Opinion ID: 178833
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Warrantless Search Following the Arrest

Text: We next address Webster's challenge to the warrantless search of his truck based on Arizona v. Gant, ___ U.S. ___, 129 S.Ct. 1710, 173 L.Ed.2d 485 (2009), which was decided after the district court ruled on Webster's motion to suppress. The district court held that, because the officers had probable cause to arrest Webster, they also had the right to search his person incident to the arrest for officer safety. Contemporaneous with that arrest, and in line with our prior case law, the district court also held the officers could search the passenger compartment of Webster's vehicle. See United States v. Poggemiller, 375 F.3d 686, 687 (8th Cir.2004) (Under [ New York v. Belton, 453 U.S. 454, 101 S.Ct. 2860, 69 L.Ed.2d 768 (1981)], when a police officer makes a lawful custodial arrest of an automobile's occupant, the Fourth Amendment allows the officer to search the vehicle passenger compartment as a contemporaneous incident of arrest.). In Gant, the Supreme Court held that officers may search a vehicle incident to a recent occupant's arrest only if the arrestee is within reaching distance of the passenger compartment at the time of the search or it is reasonable to believe the vehicle contains evidence of the offense of arrest. 129 S.Ct. at 1723. Pursuant to Gant, Webster argues there was no need to protect the arresting officers or safeguard any evidence Webster might conceal or destroy because he had already been arrested, handcuffed, and moved away from the truck at the time of the search. We have previously distinguished cases similar to the instant matter in which defendants were arrested for drug offenses from Gant, where the defendant was arrested for driving with a suspended license, because the former situation provides a reasonable basis for officers to believe the vehicle contains evidence of the crime of arrest, whereas in Gant, there was no evidence of the offense of driving with a suspended license which would have been found in the vehicle. See Williams, 616 F.3d at 766 (In short, these officers had probable cause to believe that contraband or other evidence of drug crimes would be found in the stopped vehicle.). As a result, while the first prong of Gant clearly makes a search incident to arrest inapplicable in this case because Webster was handcuffed and not within reaching distance of the passenger compartment, the second prong may still apply because the officers had reason to believe the vehicle contained evidence of the offense of arrest. Indeed, Webster was arrested after being removed from his vehicle at the time and place set for a controlled drug purchase, as discussed above. See Parish, 606 F.3d at 487 (Because the only purpose of the arranged meeting was for [the defendant] to distribute drugs, the police had probable cause to believe that evidence relevant to the drug crime would be found in the vehicle.). However, the record evinces a dispute regarding the nature of Webster's arrest, which impacts whether the officers had reason to believe the vehicle contained evidence of the offense of arrest.  Gant, 129 S.Ct. at 1723 (emphasis added). Webster submitted an affidavit through his lawyer stating one of the arresting officers indicated Webster was arrested for parking the wrong way on the street. The district court concluded the affidavit did nothing to alter the fact that a controlled drug buy operation was the primary basis for the arrest and searches in this case, although it concluded the fact Webster was parked the wrong way on the street was, on its own, a basis for effectuating a traffic stop. We note the district court's order was issued prior to Gant, and thus there was little reason for the court to distinguish among the possible bases for arrest, as either would have provided a sufficient justification for a search incident to arrest at the time. While we now have the benefit of Gant, we find it unnecessary to resolve the factual dispute regarding the basis for arrest in light of the alternative grounds discussed by the court. In addition to the search incident to arrest exception, the court invoked the automobile exception, reasoning that once the officers found drugs on Webster's person, they had probable cause to search the entirety of the truck without a warrant. We agree. Warrantless searches need only be justified by one exception to the Fourth Amendment warrant requirement; one of these exceptions is the automobile exception, which authorizes a search of any area of the vehicle in which the evidence might be found if probable cause exists. United States v. Grooms, 602 F.3d 939, 942-43 (8th Cir.2010). We conclude the officers maintained probable cause to search Webster's vehicle because he arrived in the vehicle at the time and place set for a controlled drug buy and he spoke with an informant in the vehicle before the informant gave a visual signal to officers indicating Webster had drugs in his possession. These facts, combined with the drugs found on Webster's person incident to arrest and his act of ramming the patrol car, provided the officers with a reasonable basis to believe to a fair probability as to contraband existing in the automobile. As a result, the warrantless search was justified under the automobile exception, irrespective of the applicability of the search incident to arrest exception. See id. at 942 ([B]ecause we conclude the search of [the defendant's] vehicle was supported by probable cause, it is no longer necessary to justify the warrantless nature of the search as one incident to arrest; rather the warrantless search can be justified under the automobile exception.). In light of our determination the officers had probable cause to arrest Webster and search his vehicle, we conclude the subsequent search warrant issued for Webster's residences was also valid and the evidence discovered under those searches need not be suppressed as fruit of the poisonous tree. Thus, we affirm the district court's denial of Webster's motion to suppress.