Opinion ID: 4540255
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Written submissions

Text: On February 20, 2015, Ikimaka filed a pretrial motion to quash search warrant and suppress evidence (“motion to suppress”) for all evidence recovered from the truck. Ikimaka argued that the “automobile exception” did not justify the warrantless seizure of the truck because there was no reason to believe the purse might be removed or destroyed. Ikimaka also argued the truck’s seizure was unnecessary because he had volunteered to return Numazawa’s purse, citing the ICA’s holding in State v. Ramos, 93 Hawai‘i 502, 513, 6 P.3d 374, 385 (App. 2000), that “governmental intrusions into the personal privacy of citizens of this State be no greater in intensity than absolutely necessary under the circumstances.” Ikimaka further maintained that KPD only had probable cause to search the truck for Numazawa’s purse, not for drugs. Ikimaka also argued that the dog sniff constituted a “general (. . . continued) 660 and, if appropriate as provided in section 706–641, fined pursuant to section 706–640. 7  FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST’S HAWAI‘I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER  exploratory search” prohibited by State v. Groves, 65 Haw. 104, 649 P.2d 366 (1982). In its February 25, 2015 opposition memorandum, the State argued KPD had probable cause to believe that Ikimaka had committed theft and that evidence of the theft was in the truck based on Numazawa’s 911 call and Ikimaka’s statement to police that he had Numazawa’s purse in the truck. The State’s submissions also showed that on October 13, 2014, at around 5:39 a.m., Sergeant Nesbitt requested a “canine sniff” on the truck. At around 11:35 a.m., a KPD narcotics detector dog alerted to the presence of narcotics on the passenger’s side door of the truck. On October 14, 2014, Officer Hsu’s application for a warrant to search the truck, which was registered to a Natasha Lazaro (“Lazaro”), for Numazawa’s purse as well as “Methamphetamine, Heroin, Cocaine, Marijuana, and all of its various forms,” was approved. On October 15, 2014, Officer Hsu executed the search warrant on the truck. Officer Hsu found a maroon bag under the driver’s seat containing two glass tubes, $1,400 in cash, plastic bags containing white crystalline substances, a digital scale, and an Ace Hardware receipt bearing Ikimaka’s name. Officer Hsu also found a black purse on the floor of the passenger’s side containing Henderson’s driver’s license, a plastic bag containing a “green leafy substance resembling 8  FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST’S HAWAI‘I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER  marijuana,” and a plastic bag containing a white crystalline substance. He also found a “Dooney and Bourke” purse containing a glass pipe, a digital scale, plastic bags containing white crystalline substances, and IDs bearing Numazawa’s name. The State maintained that KPD was authorized to seize the truck pursuant to the automobile exception, and that exigent circumstances existed because “[i]f police had not seized the vehicle, there was an extremely high risk Ikimaka or Henderson would have moved, removed or destroyed the vehicle and/or evidence.” The State also asserted that a dog sniff “of the airspace around a closed container is not a Fourth Amendment or Article I, section 7 search,” citing State v. Snitkin, 67 Haw. 168, 171, 681 P.2d 980, 983 (1984), and Groves, 65 Haw. 104, 649 P.2d 366.