Case Name: State of Nebraska, appellee, v. John F. Kretchmar, appellant
Court: Nebraska Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Nebraska
Decision Date: 1978-07-05
Citations: 201 Neb. 308
Docket Number: No. 41730
Parties: State of Nebraska, appellee, v. John F. Kretchmar, appellant.
Judges: Heard before White, C. J., Spencer, Boslaugh, McCown, Clinton, Brodkey, and White, JJ.
Reporter: Nebraska Reports
Volume: 201
Pages: 308–322

Head Matter:
State of Nebraska, appellee, v. John F. Kretchmar, appellant.
267 N. W. 2d 740
Filed July 5, 1978.
No. 41730.
John P. McCluskey, Julius Lucius Echeles, and Laurence J. Bolon, for appellant.
Paul L. Douglas, Attorney General, and Chauncey C. Sheldon, for appellee.
Heard before White, C. J., Spencer, Boslaugh, McCown, Clinton, Brodkey, and White, JJ.

Opinion:
Spencer, J.
Defendant appeals his convictions for possession of marijuana weighing more than 1 pound; possession of marijuana with intent to manufacture, distribute, deliver, or dispense; and possession of cocaine. He was sentenced to probation for a period of 2 years with the last 90 days to be spent in county jail, and fined $2,000. He assigns as error the overruling of his motion to suppress evidence seized from his vehicle, and the consideration of his failure to explain his possession in determining he possessed it with intent to deliver.
The facts are not in dispute. An officer of the Nebraska State Patrol, while traveling west on Interstate 80 in York County, observed defendant driving a late-model automobile in the eastbound lane. His initial reaction was that the driver might be an illegal alien and that the car possibly had been stolen. He decided to check its registration. He turned his patrol car around on the median and pursued the vehicle. When he pulled alongside the vehicle, still believing the car might be stolen, he turned on the red lights on the patrol car and pulled the defendant, John F. Kretchmar, over to the side of the road.
After stopping at the side of the road, defendant walked back toward the patrol car. The officer met defendant between the two vehicles and asked to see his operator's license. Defendant appeared nervous and had difficulty locating the license in his billfold. He eventually produced the license and the officer then requested to see the vehicle registration. Defendant stated the car was rented and he had the rental papers in the vehicle.
The officer followed defendant to the car and stood by the open door on the driver's side while defendant retrieved the papers from the glove compartment. The officer detected the odor of marijuana. He looked inside the vehicle and observed what appeared to be a tire covered by a blanket behind the driver's seat on the floor, and on the rear seat there were suitcases, clothing, and a cooler.
After examining the rental papers the officer performed an equipment check on the vehicle. He then informed the defendant he smelled marijuana and desired to search the trunk. Defendant refused to consent to the search. The trooper took the keys from defendant's hand and proceeded to unlock the trunk. Defendant grabbed the trooper's hand in an attempt to prevent him from opening the trunk. The trunk was opened and the trooper observed it was filled with what he believed to be marijuana in brick form. Defendant, who was placed under arrest, was transported to the York County sheriff's office.
Defendant's vehicle was also towed to the sheriff's office where the trooper removed a suitcase belonging to the defendant. Inside he found a leather or vinyl pouch with a metal container enclosed. The contents of the container were later analyzed as cocaine. An inventory search of the vehicle also revealed cocaine in a pocket of a jacket lying on the front seat. Removed from the trunk were 238 kilos of marijuana weighing approximately 460 pounds.
The stop in this case resulted from an intuitive feeling on the part of the trooper that the driver of the vehicle did not fit the late model vehicle he was driving, and that a check should be made to ascertain whether or not the vehicle might possibly have been stolen. The officer testified he stopped the car for the express purpose "of checking him out, getting his driver's license and registration."
Section 60-435, R. R. S. 1943, permits an officer in uniform to require the driver of an automobile to stop and exhibit his driver's license and the registration card issued for the vehicle. The stop was within the ambit of that statute, which has been upheld in State v. Holmberg, 194 Neb. 337, 231 N. W. 2d 672 (1975), and State v. Shepardson, 194 Neb. 673, 235 N. W. 2d 218 (1975).
In Holmberg we said: "A routine license check and its concomitant temporary delay of a driver does not constitute an arrest in a legal sense where there is nothing arbitrary or harassing present."
Subsequent to the stop, by the use of his senses the trooper became aware of the presence of marijuana. A trained officer should have no difficulty in smelling 460 pounds of marijuana. At that time, under our law, the officer had probable cause to search the automobile for marijuana without the necessity of relying on consent.
Defendant seeks to distinguish Holmberg and Shepardson on the theory that section 60-435, R. R. S. 1943, permits the stop of a moving vehicle only for the limited purpose of enforcing the traffic safety laws. Section 60-435, R. R. S. 1943, reads, so far as material here: "The superintendent and all members of the Nebraska State Patrol and all other peace officers mentioned in section 39-6,192 shall have the power (1) of peace officers for the purpose of enforcing the provisions of this act and for the purpose of enforcing any other law regulating the operation of vehicles or the use of the highways; >> we would consider the stop herein to be within the ambit of this provision.
The stopping of Kretchmar for the purpose of checking his driver's license and the certificate of registration for the car he was driving, if it may be construed to be a seizure, was not in any sense an unreasonable, one. It did not violate any right given Kretchmar by the Fourth Amendment to the federal Constitution. Lipton v. United States (9th Cir., 1965), 348 F. 2d 591; State v. Holmberg, 194 Neb. 337, 231 N. W. 2d 672 (1975).
The fact that a law enforcement officer may entertain a suspicion that a certain motor vehicle may be stolen does not vitiate the lawfulness of a random spot check of the vehicle registration and operator's license of the driver pursuant to section 60-435, R. R. S. 1943. There is a direct relationship between the stop and the purposes authorized by the statute. The fact that the officer may have a suspicion the vehicle is stolen does not disqualify him from conducting an otherwise lawful section 60-435, R. R. S. 1943, check.
When the officer became aware that the car contained marijuana he had probable cause to arrest the defendant and to search the vehicle. Chambers v. Maroney, 399 U. S. 42, 90 S. Ct. 1975, 26 L. Ed. 2d 419 (1970). In that case, the occupants of the car were arrested and the car was driven to the police station where it was searched. The United States Supreme Court said: "On the facts before us, the blue station wagon could have been searched on the spot when it was stopped since there was probable cause to search and it was a fleeting target for a search. The probable-cause factor still obtained at the station house and so did the mobility of the car unless the Fourth Amendment permits a warrantless seizure of the car and the denial of its use to anyone until a warrant is secured. In that event there is little to choose in terms of practical consequences between an immediate search without a warrant and the car's immobilization until a warrant is obtained." The United States Supreme Court held, for constitutional purposes, it saw no difference between on the one hand seizing and holding a car before presenting the probable cause issue to a magistrate and on the other hand carrying out an immediate search without a warrant. Given probable cause to search, either course is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment.
The instant case is readily distinguishable from State v. Colgrove, 198 Neb. 319, 253 N. W. 2d 20 (1977). There, this court held the car was stopped to serve warrants, not for the purpose of checking the operator's license and car registration. As soon as the car was stopped, the officers realized that the two individuals they were seeking were not in the vehicle. In the present case, the car was stopped for the specific purpose of checking the operator's license and the car registration.
This case is similar to State v. Shepardson, 194 Neb. 673, 235 N. W. 2d 218 (1975). There, the officer decided to make a spot check for proper vehicle and registration papers because the defendant did not seem to fit the vehicle and the thought occurred to him that the vehicle might be stolen. On the question at issue herein, this case is controlled by Shepardson.
This case was tried to the court without a jury. Preliminary to the imposition of sentence, the court summarized the evidence in a general way and at one point stated: "No evidence was offered by the defendant that he did not know of the existence of the marijuana or the cocaine nor was any explanation offered as a reason for the quantity." The court then proceeded to make certain findings of fact, the final one of which was: "Four, that the failure of the defendant to otherwise explain, his possession of this large quantity of marijuana, which was processed and packaged in a form customarily used for distribution, supports a conclusion and finding beyond a reasonable doubt of the possession with intent to distribute."
Defendant argues that the aforementioned comments by the trial court constitute a violation of the fundamental principles that a defendant is entitled to a presumption of innocence and his failure to testify shall not create any presumption against him. The fallacy in defendant's assignment of error lies in the fact that he apparently misconceives the meaning of the trial court's remarks.
The court was not commenting as such on the failure of the defendant to testify. The court was simply commenting on the complete lack of any evidence of an exculpatory nature — whether through testimony of the defendant or otherwise — to mitigate against the natural and logical evidentiary presumption that the defendant was in possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. The comment was on the lack of evidence, not the lack of defendant presenting himself as a witness.
There is nothing in the remarks from the bench which justifies a conclusion that the trial judge considered the failure of the defendant to testify as in it self constituting or taking the place of evidence of guilt. It is obvious that the undisputed and unrebutted evidence of guilt on the issue of intent was so overwhelming as to be totally inconsistent with any other finding.
There is no merit to defendant's assignments of errors. The judgment should be and hereby is affirmed.
Affirmed.