Opinion ID: 2206347
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Did Officer Curtis Houston conduct a valid search of the motor vehicle operated by Kottenbroch?

Text: We have concluded that Officer Houston's warrantless search was valid under the automobile exception to the warrant requirement and plain view doctrine. Although a warrantless search violates the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 8, of the North Dakota Constitution, there are specific established and well delineated exceptions to that rule. One of those exceptions is the automobile exception. Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132, 45 S.Ct. 280, 69 L.Ed. 543 (1925). A warrantless search and seizure by a police officer is constitutionally permissible only if there is compliance with the following two prerequisites: (1) the officer must have probable cause to believe that seizable items are located in the place to be searched; and (2) the circumstances must bring the search within one of the exceptions to the rule that a search must be based upon a valid search warrant. Chambers v. Maroney, 399 U.S. 42, 51, 90 S.Ct. 1975, 1981, 26 L.Ed.2d 419 (1970); State v. Meadows, 260 N.W.2d 328 (N.D.1977); State v. Stockert, 245 N.W.2d 266 (N.D. 1976). Kottenbroch's only argument on appeal is that Officer Houston did not have probable cause to search the Rambler. He raises no argument concerning the application of the automobile exception. The premise of Kottenbroch's argument is that Officer Houston had nothing more than a mere suspicion that a crime was being committed. Searches based on a mere suspicion are invalid. State v. Gagnon, 207 N.W.2d 260 (N.D.1973). For a warrantless search of an automobile to be permissible, the searching officer must have probable cause to believe that incriminating evidence is in the automobile, and the search must be of limited scope. [2] Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132, 45 S.Ct. 280, 69 L.Ed. 543 (1925). We defined probable cause in State v. Binns, 194 N.W.2d 756, 759 (N.D.1972), as follows: [A]utomobiles and other conveyances may be searched without warrants under circumstances that would not justify a search without a warrant of a home or an office, provided there is probable cause to believe that the automobile contains articles that the officer is entitled to seize. Therefore, if the search of an automobile without warrant is made upon probable cause, based upon a reasonable belief arising out of the circumstances known to the officerthat the automobile contains articles which are subject to seizure the search is valid. (Emphasis added.) 194 N.W.2d at 759. In State v. Meadows, 260 N.W.2d 328, 330 (N.D.1977), a factually similar case, a deputy sheriff observed Meadows simultaneously driving a motor vehicle and drinking out of a beer bottle. He followed Meadows into a truck stop parking area to investigate the apparent violation of the open bottle law and, upon looking into the vehicle, saw a partially opened six pack of beer and smelled the odor of alcohol. He continued his search and discovered a pistol in the console. In affirming the conviction for carrying a pistol in a motor vehicle without a license, we concluded that the officer had sufficient probable cause to make a warrantless search of the interior of Meadow's vehicle. We noted the deputy sheriff's testimony that his prior experience was that most of the time a party consuming alcoholic beverages on a highway also has more alcohol concealed in the vehicle. Id. at 331. The following observation by the United States Supreme Court, in Brinegar v. United States, 338 U.S. 160, 175-76, 69 S.Ct. 1302, 1310-11, 93 L.Ed. 1879 (1949), cited in State v. Meadows, id ., is helpful in determining the question of whether or not Officer Houston had probable cause to believe that evidence of a crime would be found in Kottenbroch's Rambler: `In dealing with probable cause, however, as the very name implies, we deal with probabilities. These are not technical; they are the factual and practical considerations of everyday life on which reasonable and prudent men, not legal technicians, act.... . . . . . `These long-prevailing standards seek to safeguard citizens from rash and unreasonable interferences with privacy and from unfounded charges of crime. They also seek to give fair leeway for enforcing the law in the community's protection. Because many situations which confront officers in the course of executing their duties are more or less ambiguous, room must be allowed for some mistakes on their part. But the mistakes must be those of reasonable men, acting on facts leading sensibly to their conclusions of probability. The rule of probable cause is a practical, nontechnical conception affording the best compromise that has been found for accommodating these often opposing interests. Requiring more would unduly hamper law enforcement. To allow less would be to leave law-abiding citizens at the mercy of the officers' whim or caprice.' (Emphasis added.) 260 N.W.2d at 331. The constitutional requirement, therefore, mandates that Officer Houston's search must have been made upon probable cause, based upon a reasonable belief arising out of the circumstances known to him at the time, that Kottenbroch's Rambler contained seizable articles. The reasonableness of Officer Houston's belief, however, should be judged in light of the practical and factual considerations law enforcement personnel are called to act upon in their myriad of duties. State v. Meadows, 260 N.W.2d at 331. Kottenbroch argues that the existence of empty beer cans in his car are as indicative of innocent behavior as they are of illegal behavior and therefore could raise nothing more than a mere suspicion of criminal behavior. For example, Kottenbroch contends that he could have a beer can collection, or he and his brother could have been retrieving the beer cans to collect the deposit given for the aluminum in the cans. While we agree that the existence of beer cans in the Rambler could be explained by innocent behavior, we do not believe that Officer Houston should have looked the other direction when he saw the beer cans. As a law enforcement officer, Houston acted properly and responsibly when he searched the Rambler for additional beer cans. Although the exposed beer cans were empty, it was reasonable for Houston to believe that there may have been open or unopen beer cans containing beer under the seat or in the glove compartment. Officer Houston had determined that Gerard Kottenbroch was a minor. He therefore could reasonably have determined that Kottenbroch may have been violating the minor in possession of an alcoholic beverage statute or the open container statute. Thus, he had probable cause to search the car for beer cans containing beer. Having probable cause to believe that the Rambler contained evidence of an offense, Officer Houston began his search in an area well within the limited scope required. He looked under the seat on the passenger's side, and found a glass tube. At the same time he detected the odor of marijuana. The glass tube was properly seized under the plain view doctrine. A seizure of evidence of a crime found in plain view is legitimate even though the items seized are not listed in the search warrant or, if the search is a warrantless search, the items are not items for which the searching officer had probable cause to believe were in the area being searched. To fall within the plain view doctrine, the initial intrusion must be supported either by a warrant or by one of the recognized exceptions to the warrant requirement. Additionally, the discovery must be inadvertent and within the proper scope of the search. Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443, 465, 91 S.Ct. 2022, 2037, 29 L.Ed.2d 564 (1971). In this case, Officer Houston had probable cause to search Kottenbroch's Rambler for beer cans containing beer. In the process of that proper search he inadvertently came across the incriminating glass tube containing marijuana resin. That tube was thus properly seized under the plain view doctrine. The glass tube, in conjunction with the odor of marijuana which Officer Houston had been trained to detect, gave him probable cause to conduct a more thorough search of the interior of the car. Therefore, Officer Houston's seizure of the 35 millimeter cannister containing marijuana, the roach clip, and the bag beneath the mattress in the back of the car containing marijuana, was valid.