Court Opinion

ID: 9660716
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 22:19:19.785562+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:21.543520
License: Public Domain

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING
KAROHL, Judge.
The state filed a motion for rehearing contending that this opinion conflicts with the controlling authority on the necessity of a search warrant to conduct a search of an automobile. The state maintains that there was no need for a warrant in this case. Initially we note that the state’s first brief devoted very little attention to this issue maintaining that the search was justified as an inventory search. The suggestions in support of the motion for rehearing extensively brief the issue discussing the validity of an evidentiary car search several days after the automobile was impounded.
The cases relied on by the state1 find a subsequent search valid where there was probable cause for a search at the scene or when the car was impounded. The state finds probable cause here by noting that if a St. Louis police officer had *767executed the arrest warrant he would have known what to search for i.e. photographs of defendant’s wife. Probable cause must be found by the officer initially dealing with the automobile and not by someone who was not at the scene. See State v. Hornbeck, 492 S.W.2d 802, 805 (Mo.1973). Probable cause to search an automobile for evidence is found when an officer stops a car and suspects the presence of contraband,2 weapons3 or evidence of crimes.4 State v. McCarty, 460 S.W.2d 630, 635-36 (Mo.1970).
Photographs of defendant’s wife do not fall into any of these categories. In the present case the family photographs were to be used to support the testimony of the state’s witness that defendant used them to identify the intended victim of the intended crime. The fact that something within the car may be used as evidence in a trial is not in itself probable cause to search a car without a search warrant. Nothing in the car at the time of arrest was direct evidence of a crime. The arresting officer had no reason to look for the photographs at the time of the warrant arrest.
There is no evidence that the photos were discovered as part of an inventory search.5 In fact, the evidence indicates that the only purpose for the search was to execute an invalid search warrant. The car was not being held at a police lot. It was towed to and stored at a private tow company’s lot. Even if the photos were identified as part of an inventory there was no reason to seize them as they are neither contraband, weapons or evidence of a crime.
It appears that the only justification for a warrantless search at the scene would be a search incident to the arrest. The state denies that this was such a search and our opinion discusses the invalidity of the search if it was. The arrest was pursuant to a warrant and not based on any probable cause.
The fact that the state initially applied for a search warrant indicates a belief that a warrant to search was needed. The warrant was invalid and this search does not qualify as a permissible warrantless search. The defendant had a reasonable expectation of privacy in his car. This search was not an immediate or delayed incident to the arrest. The arrest and search were not based upon probable cause. A valid search warrant was necessary. As there was not one the evidence must be suppressed.
Motion for rehearing denied.
PUDLOWSKI, P.J., and GAERTNER, J., concur.

. United States v. Johns, — U.S. —, 105 S.Ct. 881, 83 L.Ed.2d 890 (1985); Florida v. Meyers, — U.S. —, 104 S.Ct. 1852, 80 L.Ed.2d 381 (1984); Michigan v. Thomas, 458 U.S. 259, 102 S.Ct. 3079, 73 L.Ed.2d 750 (1982); United States v. Ross, 456 U.S. 798, 102 S.Ct. 2157, 72 L.Ed.2d 572 (1982); Texas v. White, 423 U.S. 67, 96 S.Ct. 304, 46 L.Ed.2d 209 (1975); Chambers v. Maroney, 399 U.S. 42, 90 S.Ct. 1975, 26 L.Ed.2d 419 (1970); State v. Olds, 603 S.W.2d 501 (Mo. banc 1980); State v. Whitehead, 675 S.W.2d 939 (Mo.1984); State v. McCarty, 460 S.W.2d 630 (Mo.1970).

. United States v. Johns, — U.S. —, 105 S.Ct. 881, 884, 83 L.Ed.2d 890 (1985); Michigan v. Thomas, 458 U.S. 259, 102 S.Ct. 3079, 73 L.Ed.2d 750 (1982); United States v. Ross, 456 U.S. 798, 102 S.Ct. 2157, 72 L.Ed.2d 572 (1982); Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132, 153-54, 45 S.Ct. 280, 285, 69 L.Ed. 543 (1925); State v. Olds, 603 S.W.2d 501, 506 (Mo. banc 1980); State v. McCarty, 460 S.W.2d 630, 635 (Mo.1970); State v. Jackson, 646 S.W.2d 367 (Mo.App.1982).

. Chambers v. Maroney, 399 U.S. 42, 48, 90 S.Ct. 1975, 1979, 26 L.Ed.2d 419 (1970); State v. McCarty, 460 S.W.2d 630, 636 (Mo.1970); State v. Whitehead, 675 S.W.2d 939 (Mo.App.1984).

. Chambers v. Maroney, 399 U.S. 42, 48, 90 S.Ct. 1975, 1979, 26 L.Ed.2d 419 (1970); State v. McCarty, 460 S.W.2d 630, 636 (Mo.1970); State v. Ferguson, 678 S.W.2d 873, 876 (Mo.App.1984).

. See South Dakota v. Opperman, 428 U.S. 364, 96 S.Ct. 3092, 49 L.Ed.2d 1000 (1976) for a discussion of the validity of inventory searches.