State v. ONE 1972 PONTIAC GRAND PRIX, ETC.

242 N.W.2d 660, 90 S.D. 455, 1976 S.D. LEXIS 227
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedMay 21, 1976
DocketFile 11720
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 242 N.W.2d 660 (State v. ONE 1972 PONTIAC GRAND PRIX, ETC.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South Dakota 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. ONE 1972 PONTIAC GRAND PRIX, ETC., 242 N.W.2d 660, 90 S.D. 455, 1976 S.D. LEXIS 227 (S.D. 1976).

Opinions

DUNN, Chief Justice.

This is a vehicle forfeiture proceeding under the State Drugs and Substances Control Act against one 1972 Pontiac Grand Prix, Two-Door Hardtop, VIN 2K57T2A161214 automobile. Plaintiff State of South Dakota appeals from a judgment and an order of the Circuit Court of the Eighth Judicial Circuit which granted summary judgment in favor of the owners of defendant automobile. We affirm.

Police officers observed the defendant automobile squealing its tires and hitting a curb near a school in Belle Fourche on the evening of April 26, 1975. The officers stopped the automobile which contained four persons. They asked the driver Neil Newlander for his driver’s license and vehicle registration certificate. The officers smelled what they believed to be marijuana smoke in the car and observed open containers of beer inside. Newlander was arrested for exhibition driving and for having open containers in the vehicle. When one officer conducted a pat-down search of Tom Reade, an occupant, he found a pipe which contained marijuana residue. Another officer found a warm pipe which also contained marijuana residue. The officers searched the car’s console and found a substance which was later determined to be 0.4 of an ounce of marijuana seeds. A hypodermic needle was discovered in the shirt pocket of Steve Satzinger, another passenger in the car. The men were arrested for possession of less than one ounce of marijuana and Neil Newlander has since pleaded guilty to that charge, which is a misdemeanor in South Dakota. See SDCL 39-17-96.

The registered owners of defendant vehicle are Neil New-lander and his mother Shirley Newlander Rieb. The First National Bank of the Black Hills loaned purchase money and has a perfected security interest in the vehicle. At the time of seizure, $3,288.89 was owed to the bank on the automobile.

A summons and complaint dated May 9, 1975, seeking forfeiture of the vehicle was served by the State on the [458]*458registered owners. The owners filed an answer and moved for summary judgment. Plaintiff then also moved for summary judgment. Affidavits supporting summary judgment were filed by both sides. On July 15, 1975, the court issued a memorandum opinion granting defendant’s motion for summary judgment and denying plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment. The judgment and order was signed by the court on July 25, 1975. Thereafter findings of fact and conclusions of law were signed and filed by the court.

Both plaintiff and defendant raise constitutional questions regarding the provisions in SDCL 39-17-129 through 39-17-137. Defendant argues that the forfeiture provisions violate the due process and equal protection clauses of the United States Constitution, as well as those of the South Dakota Constitution. We deem it unnecessary to reach the constitutional questions on this appeal.

It is the prerogative of the people of the State of South Dakota, through their legislature, to determine the necessity for a vehicle forfeiture law and the type of violations that would require forfeiture. The Attorney General is vested with the power to enforce the law, but the standards for enforcement must come from the legislature. Schryver v. Schirmer, 1969, 84 S.D. 352, 171 N.W.2d 634.

SDCL 39-17-129 provides:

“The following shall be subject to forfeiture and no property right shall exist in them:
* * * * * *
(4) All conveyances including aircraft, vehicles, or vessels, which are used, or intended for use, to transport, or in any manner facilitate the transportation, sale, receipt, possession or concealment of property described in (1) or (2), except as provided in §§ 39-17-130 and 39-17-131 * *.”

[459]*459The above is but a portion of the State Drugs and Substances Control Act which was adopted by the legislature. Section 17, Ch. 229, S.L.1970. It had its origin in the Uniform Controlled Substances Act which was approved by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in 1970. Although SDCL 39-17-129 was changed slightly when adopted by the legislature, it is substantially the same as § 505 of the Uniform Act. The Commissioners’ Notes after § 505 set out the purpose for the forfeiture sections.

“Effective law enforcement demands that there be a means of confiscating the vehicles and instrumentalities used by drug traffickers in committing violations under this Act. The reasoning is to prevent their use in the commission of subsequent offenses involving transportation or concealment of controlled substances and to deprive the drug trafficker of needed mobility.” 9 Uniform Laws Annotated § 505, p. 338. (emphasis supplied)

In United States v. One 1972 Datsun, Vehicle Id. LB1100355950, 1974, D. New Hampshire, 378 F.Supp. 1200, the court was called upon to interpret 21 U.S.C. § 881(a)(4). The wording of that section is identical with the wording of SDCL 39-17-129. There the court stated:

“The legislative history surrounding these Amendments clearly shows that a purpose of vehicle forfeiture in the enforcement of the narcotics laws is to prevent the flow of narcotics by depriving narcotics peddlers of the ‘operating tools’ of their trade, thereby financially incapacitating the illegal narcotics activity.” 378 F.Supp. at 1205 (emphasis supplied)

The legislative history of both the Uniform Law and the federal law indicates that the prime target of vehicle forfeitures is the “narcotics peddler” and “drug trafficker” and the purpose of forfeiture is to deny these people mobility and to financially weaken the narcotics enterprise.

[460]*460We have closely examined the language of SDCL 39-17-129(4) in light of the above mentioned legislative history, and we conclude that the forfeiture provisions do not apply to the facts presented in this case. First, we are convinced that in passing the State Drugs and Substances Control Act the legislature did not intend the harsh result of forfeiture to apply to vehicles containing misdeameanor amounts of marijuana.1 In this case the Attorney General is asking this court to construe SDCL 39-17-129(4) so strictly that a $4,000 automobile can be forfeited to the State because 0.4 ounce of marijuana seeds and some pipes containing marijuana residue were found in the vehicle when the driver was stopped for exhibition driving. Yet, it was conceded in oral argument that had this automobile been stopped in February of 1976, rather than April of 1975, no forfeiture proceeding would have been commenced.

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State v. ONE 1972 PONTIAC GRAND PRIX, ETC.
242 N.W.2d 660 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1976)

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Bluebook (online)
242 N.W.2d 660, 90 S.D. 455, 1976 S.D. LEXIS 227, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-one-1972-pontiac-grand-prix-etc-sd-1976.