State v. Toto

465 A.2d 894, 123 N.H. 619, 1983 N.H. LEXIS 344
CourtSupreme Court of New Hampshire
DecidedAugust 31, 1983
Docket81-398
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 465 A.2d 894 (State v. Toto) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of New Hampshire primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Toto, 465 A.2d 894, 123 N.H. 619, 1983 N.H. LEXIS 344 (N.H. 1983).

Opinions

King, C.J.

The defendant appeals his conviction for unauthorized possession of a narcotic drug, RSA 318-B:2, I, :26 (Supp. 1981). We affirm the defendant’s conviction, vacate the sentence imposed, and remand.

On the morning of April 2, 1981, the defendant, Joseph Toto, took a cab to the Kwiki-Cab Station in Dover and attempted to purchase a bus ticket to Concord, New Hampshire. Soon after the defendant’s arrival at the cab station, the manager of the cab company called the Dover Police Department and reported that the defendant was acting suspiciously. At about nine in the morning, a Dover police officer responded to the call and, when he arrived, found the defendant seated in the waiting area with a large green garbage bag in front of him. The defendant was able to produce identification upon request.

The officer testified at a hearing on the defendant’s motion to suppress that the defendant appeared to be highly intoxicated, there was an “odor” of alcohol emanating from his breath, his eyes were glassy, and his face was “expressionless.” The officer stated that the defendant looked like a man who “had been on a bender.” His speech “was slurred and mush-mouthed so it almost sounded like he was talking with marbles in his mouth and couldn’t get the words out.” [622]*622In addition, the defendant was unable to walk without assistance. When he attempted to walk a distance of about five feet, he “stumbled right forward and had to grab ahold of [a] post to support himself....”

The manager of the bus station would not sell the defendant a bus ticket or permit him to stay at the station. The police officer testified that he feared the defendant would pass out if he were permitted to leave. As a result, the officer decided to take the defendant into protective custody for the purpose of lodging him at the police station until he was sober. The officer conducted a frisk search of the defendant at the cab station, handcuffed him, and transported him with his garbage bag to the Dover Police Station.

At the police station, the defendant wás given dry clothing, and his own clothing, which was wet, was hung up to dry. The officer then began an inventory search of the defendant’s belongings, including the garbage bag. In the bag, the officer found 75 to 100 bottles of prescription drugs, as well as watches and jewelry. The defendant was charged with unauthorized possession of a narcotic drug.

The officer testified that when he checked on the defendant shortly after placing him in a cell, the defendant appeared to be dead. The defendant was rushed to the Wentworth-Douglas Hospital, where the doctors pumped his stomach, not knowing what, if anything, he might have ingested.

Prior to trial, the defendant moved to suppress the evidence found in the garbage bag on the ground that the search had been illegal. The Superior Court (Goode, J.) upheld the search as a valid inventory search, and therefore denied the motion. A trial by jury resulted in a verdict of guilty on the charge. At sentencing, the court imposed an extended term of imprisonment pursuant to RSA 651:6 (Supp. 1981), even though no notice of the possible application of this provision had been given to the defendant prior to trial or prior to sentencing. The defendant appealed.

On appeal, the defendant raises four major arguments. First, he argues that the inventory search of his garbage bag violated RSA 172-B:3, VII (Supp. 1981) and the due process clause of the United States Constitution. The defendant argues that RSA 172-B:3, VII (Supp. 1981) prohibits the search of a closed container because, while that section provides that the police may conduct a search of the “person” taken into protective custody to reduce the likelihood of injury, it does not expressly provide that the police may search objects in the possession of that person.

We reject this argument. Through RSA 172-B:3, VII (Supp. 1981), the legislature has expressed its concern that police be per[623]*623mitted to conduct a search in order to reduce the likelihood of injury to themselves and others. The danger of injury arises not only from the person taken into protective custody but also from objects in his possession which may pose a threat of injury to persons even if the object is taken into police custody. We will not interpret this statutory provision so narrowly as to prevent the police from protecting themselves against this danger.

In State v. Harlow, 123 N.H. 547, 551-52, 465 A.2d 1210, 1213 (1983), we held that RSA 172-B:3, VII (Supp. 1981) limits the scope of a search that may be performed on a person taken into protective custody pursuant to RSA 172-B:3 (Supp. 1981). We indicated that a search could be performed either to obtain identification or to reduce the threat of injury to persons as a part of the standard procedure of the police station. Although it appears that a search was not necessary to obtain identification in this case, it was necessary to reduce the likelihood of injury. A large garbage bag could contain a number of objects which would pose such a threat of injury to persons, as for instance, a gun. We therefore hold that the search of the defendant’s garbage bag did not violate the permissible scope of searches under RSA 172-B:3, VII (Supp. 1981).

Nor did the search violate the due process clause of the United States Constitution. The defendant claims that the fifth amendment establishes a right to be free from unreasonable searches, and therefore that the right to search persons under RSA chapter 172-B (Supp. 1981) must serve a compelling State interest and be narrowly drawn. It is clear that the right to be free from unreasonable searches is fundamental in the sense that it is applicable to the States through the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment. Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 650-57 (1961). This right arises from and is defined by the fourth amendment, however, and not by the due process clause of the fifth amendment. It is clear that the inventory search of an arrested individual and his personal effects does not violate the fourth amendment. Illinois v. Lafayette, 103 S. Ct. 2605 (1983); see State v. Levesque, 123 N.H. 52, 455 A.2d 1045 (1983). Under fourth amendment analysis, moreover, we believe that the inventory search of the person and the property of one lodged in jail pursuant to RSA 172-B:3 (Supp. 1981) is permissible for the limited purposes identified in Harlow, even though the person has not been arrested. See United States v. Gallop, 606 F.2d 836, 839 (9th Cir. 1979).

The defendant’s second argument is that the police failed to follow certain procedures required by RSA 172-B:3 (Supp. 1981) and that the inventory search of his garbage bag therefore was improper. He [624]*624argues that the officer taking him into custody was required to have probable cause to believe that the defendant’s intoxication was due to alcohol, rather than to drugs, because RSA chapter 172-B concerns only intoxication and incapacitation due to alcohol.

Even assuming, arguendo, that RSA 172-B:3, I (Supp.

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State v. Toto
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Bluebook (online)
465 A.2d 894, 123 N.H. 619, 1983 N.H. LEXIS 344, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-toto-nh-1983.