Opinion ID: 853814
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Text: The opinion in Klopfenstein v. State, 439 N.E.2d 1181 (Ind.Ct.App.1982), is informative for today's purposes. In that case, an officer approached a vehicle shortly after midnight and saw two shotguns in plain viewone in the driver's area of the front seat and one across the laps of two passengers in the back seat. Id. at 1184. He also observed a pistol fall out of the front seat of the car when the passenger in the front seat exited the vehicle. Id. As he searched the car, the officer saw the butt of a pistol under the driver's seat. The police arrested Klopfenstein, the driver of the car, and he was later convicted of carrying a handgun without a license, among other things. Id. at 1183. The court recognized that the mere presence of a passenger in an automobile is not sufficient to establish his control and dominion over the contraband. Id. at 1184-85. It concluded that since Klopfenstein was the driver, however, his dominion and control over the vehicle supported an inference of his dominion and control over the gun. Id. at 1185. The court derived this reasoning in part from an analogous case concerning constructive possession of drugs rather than weapons. Id. (citing Phillips v. State, 160 Ind.App. 647, 313 N.E.2d 101 (1974)). This Court used a similar analysis in an exclusive possession setting. In Woods, 471 N.E.2d 691, the defendant owned a car and loaned it to a friend. About twenty-four hours after borrowing the car and while in possession of it, Woods' friend was killed. Id. at 692. Woods retrieved his car. Some four days after the death of his friend, the police stopped Woods in the vehicle and subsequently searched the car. Id. During the search, the police found a handgun hidden under the dashboard and live ammunition compatible with the gun on the front seat. Woods was convicted of illegal possession of a handgun. We held that Woods' undisputed control over his own car for four days was sufficient to establish his exclusive dominion over the gun. Id. at 694. We also noted that, had we accepted Woods' contention that his friend's possession of the car four days earlier rendered Woods' possession non-exclusive, the compatible ammunition on the front seat was among additional circumstances establishing his constructive possession. Id. [4] In Taylor v. State, 482 N.E.2d 259 (Ind. 1985), a strikingly similar case, we affirmed a conviction involving constructive possession of a firearm. The police stopped a vehicle that had just run through a red light. Two men (one of them Taylor) exited the vehicle as an officer approached. Upon inspecting the car the police found two firearmsa revolver and a semi-automatic. Both were in plain view with one gun in the middle of the front seat and the other on the floor directly in front of the front passenger seat. Neither man had a permit for either weapon. Taylor testified that he had been in the car for about fifteen minutes and did not know of the presence of either gun in the car. Relying on Woods, we concluded that Taylor had constructive possession. Taylor, 482 N.E.2d at 262. We noted that Taylor had primary control over the .45 lying between his feet and was in the best position to gain actual control of the weapon[,] ... but it would be difficult, if not impossible, for the driver to reach. Id. at 261. In Hoffman v, State, 520 N.E.2d 436 (Ind. 1988), this Court sustained a conviction for carrying a handgun without a license. In that case, the police stopped three suspected burglars (one of them Hoffman) and found three weapons in their car. None of the men had permits for the weapons. We thought it persuasive that each of the weapons were found under a respective passenger's seat. The Court held that the jury could have reasonably inferred that each passenger had discarded his weapon under his respective seat once the police stopped the vehicle and asked the occupants to exit. Id. at 437. In Person v. State, 661 N.E.2d 587 (Ind.Ct. App.1996), an officer stopped a vehicle for running a stop sign. As he approached the car, he noticed a passenger in the left rear seat. He saw the passenger reach behind his back for no apparent reason. Id. Fearful of his safety, the officer ordered the passenger, Person, out of the car. Id. at 589. As Person alighted, the officer noticed a semi-automatic weapon on the rear seat. Id. Person was convicted of unlicensed possession of a handgun. The Court of Appeals agreed that the facts presented a number of circumstances supporting constructive possession. Id. at 590. Person was in close proximity to the weapon and had made a furtive gesture that suggested he was trying to hide the firearm. Id. It affirmed. In Cole v. State, 588 N.E.2d 1316 (Ind.Ct. App.1992), an officer stopped a vehicle driving erratically. During his investigation, he received a radio dispatch describing a get-away car in a recent robbery. The car he had stopped matched the description. Id. at 1317. He discovered a revolver on the floorboard behind the driver side seat. Cole, a passenger in the front seat, was convicted of robbery, criminal confinement, and carrying a handgun without a license. The Court of Appeals reversed in part, agreeing with Cole's assertion that the evidence was insufficient to sustain his handgun conviction. The fact that Cole was a passenger in the front seat of a car in which a firearm was found on the driver's side back floorboard was held insufficient to support the inference that Cole had possessed the firearm. Id. at 1319. The rationale behind Cole was reiterated in Walker, 631 N.E.2d 1. In Walker, an officer found a handgun in the trunk of a car he had just pulled over. The Court of Appeals reversed, emphasizing that a conviction for carrying required proof that the defendant had an unlicensed handgun on his or her person. Id. at 2. The court held the evidence that Walker was a passenger in the front seat of a car with a handgun in its trunk insufficient to support the inference that Walker had at one time carried the weapon on his person. Id.