Court Opinion

ID: 9654257
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 18:11:57.703953+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:13:07.382703
License: Public Domain

OPINION ON APPELLANT’S MOTION FOR REHEARING
DOUGLAS, Judge.
Kemner was convicted of possession of marihuana. Leave to file the motion for rehearing was granted to determine if Arkansas v. Sanders, - U.S. -, 99 S.Ct. 2586, 61 L.Ed.2d 235 (1979), requires us to hold that United States v. Chadwick, 433 U.S. 1, 97 S.Ct. 2476, 53 L.Ed.2d 538 (1977), is to be applied retroactively. Arkansas v. Sanders, supra, did not address the issue of the retroactive effect of United States v. Chadwick, supra.
Sanders was arrested in April, 1976. After his conviction in 1976, Chadwick was decided by the Supreme Court in 1977. Based on the holding of Chadwick, the Supreme Court of Arkansas reversed Sanders’ conviction. Sanders v. State, 262 Ark. 595, 559 S.W.2d 704 (1977). Writ of certiorari to the Arkansas Supreme Court was granted in 1978. (439 U.S. 891, 99 S.Ct. 247, 58 L.Ed.2d 236).
The Supreme Court of the United States cited Chadwick, but the question of retroactivity was not briefed, argued or discussed by the Court. The writ of certiorari was granted “to resolve some apparent misunderstanding as to the application” of the Chadwick decision, not to determine whether Chadwick was applicable to that set of facts. We are not bound by the decision of the Arkansas Supreme Court to apply Chadwick retroactively. We decline to do so.
The decision of Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 81 S.Ct. 1684, 6 L.Ed.2d 1081 (1961), was applied, without discussion, retroactively in Ker v. California, 374 U.S. 23, 83 S.Ct. 1623, 10 L.Ed.2d 726 (1963); Fahy v. Connecticut, 375 U.S. 85, 84 S.Ct. 229, 11 L.Ed.2d 171 (1963), and in Stoner v. California, 376 U.S. 483, 84 S.Ct. 889, 11 L.Ed.2d 856 (1964). At a later date, in Linkletter v. Walker, 381 U.S. 618, 85 S.Ct. 1731, 14 L.Ed.2d 601 (1965), however, the Supreme Court of the United States specifically held Mapp not retroactive.
The issue of retroactivity is decided on the function of the new constitutional rule. If the purpose of the new rule is to rectify an impairment of the truth-finding function, thus raising the issue of the accuracy of the guilty verdict, the rule must be applied retroactively. United States v. Peltier, 422 U.S. 531, 95 S.Ct. 2313, 45 L.Ed.2d 374 (1975). If the ruling, however, is in the context of the exclusionary rule, where admittedly relevant evidence is suppressed to further a constitutional goal that has nothing to do with the fact-finding process, the rule should be considered prospectively. 422 U.S. at 535, 95 S.Ct. 2313.
In Elkins v. United States, 364 U.S. 206, 80 S.Ct. 1437, 4 L.Ed.2d 1669 (1960), the Supreme Court set forth the purposes of the exclusionary rule as (1) upholding the *411“imperative of judicial integrity” and (2) deterring future acts of unconstitutional conduct by the police. If the evidence has been seized by the police in good-faith compliance with then existing constitutional standards, neither purpose will be thwarted by prospective application of the rule. United States v. Peltier, supra.
As the panel opinion in the present case noted, the police were complying with the then-prevailing constitutional standard. The purpose of the exclusionary rule would not be served by retroactive application of the Chadwick holding.
In the present case, there was no reason for Detective Glenn to believe that the suitcase was not among the personal effects of Kemner and thus subject to a “full search of the person” incident to a lawful arrest. United States v. Robinson, 414 U.S. 218, 94 S.Ct. 467, 38 L.Ed.2d 427 (1973). Nor was this search made unlawful because Detective Glenn learned of Kemner’s suspect status almost four hours before the arrest. United States v. Edwards, 415 U.S. 800, 94 S.Ct. 1234, 39 L.Ed.2d 771 (1974).
In Michigan v. DeFillippo, - U.S. -, 99 S.Ct. 2627, 61 L.Ed.2d 343 (1979), the Supreme Court of the United States upheld a search under an ordinance of Detroit even though the Michigan Supreme Court held the ordinance invalid and the search unconstitutional. The Court held that the officer had a right to rely upon the ordinance until it had been declared unconstitutional. See United States v. Berry, 571 F.2d 2 (7th Cir. 1978); United States v. Reda, 563 F.2d 510 (2nd Cir. 1977); United States v. Montgomery, 558 F.2d 311 (5th Cir. 1977).
The panel opinion properly held that the record shows that the officer complied in good faith with the prevailing constitutional standard prior to United States v. Chadwick, supra.1
The appellant’s motion for rehearing is overruled.
PHILLIPS and CLINTON, JJ., dissent.

. See Nastu v. State, - S.W.2d - (No. 58,059, October 3, 1979).