State v. Rosborough

615 P.2d 84, 62 Haw. 238, 1980 Haw. LEXIS 169

• Court: Hawaii Supreme Court
• Decided: July 11, 1980
• Docket: NO. 6982
• Status: Published

Opinions

OPINION OF THE COURT BY

OGATA, J.

Defendant-appellee Richard S. Rosborough (appellee) was charged with possession of more than 2.2 pounds of marijuana, in violation of HRS § 712-1247(l)(e) (1976) and with possession of marijuana in any amount in violation of HRS § 712-1249 (1976). The State of Hawaii (State) appeals from the granting of appellee’s motion to suppress marijuana discovered in a footlocker and in a matchbox on his person. We affirm.

I.

The essential facts are not in dispute. On September 21, 1977, in Los Angeles, at about 10:30 p.m., a Western Airlines cargo handler detected a strong chemical odor from a foot-loeker which he was preparing to load. He opened the locker and discovered what appeared to be marijuana. The chemical odor emanated from two plastic air fresheners, an apparent attempt to disguise the scent of marijuana. The airport office of the Narcotics Detail of the Los Angeles Police Department was notified. Detective McGraff responded and confirmed that the content of the footlocker was marijuana. The locker was closed and sent on to the named addressee Rosborough in Hawaii.

The following morning, on September 22, 1977, a Thursday, Detective McGraff called the Narcotics Detail of the Honolulu Police Department. The phone call was received at 8:10 a.m. He informed Honolulu police that a black footlocker was enroute to Honolulu to be picked up by Dick Rosborough, 59-408 Pupukea Road. The footlocker was scheduled to arrive on Flight 501, Western Airlines at 2:30 p.m. that day. At 2 o’clock p.m. police officers went to the Western Airlines Cargo Facility at Honolulu International. Airport and requested and received the assistance of the assistant manager of the Western Airlines cargo and luggage section. At 2:35 p.m., Flight 501 arrived and the footlocker was unloaded. At 3:25 p.m., the assistant manager of the cargo facility called Rosborough and informed him that an item was ready for pick-up. Rosborough explained that he did not have a vehicle and did not know when he could pick up the cargo. Police officers maintained continued surveillance of the footlocker. At 9:30 p.m. that night, Rosborough arrived at the Western Airlines Customer Service Office and identified himself. The footlocker was turned over to Rosborough who then placed the footlocker in the rear seat of his car. A police officer approached appellee. Rosborough asked him if there was a restroom on the premises and the officer directed him to the nearest one. Upon his exit from the restroom, Rosborough was arrested in the lobby area for promoting a detrimental drug in the first degree. The arresting officer then extracted a “Diamond” safety match box from appellee’s right front pants pocket. He opened the match box and found marijuana. Appellee was again arrested, this time for promoting a detrimental drug in the third degree. Immediately following the search of the match box, the police conducted a warrantless search of the footlocker. The location of the footlocker at the time of appellee’s arrest and the search of its contents is unclear, but whether it was searched in the car or upon its removal from the car is immaterial, as it was clearly under the police officer’s exclusive control at the time of the search. The footlocker is described in the police evidence report as “one blue footlocker with gold colored metal latches, rivets and corners. Size of locker: 16 in. by 17 in. by 31 in. The locker is locked with a combination padlock. The footlocker has leather straps on each end of the footlocker.’’

II.

The trial court found it unnecessary to rule on the warrant-less search of the footlocker as it found that the search by the Western Airlines employee was a search subject to the Fourth Amendment, and that it was unreasonable, following United States v. Fannon, 556 F.2d 961 (9th Cir. 1977). While this appeal was pending, however, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed its Fannon decision in United States v. Gumerlock, 590 F.2d 794 (9th Cir. 1979), cert. denied, 441 U.S. 948 (1979), and for purposes of this appeal, appellee has conceded that the airline employees’s search of the footlocker was one conducted by a private individual, and hence not subject to the Fourth Amendment. Appellee also concedes the propriety of his arrest and the seizure of the footlocker but, as he did in the court below, challenges the search of its contents and the search of the matchbox. The standing issue is no longer before us as the State conceded, in oral argument, that appellee, charged with a possessory crime, has standing. The questions before us then, are the propriety of the searches of the footlocker and the matchbox.

m.

At issue is whether the warrantless search by the Honolulu police of a footlocker was unreasonable?

The general rule is that warrantless searches are presumptively unreasonable unless they fall within one of the narrowly-defined established exceptions. Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443, 454-455 (1971); Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347 357 (1967); State v. Kender, 60 Haw. 301, 307, 588 P.2d 447, 451 (1978); State v. Patterson, 58 Haw. 462, 467, 571 P.2d 745, 748 (1977); State v. Kaluna, 55 Haw. 361, 363, 520 P.2d 51, 55 (1974). The government has the burden of justifying warrantless searches. Chimel v. California, 395 U.S. 752, 762 (1969); State v. Dias, 62 Haw. 52, 57, 609 P.2d 637, 641 (1980); State v. Kaluna, 55 Haw. at 363, 520 P.2d at 55.

Here, the Los Angeles Police Department telephoned the Honolulu Police Department and informed them that a footlocker addressed to appellee, known to contain marijuana, would be arriving in Honolulu some six hours later. Clearly, Honolulu police officers had probable cause to arrest appellee when he took possession of the footlocker and also had probable cause to seize the footlocker based on the information received from Los Angeles. See State v. Lloyd, 61 Haw. 505, 509, 606 P.2d 913, 916 (1980); State v. Hook, 60 Haw. 197, 202, 587 P.2d 1224, 1228 (1978). Probable cause to seize the footlocker, however, does not permit the greater intrusion of a warrantless search of its contents. Arkansas v. Sanders, 442 U.S. 753, 763 (1979); United States v. Chadwick, 433 U.S. 1, 13 (1977). Chadwick and Sanders extended the prohibition of the Fourth Amendment against warrantless searches to personal luggage. “[L]uggage is a common repository for one’s personal effects, and therefore is inevitably associated with the expectation of privacy ." Arkansas v. Sanders, 442 U.S. at 762. The unauthorized search of the footlocker constituted an unreasonable invasion of appellee’s reasonable expectation of privacy. In Chadwick, the United States Supreme Court held unreasonable a warrantless search of luggage or other similar personal items safely immobilized and under the control of law enforcement officers. InSanders, the Court clarified its decision in Chadwick and explained that the automobile exception did not encompass the search of a suitcase found and seized from a vehicle and in the control of law enforcement officers, even though the officers had probable cause to believe it contained marijuana. The State does not and cannot claim that any exigency existed at the time the footlocker was searched. Nor does it claim that the warrant-less search of the footlocker was incident to the arrest of the possessor. This exception was not argued and moreover, it does not appear that the footlocker was within appellee’s control or within reach such that he could harm the officer or destroy evidence.

The State disputes the applicability of Chadwick and Sanders to the facts of this case and would distinguish this case on the prior events in Los Angeles. The State’s contention is that the appellee lost his privacy interest in his footlocker upon the initial opening in Los Angeles by the airline employee which he now concedes to have been one conducted by a private person. The State relies on the “controlled delivery” or “reassertion of control’ ’ theory. Under this theory, where there is a prior valid search of luggage or other personal items by a private person, a valid seizure by law enforcement officers of one jurisdiction and a “controlled delivery” to the addressee, a subsequent search at the termination point of a controlled delivery is merely a reassertion of possession and part of the first seizure. The second séárch is considered part of the first search since “official dominion continued unbroken because close surveillance followed the seized contraband insuring that it remain within official possession.” United States v. Ford, 525 F.2d 1308, 1313 (10th Cir. 1975). See United States v. Andrews, No. 79-1963 (10th Cir. March 19, 1980), petition for cert. filed (U.S. April 23, 1980) (No. 79-1706); United States v. Bulgier, No. 79-2053 (7th Cir., April 8, 1980); United States v. DeBerry, 487 F.2d 448, 451 (2nd Cir. 1973); McConnell v. State, 595 P.2d 147, 154-155 (Alaska 1979); State v. Pohle, 166 N.J. Super. 504, 512, 400 A.2d 109, 114 (1979).

The reasoning in these cases is that the second (warrant-less) search is based on the “continuing nature of an initially valid seizure and search.” McConnell v. State, 595 P.2d at 154, n. 21. Here, appellee has conceded that the search by the airline employee was a valid one. In Andrews, McConnell, Ford and DeBerry, the law enforcement officers who ascertained the contraband nature of the contents of the container performed some act of dominion and control. For example, in Andrews, detectives removed some of the cocaine from the plastic bag found in a package presented at an airline cargo service office for shipment. In McConnell, the Los Angeles police who had been called to the airport as a result of the discovery by an airline employee of marijuana, took the boxes to the police department where the contents were photographed and tested and two bricks kept as evidence and the box resealed. InFord, the police officer, after confirming that the package contained heroin, marked the package, placed his business card inside it and resealed the package. In DeBerry, the officer removed one of the bricks of marijuana from the suitcase and marked the remaining bricks and the suitcase with his initials. There is lacking in the instant case a similar act of dominion and control by the Los Angeles police which would constitute a seizure.

For the purpose of the disposition of this case the parties had entered into the following stipulation that “there shall be no live testimony and the evidence for the hearing shall be the facts as set forth in the Memorandum of Points and Authorities in Support of Motion to Suppress, filed herein on March 15, 1978, page 1 through 8 inclusive, and the Transcript of Proceedings had in the above-entitled cause before the Grand Jury on Wednesday, February 1, 1978.” We have carefully reviewed the above-referred to memorandum and it is significantly silent as to any seizure made of the footlocker by the police in Los Angeles. No such examination was made of the grand jury transcript of February 1, 1978 since it was not available. The concurring and dissenting opinion concludes that the Los Angeles police, by authorizing shipment of the contraband “intended to exercise dominion and control over the footlocker with the contraband. ’ ’ Intent, of course, is rarely susceptible of direct proof and must necessarily be inferred from the facts and circumstances in the case. On the record before us, we are unable to reach the conclusion that the Los Angeles police “intended” to seize the footlocker and its contents and to exercise dominion and control over it from the Los Angeles airport to the Honolulu airport.

Thus it cannot be said that the footlocker containing the contraband was constructively seized by the police in Los Angeles and that the Honolulu police, in searching its contents, were reasserting actual dominion over an item already under government control. When appellee’s footlocker was searched, he was under arrest and the footlocker under the control of law enforcement officers. “[W]hen no exigency is shown to support the need for an immediate search, the Warrant Clause places the line at the point where the property to be searched comes under the exclusive dominion of police authority.” United States v. Chadwick, 433 U.S. at 15. The information received from Los Angeles police provided probable cause to arrest appellee and seize the footlocker but the greater intrusion into the contents of the footlocker was unreasonable. Honolulu police officers had six hours in which to obtain a search warrant, which, given the facts of this case, no doubt would have been issued. “[M]ere inconvenience to police, or to the judge to whom the application for a warrant is presented, is never a valid reason for by-passing the warrant requirement.” State v. Dias, 62 Haw. at 58, 609 P.2d at 641. There being no exigency, the warrantless search of the footlocker was unreasonable.

IV.

The Diamond safety matchbox which was seized from appellee’s right front pants pocket after his arrest also contained marijuana. The trial court correctly rejected the State’s argument that the search of the match box was incident to a lawful arrest.

Arrest without warrant requires probable cause. State v. Barnes, 58 Haw. 333, 335, 568 P.2d 1207, 1209 (1977); State v. Gustafson, 55 Haw. 65, 69, 515 P.2d 1256, 1259 (1973); State v. Chong, 52 Haw. 226, 231, 473 P.2d 567, 571 (1970). Based on the information from the Los Angeles police that the footlocker addressed to appellee contained marijuana, appellee concedes that the police officer had probable cause to arrest him for possession of marijuana in the footlocker. A search incident to a lawful arrest is limited to “a protective search for weapons, or towards the discovery of the fruits of the crime for which the accused has been arrested, as well as the instrumentalities used in its commission, or to deprive the arrestee of potential means of escape.” State v. Barnes, 58 Haw. at 338, 568 P.2d at 1211; State v. Kaluna, 55 Haw. at 370-371, 520 P.2d at 59; State v. Hanawahine, 50 Haw. 461, 464, 443 P.2d 149, 151-152 (1968); cf. Gustafson v. Florida, 414 U.S. 260 (1973); United States v. Robinson, 414 U.S. 218 (1973). It was unreasonable to search appellee’s person for purposes of discovering fruits or instrumentalities of the crime for which he was arrested (possession of a footlocker of marijuana). The only information known to police was that a footlocker containing marijuana would be arriving in Hawaii. They had no reason to believe appellee had marijuana on his person. The police officer appears not to have been in danger of attack, and there is no indication of escape. Further, as in Kaluna, any possibility that the matchbox contained a weapon such as a razor blade was obviated once the matchbox was seized by the police officer. State v. Kaluna, 55 Haw. at 371, 520 P.2d at 59.

Arthur E. Ross, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney (Roy K. S. Chang and Colleen K. Hirai, Deputy Prosecuting Attorneys, on the briefs), for State of Hawaii, plaintiff-appellant. Evan R. Shirley and Wesley H. Ikeda (Shirley & Jordan of counsel) for defendant-appellee.

Accordingly, the trial court’s order granting the motion to suppress is affirmed.