Case Name: PEOPLE v. LONG
Court: Michigan Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Michigan
Decision Date: 1982-06-14
Citations: 413 Mich. 461
Docket Number: Docket No. 64416
Parties: PEOPLE v LONG
Judges: Williams, Levin, Fitzgerald, and Ryan, JJ., concurred with Kavanagh, J.
Reporter: Michigan Reports
Volume: 413
Pages: 461–486

Head Matter:
PEOPLE v LONG
Docket No. 64416.
Argued January 6, 1981
(Calendar No. 5).
Decided June 14, 1982.
Certiorari granted by the Supreme Court of the United States on October 12, 1982.
David K. Long was convicted by a jury in Barry Circuit Court, Hudson E. Deming, J., of possession of marijuana. The trial court denied the defendant’s motion to suppress, as unconstitutionally obtained, evidence seized from the interior and trunk of defendant’s car by two deputies of the Barry County Sheriff who had stopped the defendant’s car for speeding. The prosecutor contended that the deputies had made a "protective” search of the interior of the automobile after it came to a stop because the defendant appeared to be "under the influence of something” and the deputies saw a folded Browning knife on the floor of the driver’s side of the car. One deputy picked up the knife, while the other conducted a pat-down search of the defendant. Then the first deputy searched the defendant’s vehicle, and found a leather bag containing a plastic bag of marijuana under the armrest of the front seat. The deputies decided to arrest the defendant for possession of marijuana and to impound the automobile. They then opened the trunk, and inside they found two paper bags, containing approximately 75 pounds of marijuana. The Court of Appeals, Cynar, P.J., and D. F. Walsh and Bebeau, JJ., affirmed, holding that the search of the interior of the automobile without a warrant was a reasonable "protective” search and that the search of the trunk was permissible to make an inventory of the contents of the impounded automobile (Docket No. 78-3810). The defendant appeals.
References foe Points in Headnotes
[1, 2, 5] 68 Am Jur 2d, Searches and Seizures §§ 33, 58, 84,103.
[2, 6-9] 68 Am Jur 2d, Searches and Seizures §§ 23, 39.
68 Am Jur 2d, Searches and Seizures §§ 2, 35.
29 Am Jur 2d, Evidence § 415.
68 Am Jur 2d, Searches and Seizures §§ 16, 34, 57, 85, 96, 106.
Lawfulness of nonconsensual search and seizure without warrant, prior to arrest. 89 ALR2d 715.
68 Am Jur 2d, Searches and Seizures §§ 16, 85, 96.
68 Am Jur 2d, Searches and Seizures § 40.
68 Am Jur 2d, Searches and Seizures § 103.
68 Am Jur 2d, Searches and Seizures § 88.
68 Am Jur 2d, Searches and Seizures §§ 34, 57, 106.
Lawfulness of "inventory search” of motor vehicle impounded by police. 48 ALR3d 537.
In an opinion by Justice Kavanagh, joined by Justices Williams, Levin, Fitzgerald, and Ryan, the Supreme Court held:
The search of the defendant’s car without a warrant was proscribed by the Fourth Amendment and the Michigan Constitution, and the evidence obtained pursuant to the unconstitutional search should have been suppressed.
1. There is a narrowly drawn authority to permit a reasonable search for weapons, without a warrant, for the protection of a police officer, where the police officer hás reason to believe that he is dealing with a person who is armed and dangerous, regardless of whether he has probable cause to arrest. . Only a limited pat-down search of a person suspected of criminal activity is authorized, rather than the search of the area around the person. Without deciding whether the rationale of a protective search can ever be extended to the area within the suspect’s reach, the Supreme Court concluded that under the facts of this case there is no justification for such an extension of the case law.
2. When the search of the interior of the automobile was conducted, the defendant was standing at the rear of the vehicle under the control of one deputy and the other deputy was between the open door of the vehicle and the defendant. The deputies had conducted a pat-down search of the defendant and had found no weapons; any weapons which might have been hidden in the car, after the deputies picked up the knife, would have been out of the reach of the defendant, and thus did not pose a danger to the deputies.
3. A search and seizure without a warrant is unreasonable per se and violates the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and the state constitution unless it is shown by the prosecution to be within one of the exceptions to the rule. The protection of police officers and other persons nearby cannot justify the search of the automobile in this case, and the prosecutor does not contend that the search can be justified by other exceptions to the constitutional requirement of a warrant. Therefore, the search of the interior of the vehicle was proscribed by the Fourth Amendment and the Michigan Constitution, and the evidence obtained by the search should have been suppressed.
4. The people seek to justify the search of the trunk without a warrant either as a search to inventory impounded property or as a search incident to the arrest of the defendant. The search of the trunk occurred after the decisions by the deputies to arrest the defendant for possession of marijuana found under the armrest of the seat and to impound the automobile. The defendant’s arrest was based on evidence obtained from the interior of the automobile by unlawful action of the deputies, and the evidence of marijuana found in the trunk was the "fruit” of that illegality which should have been suppressed.
The defendant’s conviction is reversed.
Chief Justice Coleman, dissenting, rejected as unpersuasive the distinction between a limited pat-down search of the person and a search of the area around the person where the police officer has reason to believe that the person is armed and dangerous.
1. The purpose of a limited protective search for weapons is not to discover evidence of crime, but to allow the police officer to pursue his investigation without fear of violence. Other courts have upheld protective searches of the interior of a vehicle while the occupants were detained outside it because they were not under arrest and could have returned to the vehicle when the encounter was ended. In this case, the defendant was entering the vehicle to retrieve the registration when the deputy sheriff observed a knife on the floor of the vehicle. Accordingly, a claim that a protective search is permitted cannot be summarily rejected on the ground that there was no danger. If the possibility that a suspect will re-enter his vehicle after an encounter with the police ends is sufficient to support a protective search, the fact that he is attempting to enter the vehicle while the confrontation continues is also sufficient.
2. In this case, the sheriff’s deputies were confronting a person suspected of speeding, whose car ended up in a ditch. The defendant met the deputies at the rear of his car. He failed to answer their questions, began walking back toward the door of his car while he appeared to be under the influence of something, and acted scared. These observations and the knife on the floor of the car gave the officers reason to believe they were dealing with an armed and dangerous person. A reasonably prudent officer would be justified in believing that he was in danger; therefore, the officer was permitted to conduct a protective search.
3. Considering all the circumstances, including that one weapon had already been found and that the officer saw a leather pouch large enough to hold another weapon under the driver’s armrest, the officer could have reasonably concluded that safety required further investigation. Lifting the armrest was an action reasonably designed to uncover a hidden weapon, because it would permit the officer to investigate whether the contents of the pouch could be inferred from its outward appearance, or by patting down or frisking the pouch. In contrast to the gravity of the danger confronting the officers, raising the armrest was a minimal intrusion into the defendant’s expectation of privacy in the automobile when compared with the intrusions which have been allowed in other cases.
4. Raising the armrest in a protective search of the interior of the defendant’s automobile is not an unreasonable search prohibited by the Fourth Amendment or by the state constitution. Then the contents of the open pouch, a plastic bag containing marijuana, were in the plain view of the officer, who properly seized the contraband and arrested the defendant. Review of the other issues raised by the defendant discloses no error requiring reversal.
Justice Moody, concurring in the result, agreed generally with the analysis of Chief Justice Coleman in her dissent. However, he would hold that admission of the marijuana found in the defendant’s trunk into evidence was error requiring reversal.
1. The defendant, at the request of the police, was in the process of entering his automobile to obtain his registration and insurance certificates when an officer saw a knife in plain view. This discovery reasonably led the officers to search the defendant. It was reasonably appropriate and consistent with the principles announced by the Supreme Court of the United States for the officers thereafter to conduct a brief search of the interior of the automobile for weapons, limited to areas in which a weapon could be concealed, yet be accessible. The subsequent discovery of the marijuana, visible under the driver’s armrest, provided probable cause for the arrest and was admissible as evidence.
2. The search of the trunk of the automobile and the seizure of the marijuana in it without a warrant was unreasonable and violated the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The people sought to justify the seizure as having been made pursuant to a valid inventory search following the defendant’s arrest and the decision of the police to impound the automobile. However, unlike the situation in the case in which the Supreme Court of the United States upheld a valid inventory search, in this case the defendant was present at the time of the asserted impoundment, he was not asked if he wished an inventory of the vehicle’s contents to be conducted, and the site of the impound lot was secure. In addition, the police had no standard departmental policy pertaining to inventory searches. The personal "standard procedure” of the officer who conducted the inventory does not meet the requirements of reasonableness suggested by the Supreme Court of the United States. Without a departmental policy, too much discretion is placed in the hands of the officer, resulting in the possibility that his decision to conduct a search may be arbitrary.
94 Mich App 338; 288 NW2d 629 (1979) reversed.
Opinion of the Court
1. Searches and Seizures — Without a Warrant — Protective Searches — Weapons.
There is a narrowly drawn authority to permit a reasonable search for weapons, without a warrant, for the protection of a police officer, where the police officer has reason to believe that he is dealing with a person who is armed and dangerous, regardless of whether there is probable cause to arrest; only a * limited pat-down search of a person suspected of criminal activity is authorized, rather than the search of the area around the person (US Const, Am IV; Const 1963, art 1, § 11).
2. Searches and Seizures — Automobiles — Without a Warrant — Protective Searches — Weapons.
There is no justification to permit a protective search of the interior of an automobile for weapons where the defendant, who had been stopped by a sheriffs patrol for speeding, was standing at the rear of the automobile under the control of one deputy sheriff and another deputy was between the open door of the automobile and the defendant, the deputies had conducted a pat-down search of the defendant and had found no weapons, and the deputies had seized a knife which they had seen on the floor of the automobile; any weapons which might have been hidden in the car would have been out of the reach of the defendant, and thus did not pose a danger to the deputies (US Const, Am IV; Const 1963, art 1, § 11).
3. Searches and Seizures — Without a Warrant — Burden of Proof.
A search and seizure without a warrant is unreasonable per se and violates the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and the state constitution unless it is shown by the prosecution to be within one of the exceptions to the rule (US Const, Am IV; Const 1963, art 1, § 11).
4. Searches and Seizures — Automobiles — Without a Warrant.
A search of the trunk of a defendant’s automobile, and seizure of 75 pounds of marijuana from it, by police officers acting without a warrant cannot be justified either as a search incident to the arrest of the defendant for possession of other marijuana which was found in the interior of the automobile, or as a search to inventory impounded property where the search of the trunk occurred after the decisions of the officers to arrest the defendant and impound the automobile, and the defendant’s arrest was based on evidence obtained by unlawful action of the deputies in searching the interior of the automobile; the evidence of marijuana found in the trunk was the "fruit” of that illegality and should have been suppressed (US Const, Am IV; Const 1963, art 1, § 11).
Dissenting Opinion by Coleman, C.J.
5. Searches and Seizures — Without a Warrant — Protective Searches — Weapons.
The purpose of a limited protective search for weapons without a warrant is not to discover evidence of crime, but to allow a police officer to pursue his investigation without fear of violence; therefore, it is unpersuasive to distinguish between a limited pat-down search of a person and a search of the area around the person where the police officer has reason to believe that the person is armed and dangerous (US Const, Am IV; Const 1963, art 1, § 11).
6. Searches and Seizures — Automobiles — Without a Warrant — Protective Searches — Weapons.
A claim that a protective search of the interior of a defendant’s automobile for weapons is permitted cannot be summarily rejected on the ground that any weapon was out of the reach of the defendant and presented no danger where the defendant, who was stopped by a sheriff’s patrol for speeding, was entering the vehicle to retrieve the registration when one of the deputies observed a knife on the floor of the driver’s side of the car; the fact that the defendant was attempting to enter the vehicle while the confrontation with the deputies continued is sufficient to support a protective search without a warrant (US Const, Am IV; Const 1963, art 1, § 11).
7. Searches and Seizures — Automobiles — Without a Warrant — Protective Searches — Weapons.
Two sheriff’s deputies had reason to believe that they were in danger and, therefore, were permitted to conduct a protective search of the interior of the defendant’s automobile for weapons where the defendant, who had been stopped by the deputies for speeding, met the deputies at the rear of his car and failed to answer their questions, began walking back toward the door of his car while he appeared to be under the inñuence of something and acted scared, and the deputies saw a knife on the floor of the automobile and seized it (US Const, Am TV; Const 1963, art 1, §11).
8. Searches and Seizures — Automobiles — Without a Warrant — Protective Searches — Weapons.
Raising the armrest of an automobile in a protective search of the interior of an automobile is not an unreasonable search prohibited by the Fourth Amendment or by the state constitution where one weapon had been found in the automobile, which was stopped for speeding by a sheriff’s patrol, and one deputy sheriff saw a leather pouch large enough to hold another weapon under the driver’s armrest; lifting the armrest was a minimal intrusion into the defendant’s expectation of privacy in the automobile which would permit the deputy to investigate whether the contents of the pouch could be inferred from its outward appearance, or by patting down or frisking the pouch (US Const, Am IV; Const 1963, art 1, § 11).
9. Searches and Seizures — Automobiles — Without a Warrant — Plain View.
Two deputies on a sheriff’s patrol acting without a search warrant properly seized marijuana from a defendant’s automobile, which had been stopped for speeding, where the deputies had seized a knife which they had seen on the floor of the automobile, conducted a limited protective search of the interior of the automobile, and raised the armrest to investigate an open leather pouch in plain view which contained a plastic bag of marijuana (US Const, Am TV; Const 1963, art 1, § 11).
Concurring Opinion by Blair Moody, Jr., J.
See headnotes 5-9.
10. Searches and Seizures — Automobiles — Without a Warrant — Inventory Searches.
Seizure of marijuana without a warrant from the trunk of an automobile by the police at the scene of an arrest after deciding to impound the vehicle cannot be justified on the ground that the seizure was made pursuant to a valid inventory search where the occupant of the vehicle was present at the time of the asserted impoundment and was not asked whether he wished an inventory to be made, the impound lot at which the vehicle would be stored was secure, and no departmental policy for conducting inventory searches for safeguarding impounded vehicles and their contents existed.
Frank J. Kelley, Attorney General, Robert A. Derengoski, Solicitor General, Judy H. Hughes, Prosecuting Attorney, and Leonard J. Malinowski, Assistant Attorney General (Prosecuting Attorneys Appellate Service), for the people.
Vlachos, Jerkins & Hurley and James H Geary for defendant.

Opinion:
Kavanagh, J.
The defendant, David Kerk Long, appeals his conviction of possession of marijuana. He contends that evidence of the marijuana found in the interior and trunk of the automobile he was driving should have been suppressed as the product of unconstitutional searches. We reverse.
Shortly after midnight on August 25, 1977 while Deputies Howell and Lewis of the Barry County Sheriffs Department were on routine road patrol, they observed a car traveling past them in the opposite direction at an excessive speed. They turned their vehicle around and pursued the speeding vehicle. They saw the vehicle make a left turn, proceed down a side road, then swerve. The vehicle came to a stop with the front of the car in a shallow ditch and the back of the car on the roadway.
As the deputies approached, the defendant, the only occupant of the car, got out of the car, leaving the driver's side door open, and met the deputies at the rear of the car. Deputy Howell asked the defendant to produce his driver's license. The defendant made no response. The deputy repeated his request, and the defendant produced his license. When asked for his vehicle registration and proof of insurance, the defendant again made no response. When the request was repeated, the defendant began walking toward the open door. At this juncture, Deputy Howell had formed the opinion that the defendant "appeared to be under the influence of something".
The deputies followed the defendant. As they approached the open door, the deputies saw a closed folding Browning knife on the floorboard of the driver's side. The defendant was told to halt and put his hands on the roof of the car. He did. One deputy picked up the knife while the other deputy conducted a pat-down search of the defendant, which produced no weapons.
Deputy Howell then shined his flashlight into the front seat of defendant's car to search for other weapons and saw "something leather" under the armrest. He knelt in the vehicle, lifted the armrest and observed an open leather pouch containing a small plastic bag of what appeared to be marijuana. According to the testimony of the deputies at trial, Mr. Long was standing by the rear of the car under the control of Deputy Lewis during Deputy Howell's search.
Deputy Howell removed the pouch and showed it to Deputy Lewis. The defendant was arrested for possession of marijuana. The interior of the car was searched for additional contraband, and the glove compartment was searched for the registration certificate. Neither was found.
The deputies decided to impound the car. Deputy Howell asked the defendant if he had a trunk key. The defendant stated that he had no key. The deputy, noticing that the trunk lock had been punched out, used his pocket knife and reached in and unlatched the latch. Deputy Howell testified as to why he opened the trunk as follows:
"Number one, because I already found marijuana, suspected marijuana, in the interior of the car, there may have been more in the trunk. Secondly, I check them for valuables. I do."
Upon opening the trunk the deputy found two paper bags, which were split open, containing approximately 75 pounds of marijuana.
The defendant was handcuffed, placed in the police car and taken to the sheriff's department along with the towed car.
At the preliminary examination and at trial the defendant moved to suppress evidence of the marijuana obtained through the searches of the interior and trunk of the car. These motions were denied and the defendant was subsequently convicted of possession of marijuana.
On appeal, the Court of Appeals affirmed the defendant's conviction. 94 Mich App 338, 350; 288 NW2d 629 (1979). That Court held that "Deputy Howell's precautionary lifting of the front seat armrest prior to allowing defendant to re-enter his automobile was constitutionally valid as a protective search under the Terry doctrine." 94 Mich App 344. The Court of Appeals found "no reversible error in the trial judge's determination that the deputies' inspection of the trunk was made pursuant to a proper inventory of the type approved by Opperman[ ] and its progeny". 94 Mich App 350.
The first issue on appeal is whether Officer Howell's warrantless search of the interior of the vehicle, while the defendant was standing near the rear of the car under the control of another officer, violated the constitutional proscription against unreasonable searches and seizures. We hold that the search was unconstitutional and reverse. The Court of Appeals erroneously applied the principles of Terry v Ohio, 392 US 1; 88 S Ct 1868; 20 L Ed 2d 889 (1968), to the search of the interior of the vehicle in this case.
In Terry, the United States Supreme Court authorized a limited warrantless protective search of the person during an investigatory stop. Prior to the stop, the police officer had observed two men involved in suspicious behavior for 10 to 12 minutes. The officer suspected the two men of "casing a job, a stick-up" and considered it his duty to investigate further. 392 US 6.
The Court held "that there must be a narrowly drawn authority to permit a reasonable search for weapons for the protection of the police officer, where he has reason to believe that he is dealing with an armed and dangerous individual, regardless of whether he has probable cause to arrest the individual for a crime". Id., p 27. The test set forth by the United States Supreme Court to justify the warrantless protective search "is whether a reasonably prudent man in the circumstances would be warranted in the belief that his safety or that of others was in danger". Id.
The limited authority to search was emphasized by the Court when it said "[t]he sole justification of the search is the protection of the police officer and others nearby, and it must therefore be confined in scope to an intrusion reasonably designed to discover guns, knives, clubs, or other hidden instruments for the assault of the police officer". Id., p 29.
The officer's entry into the vehicle cannot be justified under the principles set forth in Terry. Terry authorized only a limited pat-down search of a person suspected of criminal activity. That case did not authorize the search of an area.
At the time the search was conducted, the defendant was standing near the rear of the vehicle under the control of Deputy Lewis. Deputy Howell was positioned between the open door of the vehicle and the defendant. The deputies had conducted a pat-down search of the defendant after seeing the knife in the car and had found no weapons. Any weapon which might have been hidden in the car would have been out of the reach of the defendant and thus not a danger to the deputies. Therefore, the sole justification of the Terry search, protection of the police officers and others nearby, cannot justify the search in this case.
The state does not contend that the search can be justified by reference to other exceptions to the warrant requirement. We hold, therefore, that the deputies' search of the vehicle was proscribed by the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and art 1, § 11 of the Michigan Constitution. The evidence obtained pursuant to the unconstitutional search should have been suppressed.
There remains the question of the validity of the search of the trunk. The people seek to justify the warrantless search either as an inventory search or as a search incident to arrest.
The search of the trunk occurred subsequent to the deputies' decisions to arrest the defendant for possession of marijuana and to impound the car. The defendant's arrest was based on evidence obtained by unlawful police action. We find that the evidence of marijuana found in the trunk was the "fruit" of that illegality which should have been suppressed. Wong Sun v United States, 371 US 471; 83 S Ct 407; 9 L Ed 2d 441 (1963).
The defendant's conviction is reversed.
Williams, Levin, Fitzgerald, and Ryan, JJ., concurred with Kavanagh, J.
Browning is a brand of knife. This knife had a four-inch blade. The defendant was not charged with carrying a concealed weapon in violation of MCL 750.227; MSA 28.424.
Terry v Ohio, 392 US 1; 88 S Ct 1868; 20 L Ed 2d 889 (1968).
South Dakota v Opperman, 428 US 364; 96 S Ct 3092; 49 L Ed 2d 1000 (1976).
US Const, Am IV; Const 1963, art 1, § 11.
Chimel v California, 395 US 752; 89 S Ct 2034; 23 L Ed 2d 685 (1969), and New York v Belton, 453 US 454; 101 S Ct 2860; 69 L Ed 2d 768 (1981), authorized warrantless area searches incident to arrest. In this case, however, the defendant had not been arrested prior to the search of the interior of the car. Compare Adams v Williams, 407 US 143; 92 S Ct 1921; 32 L Ed 2d 612 (1972) where the person of the defendant seated in a car was properly searched under Terry.
The propriety of the pat-down search is not before us. The government does not allege that seeing the folded knife on the floor of the car gave them probable cause to search the car. Thus Robbins v California, 453 US 420; 101 S Ct 2841; 69 L Ed 2d 744 (1981) is inapposite as the court in that case addressed the propriety of an automobile search conducted pursuant to probable cause.
See Government of Canal Zone v Bender, 573 F2d 1329 (CA 5, 1978), a case involving similar circumstances.
In People v Reed, 393 Mich 342, 362; 224 NW2d 867 (1975), we stated:
"A Warrantless search and seizure is unreasonable per se and violates the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and art 1, § 11 of the state constitution unless shown to be within one of the exceptions to the rule. The burden is always on the state to show such an exception exists." (Citations omitted.)