Case Name: STATE of Louisiana v. Johnny G. MASSEY and Morris Dwyer
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1975-03-31
Citations: 310 So. 2d 557
Docket Number: No. 55185
Parties: STATE of Louisiana v. Johnny G. MASSEY and Morris Dwyer.
Judges: SANDERS, C. J., dissents for the reasons assigned by SUMMERS, J.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 310
Pages: 557–563

Head Matter:
STATE of Louisiana v. Johnny G. MASSEY and Morris Dwyer.
No. 55185.
Supreme Court of Louisiana.
March 31, 1975.
Murphy W. Bell, Director, Vincent Wilkins, Jr., Trial Atty., Robert R. Rainer, Baton Rouge, for defendant-relator.
William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., Ossie Brown, Dist. Atty., Richard E. Chaffin, Asst. Dist. Atty., for plaintiff-respondent.

Opinion:
BARHAM, Justice.
The relators were charged by bill of information with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, a violation of La. R.S. 40:966, subd. A. Subsequent to the filing of the bill of information relators filed a pre-trial motion in which they sought to have suppressed marijuana and related materials seized from the trunk of relator Massey's car on the evening of their arrests. The most significant ground upon which the motion is based alleges that the tangible evidence sought to be introduced against relators was seized as a result of an unconstitutional search. After a hearing on the motion to suppress, the trial court denied the motion. We granted writs to review the trial court's ruling on the motion. State v. Massey, 300 So.2d 844 (La.1974).
The record reveals that on the night of the relators' arrests and the search and seizure at issue, a surveillance took place outside relator Dwyer's apartment. A police informant was sent inside relator's apartment to purchase marijuana; shortly after he exited one of the officers noted the re-lators leaving the apartment carrying a duffel bag and a cooler and walking toward the parking area of the apartment complex. The police officer who observed this movement lost sight of relators in the parking lot but testified that he subsequently heard a car with a loud muffler move. While these occurrences were taking place, some officers were at the home of a district judge securing a warrant for the search of the Dwyer apartment; the record reflects that while these officers were in the process of securing the warrant, they continuously received radio communications regarding the events transpiring at the surveillance site. In due time, the surveillance officers received radio notification that the warrant had been issued and, acting pursuant to the informant's information that the relators were armed, they kicked down the door to Dwyer's apartment and arrested the relators. Car keys which were found on the coffee table of the apartment were seized and used to effect a search of the trunk and interior of a car which was parked in a lot adjoining the apartment complex wherein relator Dwyer's apartment was located and which belonged to relator Massey.
The record reveals that Massey's car was located behind the apartment and approximately twenty yards across a parking lot. The distance between the apartment door and Massey's car was estimated by various witnesses to be between seventy-five and one hundred and twenty-five feet. The record also establishes that pursuant to the informant's description of "all of the vehicles that Mr. Massey and Mr. Dwyer were supposed to be driving", two other vehicles in the parking lot were searched in addition to Massey's car, the one in which the evidence was found. The record indicates that at the time of the search in question, approximately thirty to forty cars were on the parking lot. The marijuana found in Massey's automobile forms the basis for the instant prosecution.
Relators challenge the existence of probable cause sufficient to warrant the search of the Massey vehicle; alternatively, they argue that even if the existence of probable cause is conceded, the warrantless search of the automobile must fall for failure to come within any enunciated exception to the warrant requirement. At the outset, we determine that the warrant authorizing the search of Dwyer's apartment can in no way validate the warrantless search of Massey's automobile. The search of the car must come within a recognized exception to the warrant requirement in order to comport with constitutional guarantees against unreasonable searches and seizures.
The only exception to the warrant requirement arguably applicable to the facts of this case is the automobile exception. This well-delineated exception is painstakingly explained in Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443, 91 S.Ct. 2022, 29 L.Ed.2d 564 (1974) and properly applied in State v. Hargiss, 288 So.2d 633 (La.1974). For a warrantless search of an automobile to be constitutionally valid, there must exist probable cause to search the vehicle and exigent circumstances which render im practicable the application for a warrant. In Coolidge, supra, the United States Supreme Court quoted language from Chambers v. Maroney, 399 U.S. 42, 90 S.Ct. 1975, 26 L.Ed.2d 419 (1970), noting as follows :
" 'exigent circumstances' justify the warrantless search of 'an automobile stopped on the highway,' where there is probable cause, because the car is 'movable, the occupants are alerted, and the car's contents may never be found again if a warrant must be obtained.' '[T]he opportunity to search is fleeting . ' (Emphasis supplied . [by the United States Supreme Court])."
In the instant case, the opportunity to search was hardly "fleeting". The relators had been placed under arrest, the automobile was locked, and the keys were in the custody of the police. The record reveals that there were no less than ten officers on the scene at the time Massey's vehicle was searched. The State argues that the search is covfered by the automobile exception to the warrant requirement. Even though its argument implicitly acknowledges the need for "exigent circumstances" as well as probable cause in order to meet the tests for the automobile exception, the State's brief contends that the arrival of two unknown persons at Dwyer's apartment during the search and the officers' lack of knowledge as to whether others had keys to Massey's car constituted the requisite "exigent circumstances" necessary to validate the warrantless search and seizure.
We acknowledge that under the facts within the officers' possession at the time of the search of Massey's car, probable cause to believe that the car contained contraband did exist. However, the existence of articulated probable cause is the standard which determines the correctness of a search pursuant to a search warrant, not the propriety of a warrantless search. The mere existence of probable cause will not even validate a search pursuant to a warrant unless the facts and circumstances which comprise the probable cause are contained in a written affidavit and presented to the neutral magistrate to whom the warrant application is made. For a warrant-less search to be valid, more than probable cause must exist. In addition, some other circumstances must be present which will render applicable some exception to the warrant requirement. In the case of an automobile search such as the one with which we are presently concerned, the additional elements necessary to validate a warrantless, probable cause search are "exigent circumstances".
In spite of the State's attempt'to manufacture "exigent circumstances" at the time of the hearing by questioning an officer regarding the arrival of the two unknown persons and his lack of knowledge of whether other keys to the Massey car were possessed by other persons, the record does not reveal that these circumstances occurred to the officers at the time of the automobile search nor does it appear from the officers' testimony that these circumstances motivated their warrantless search of the car. We do not find that these facts developed by the State at the hearing on the motion to suppress justify a search without a warrant.
For the reasons assigned, the trial court's ruling on relators' motion to suppress is reversed and the motion is granted. The case is remanded for proceedings consistent with the views herein expressed.
SANDERS, C. J., dissents for the reasons assigned by SUMMERS, J.
SUMMERS, J., dissents and assigns reasons.
MARCUS, J., dissents and assigns reasons.