumped against the driver’s door, apparently asleep.

When Officer Oberg looked into the car, he saw that the ignition lights on the car’s dashboard were on and observed a marijuana pipe resting in the open ashtray. Oberg shook defendant awake and asked him to get out of the car. As defendant was doing so, Oberg noticed a small vial containing a small amount of white residue powder and a yellow and a red pill in defendant’s right front watch pocket which defendant pushed back into his pocket.

In response to Officer Oberg’s request for identification, defendant gave his name and birthdate and informed Oberg that Detective Trimarco of the Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Department knew him.

Because defendant could not produce any identification, Officer Oberg asked him to empty his pockets onto the hood of the car. Officer Oberg testified he was looking for identification and for the vial he had seen earlier. When defendant did not produce the vial, Officer Oberg told defendant “I want the vial out of your watch pocket.” Defendant then produced two vials, one empty and the other containing the white powder and two pills.

[102]*102By this time Officer Gary Hatfield arrived on the scene to back up Officer Oberg. When asked whether he had any vehicle registration, defendant replied he did not. Officer Hatfield then instituted a check for the registered owner of the car through the Billings Police Department; the NCIC, a national list of stolen vehicles; and the Wyoming Department of Motor Vehicles.,

In response to Officer Qberg’s request for permission to enter the car to look for a registration certificate, defendant refused. Nonetheless, Officer Oberg entered the car and checked the glove compartment where he found one bag containing marijuana and another bag containing a large quantity of amphetamine tablets.

Officer Hatfield then reported there were no locally listed warrants on the vehicle. Officer Oberg then informed Officer Hatfield of the drugs he had found in the glove compartment and instructed Hatfield to arrest defendant. After arresting defendant, Officer Hatfield advised him of his rights and conducted a search of his person. During this search he discovered an aspirin bottle containing more amphetamines and another vial containing two marijuana cigarettes.

After Officers Oberg and Hatfield called for assistance in bringing defendant’s vehicle to the police station, they took defendant to the police station. Once there, the police obtained a search warrant to search defendant’s vehicle and found more amphetamines and marijuana inside the can and in the trunk. In all, the police found more than 15,000 amphetamine tablets and over 360 grams of marijuana in defendant’s possession.

Later a report from the Wyoming Department of Motor Vehicles revealed the car was registered to defendant. During the search of defendant’s vehicle pursuant to the search warrant, the police also found defendant’s driver identification on the front windshield visor.

Defendant was charged by Information in District Court, Yellowstone County, with two counts of criminal possession of dangerous drugs: Count I for possessing more than sixty grams of marijuana of “the approximate weight of 368.5 grams”, and [103]*103Count II for possessing 15,785 amphetamine tablets. Defendant plead not guilty to both counts and moved to suppress all evidence seized as a result of the search of his person and his vehicle. After an evidentiary hearing, the District Court denied defendant’s motion to suppress. Defendant sought review of this denial by a writ of supervisory control, which this Court denied. State ex rel Meadors v. District Court, No. 13965, September 14, 1977. Defendant was subsequently convicted by jury on both counts and sentenced to 5 years imprisonment in the state prison on each count, to run consecutively.

In his appeal defendant raises three specifications of error:

1. Denial of defendant’s motion to suppress.

2. Conviction of two separate crimes based on possession of two different dangerous drugs on the same occasion.

3. Failure to direct a verdict in favor of defendant for failure to prove defendant possessed the exact amount of drugs alleged in the Information.

At the outset, we note that four separate searches are involved in this case: (1)the warrantless search of defendant when ordered to empty his pockets; (2) the warrantless search of defendant’s glove compartment; (3)the warrantless full body search of defendant following arrest; and (4) the search of defendant’s vehicle at the police station pursuant to the search warrant.

Defendant contends that initial searches of his person and his vehicle without the benefit of a warrant were illegal because they did not fall within any of the recognized exceptions to the search warrant requirement. He further concludes that the subsequent searches of his person and vehicle were tainted by the initial illegality and, therefore, the evidence obtained from all four searches must be suppressed.

The state claims the initial search of defendant was valid as a search incident to a lawful arrest under the rule that a search prior to actual arrest is valid as a search incident to a lawful arrest if the officer had probable cause to arrest the defendant at the time of the search. Cipres v. United States (9th Cir. 1965), 343 F.2d 95; State [104]*104v. Smith (1977), 88 Wash.2d 127, 559 P.2d 970; Layland v. State (Alaska 1975), 535 P.2d 1043; State V. Brooks (1961), 57 Wash.2d 422, 357 P.2d 735.

A search incident to a lawful arrest is a recognized exception to the warrant requirement for lawful searches and seizures. Section 95-701(a), R.C.M.1947. Other jurisdictions have held tha if the search is made substantially contemporaneously to the arrest, it makes no difference that the search precedes rather than follows the arrest. Cipres v. United States, supra; Layland v. State, supra; State v. Brooks, supra. The rationale has been stated in this language:

“ * * * if the officer is entitled to make an arrest on the basis of information available to him before he searches, and as an incident to that arrest is entitled to make a reasonable search of the person arrested and the place where he is arrested, there is nothing unreasonable in his conduct if he makes the search before instead of after the arrest.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
580 P.2d 903, 177 Mont. 100, 1978 Mont. LEXIS 824, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-meadors-mont-1978.