Opinion ID: 1135841
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: The consensual search

Text: Two uniformed officers from the Mesa Police Department and Detectives Click and Kelly of the Chandler Police Department approached Hedlund at his home. Detective Kelly told Hedlund there was an investigation regarding James McKinney and asked if he would go with them to the police department. Hedlund agreed. Detective Click then asked Hedlund if he would consent to a search of his bedroom. Hedlund consented, and he and the officers went to the bedroom. While Detectives Click and Kelly remained in the bedroom, Hedlund stepped out of the room to get his shoes. During Hedlund's absence, Detective Click opened a dresser drawer and found various items, including two pocket watches, one silver or chrome and the other gold-colored. Thinking the watches looked out of place, Detective Click removed them from the drawer and placed them on top of the dresser. When Hedlund returned to the room, he was asked about the watches. Hedlund stated one was stolen by his sister from an ex-boyfriend and that he had owned the other for some time. Detective Click asked Hedlund if he would take the watches with him to the police station. Hedlund agreed and put the watches in his pocket. Click testified that if Hedlund had not agreed to take the watches, they would have been left at the house. Once at the Chandler jail, Hedlund's property, including the watches, was taken from him and placed in an interview property bag for safekeeping. Hedlund was then placed in a holding cell. About an hour later Hedlund was taken to an interview room where he was read his Miranda rights and interviewed by two officers. After a short time Hedlund cut off the interview and asked for a lawyer. The interview was terminated, and Hedlund was placed under arrest. The property taken from him earlier, including the two watches, was inventoried. At the time of the post-arrest inventory, the evidentiary value of the two watches was not known to the police. It was not until later in the week that McClain's relatives identified the silver-colored pocket watch as being very similar to McClain's pocket watch, which was missing after the burglary. The gold-colored watch had in fact been stolen by Hedlund's sister. Hedlund argues that the officers exceeded the scope of his consent to search the room when they looked in the dresser drawer, that removal of the watches from the drawer was an illegal seizure exceeding the necessary scope of the search under the plain view doctrine, that the request by police to have Hedlund take the watches with him to the police station constituted a seizure of the watches by police, and that the watches were seized without probable cause.
It is undisputed that the search of Hedlund's bedroom was consensual and that Hedlund placed no explicit restrictions on the scope of the search. Thus, the only issue regarding this consensual search is whether there was some implicit limitation that prevented the officers from lawfully looking in the dresser drawer. The standard of review for granting or denying a motion to suppress evidence is abuse of discretion. State v. Carter, 145 Ariz. 101, 110, 700 P.2d 488, 497 (1985). We therefore view the evidence in the light most favorable to upholding the trial court's ruling. State v. Sheko, 146 Ariz. 140, 141, 704 P.2d 270, 271 (App. 1985). A consent to search one's bedroom is not necessarily a carte blanche invitation to look anywhere and everywhere. See State v. Atwood, 171 Ariz. 576, 618, 832 P.2d 593, 635 (1992), cert. denied, 506 U.S. 1084, 113 S.Ct. 1058, 122 L.Ed.2d 364 (1993); State v. Paredes, 167 Ariz. 609, 612, 810 P.2d 607, 610 (App. 1991). Neither the record nor any discovered authority supports Hedlund's submission that the search of the drawer was beyond the scope of his consent, although the scope of a consensual search may be implicitly circumscribed. Florida v. Jimeno, 500 U.S. 248, 251, 111 S.Ct. 1801, 1804, 114 L.Ed.2d 297 (1991) (scope is generally defined by its expressed object). Contrary to Hedlund's characterization, permission was not limited to a plain view search, which is the concept Hedlund relies on to support his argument of limitation by implication. The typical plain view search occurs when an officer sees something from a lawful vantage point that is located in a place he has no right to physically search. See WAYNE R. LAFAVE & JEROLD H. ISRAEL, CRIMINAL PROCEDURE § 3.7(f) (2d ed. 1992). Because Hedlund consented, however, Detective Click had a right to make a reasonable search of the bedroom. Id. § 3.1(f) (if the person responds with a consent which is general and unqualified, then ordinarily the police may conduct a general search of that place). Because the dresser was in the bedroom, it was not unreasonable for Officer Click to look in the drawers under the unrestricted consent given by Hedlund. See Jimeno, 500 U.S. at 251, 111 S.Ct. at 1804 (unqualified consent to search car for narcotics extended beyond the surfaces of the car's interior to paper bag lying on the car's floor). Therefore, the search of the drawer was within the scope of the consent given.
We likewise reject Hedlund's contention that the watches were illegally seized when the police removed them from the drawer and placed them on the dresser. This movement of the watches did not meaningfully interfere with or deprive Hedlund of any possessory interest in the watches. See Arizona v. Hicks, 480 U.S. 321, 324, 107 S.Ct. 1149, 1152, 94 L.Ed.2d 347 (1987). Equally unpersuasive is Hedlund's argument that the watches were illegally seized when he put them in his pocket and took them to the police station. It is undisputed, and in fact conceded in Hedlund's brief, that he was asked, not ordered, to go to the police station, and that he was asked, not ordered, to take the watches with him.