Source: https://law.justia.com/cases/california/supreme-court/3d/24/850.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 02:02:36+00:00

Document:
Quin Denvir and Paul Halvonik, State Public Defenders, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, Clifton R. Jeffers, Chief Assistant State [24 Cal. 3d 853] Public Defender, B. E. Bergesen III, Michael G. Millman, Philip A. Schnayerson and Gail R. Weinheimer, Deputy State Public Defenders, for Defendant and Appellant.
Evelle J. Younger and George Deukmejian, Attorneys General, Robert H. Philibosian and Jack R. Winkler, Chief Assistant Attorneys General, Robert R. Granucci and Ronald E. Niver, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
Joseph Freitas, Jr., District Attorney (San Francisco), Daniel H. Weinstein, Chief Assistant District Attorney, John J. O'Brien and Carol M. Hehmeyer, Assistant District Attorneys, as Amici Curiae on behalf of Plaintiff and Respondent.
This court must decide whether the warrantless search of closed boxes in the trunk of a car was lawful after the driver was under arrest and handcuffed.
Around 2:30 p.m. on March 4, 1976, Officer Ellis of the California Highway Patrol observed a white Cadillac bearing Arizona license plates proceeding about 65 miles per hour southbound on Highway 280. He followed the car a short distance and signalled the driver to stop. The Cadillac left the freeway and stopped.
The officers radioed for assistance because they suspected the vehicle might be stolen. Officer Hertogs responded. Another officer, who happened to be passing by, also stopped. Officer Hertogs ascertained that the identification number on the engine of the car was the same as the number on the car's frame, but not the same as the number on the car's doorplate. A further check revealed that the vehicle associated with one of those numbers was possibly stolen.
The passenger was informed that she and appellant would be transported to the police station and she was asked if she wanted anything from the car. She requested the suitcase and a box of Pampers. Unable to find them in the passenger compartment, Hertogs was told by the passenger that they were in the car's trunk. He opened the trunk with a screwdriver because the trunk lock was "punched."
Inside he observed two empty shoulder holsters, two suitcases, a box of Pampers, a large silver colored metal box and various tools. Since only one weapon had been located inside the car, the officer began to search for another weapon to go with the second shoulder holster. One suitcase and a box of Pampers were removed, and a brown leather box was found beneath the suitcase. On the top was written "Longines, the world's most honored watch." Officer Hertogs opened the box and found a disassembled sawed-off shotgun. Next to the leather box was a silver-gray metal box. Hertogs removed it and opened it with a screwdriver. Inside were plastic bags with a white powder subsequently identified as amphetamine, a small caliber revolver, some small packets containing a brown powder later identified as heroin, and narcotics paraphernalia. The suitcases were also searched, but they contained no contraband.
The highway patrol officers radioed the San Francisco Police Department for assistance and an officer from the narcotics detail arrived. The large metal toolbox was removed from the car and its padlock hammered off. Inside were packets of the white powder, mortar and pestle, a scale, a grinder, and plastic bags. Appellant and his passenger were transported to the police station and charged with possession of controlled substances for sale (Health & Saf. Code, §§ 11378, 11351), auto theft (Veh. Code, § 10851) and various weapon offenses (Pen. Code, §§ 12020, 12021, 12025, subd. (a)).
A motion to suppress was made and denied at the preliminary hearing. Neither appellant nor his codefendant testified. That motion was renewed in superior court based on the transcript of the preliminary hearing. [24 Cal. 3d 855] Following its denial, appellant pled guilty to possession of heroin for sale and auto theft. fn. 1 This appeal followed.
This court must decide whether a warrantless search may be made in the field of closed personal effects found in the trunk of a car when the car's occupants have been taken into custody.
In the present case, there were no exigent circumstances that would have dictated an immediate search of the boxes. Appellant and his passenger were safely under arrest. The two metal boxes were closed, and anything that might have been inside was well out of the reach of the handcuffed suspects. Even though no decision had been made as to whether the car should be impounded or towed, the boxes themselves could have been safely transported to the police station. No fears for the officers' safety or threat of destruction of evidence dictated an immediate search. (See People v. Koehn (1972) 25 Cal. App. 3d 799, 805 [102 Cal. Rptr. 102].) Further, it was midafternoon on a weekday and a magistrate would have been easily accessible only a short distance away at the Hall of Justice. Since there was no necessity to immediately search the boxes without a warrant, the search which followed was invalid under Chadwick, Sanders and Minjares.
Respondent further contends that notwithstanding the failure of the officers to articulate the premise at the preliminary hearing, the officer's [24 Cal. 3d 858] belief that the car might be stolen provided a legitimate basis for a warrantless search. He argues that officers may properly search a stolen car, and that this search extends to any and all locked containers within that car.
Respondent contends that the officer's belief that a car is stolen provides probable cause to search it under the "automobile" exception of Chambers v. Maroney (1970) 399 U.S. 42, 48-49 [26 L. Ed. 2d 419, 426-427, 90 S. Ct. 1975]. This argument misses the point. The suspicion that an automobile may be stolen goes to the issue of the validity of a warrantless search of the automobile itself. Appellant is contesting the search of the boxes, not the search of the car. Respondent has never contended that the boxes were stolen, and the officers never testified they had cause to believe they were stolen.
In searching the boxes, the officers testified they were initially looking for appellant's property. Even if the automobile itself could be searched without a warrant under the "automobile" exception, the warrantless search of the boxes must still be justified by some further exigency. (Arkansas v. Sanders, supra, ___U.S. at p. ___ [61 L.Ed.2d pp. 244-245]; United States v. Johnson, supra, 588 F.2d at p. 151; United States v. Stevie, supra, 582 F.2d at pp. 1179-1180.) The belief that the automobile may be stolen provided no exigency dictating an immediate search of the boxes, particularly when the driver was under arrest. If the officers had reason to believe that there was evidence or contraband in the locked containers, the question of probable cause should have been submitted to a magistrate.
I concur under the compulsion of Arkansas v. Sanders (1979) ___ U.S. ___ [61 L. Ed. 2d 235, 99 S. Ct. 2586].
FN 1. Appellant also pled guilty to a consolidated charge, possession of a concealable firearm by one who has been convicted of a felony. (Pen. Code, § 12021.) That conviction is not involved in this appeal.
FN 2. Respondent's argument is circular. First, he contends that the car could be searched because appellant had no privacy interest in it. Then he contends that appellant could have no privacy interest in the car because it would ultimately be searched if he were caught.

References: § 10851
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 § 12021