Court Opinion

ID: 9721254
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 08:53:37.075258+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:24.419733
License: Public Domain

Hennessey, J.
(dissenting, with whom Kaplan and Wilkins, JJ., join). I dissent. I believe that the Superior Court judge was right in his rulings and that his order should be affirmed. The judge’s findings of fact require that conclusion.
The search of the vehicle was unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment. The majority opinion properly does not sustain the search as a search incident to a lawful arrest. The occupants of the vehicle had been placed in custody and removed from the scene before the search took place. Even if they were still present in the vicinity, a search pursuant to the arrest would be narrowly restricted bylaw. See Chimel v. California, 395 U. S. 752 (1969).
A warrantless search of an automobile must be based on probable cause related to the vehicle. See Carroll v. United States, 267 U. S. 132 (1925); Brinegar v. United States, 338 U. S. 160 (1949); Preston v. United States, 376 U. S. 364 (1964). See also Commonwealth v. Haefeli, 361 Mass. 271 (1972); Commonwealth v. Antobenedetto, ante, 51 (1974). Probable cause was not shown here.
The vehicle was observed by a police officer at approximately 9:40 p.m. A person was seen entering the vehicle carrying a small dog. The police officer quickly learned that his suspicions concerning the registration of the vehicle were unfounded. A majority of the Justices of this court obviously infer probable cause solely from the small quan*391tity of marihuana found on the person of the operator, together with the words of an occupant, “Let’s go, here come the cops.”1 The findings of the judge make it clear that there were no other facts supportive of the search of the vehicle.
The two facts taken together do not constitute probable cause. A small quantity of marihuana found on the person, together with the words which were equivocal at best, does not show a probability that a cache of contraband might be found in the vehicle. The existence of probable cause depends on whether the facts and circumstances within the officer’s knowledge at the time of making the search or seizure were sufficient to warrant a prudent man in believing that the defendant had committed, or was committing, an offense. Commonwealth v. Stevens, 362 Mass. 24, 26 (1972). Commonwealth v. Mitchell, 353 Mass. 426, 428 (1967). Beck v. Ohio, 379 U. S. 89, 91 (1964). In any case involving a warrantless automobile search, the issue of probable cause relating the vehicle to the crime must be similarly weighed. A “hunch” on the part of the police officer is not sufficient. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U. S. 1, 27 (1968). Judicial interpretation of the Fourth Amendment requires the recognition of the boundary between mere suspicion and probable cause. Admittedly, the protection of the constitutional principle may be a painful judicial experience (particularly in a case like this one where hard drugs were found in the search) since Fourth Amendment claims “rarely bear on innocence.” See Cardwell v. Lewis, 417 U. S. 583, 596 (1974) (Powell, J., concurring).
The principal cases relied on by the majority do not support their conclusion. All of those cases are substantially stronger than the case before us in the supporting *392facts and the nexus of those facts to the vehicle. None deals with the search of a vehicle based exclusively in the discovery of incriminating evidence found on the person of one standing outside the vehicle.
In United States v. Henderson, 472 F. 2d 157 (6th Cir. 1973), an unauthorized car was stopped going the wrong way down a one-way street inside a naval base. The two occupants, not servicemen, could provide no credentials explaining their presence on the base and yet the base police saw navy clothing in plain view on the back seat. These factors taken together were held to justify the issuance of a search warrant for the vehicle. In Meade v. Cox, 438 F. 2d 323 (4th Cir. 1971), cert. den. sub nom. Meade v. Slayton, 404 U. S. 910 (1971), the officers had a report that the driver was trying to dispose of a gun, and had tried to sell it at a pawn shop. They also had probable cause to believe that the vehicle was stolen. Before they searched the vehicle they had much corroborative evidence that the vehicle was a stolen one. At that point they clearly had a right to search in the vehicle for evidence of car theft. Moreover, they had found a gun in the pocketbook of the defendant’s wife, in a lawful “stop and frisk.” A second gun was discovered in the glove compartment as a result of the search of the vehicle.
The defendant in United States v. Ragsdale, 470 F. 2d 24 (5th Cir. 1972), was taken into custody after driving at ninety miles an hour within the city limits. He appeared to have been driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and was arrested. When he was ordered to get out of his car one of the two officers saw a gun in plain view on the floor of the vehicle. After the defendant was secured a warrantless search of the vehicle disclosed two guns and money.
United States v. Bourassa, 411 F. 2d 69 (10th Cir. 1969), cert. den. 396 U. S. 915 (1969), is not apposite to the facts of the instant case. That case did not involve a search of the defendant’s vehicle. Rather, it concerned the seizure of a counterfeit coin which had fallen out of the defendant’s clothing while he was in a police vehicle, having been lawfully arrested.
*393In at least one respect I agree with the reasoning of the majority. The court concludes that, once probable cause was shown, a warrantless search of the vehicle was valid in the circumstances of the instant case. In this reasoning I agree, although I do not agree that probable cause existed. As a general rule, the Fourth Amendment requires the judgment of a detached and neutral magistrate. There are, however, certain narrowly defined exceptions where, in the exigencies of particular circumstances, a search may be permissible without a warrant. It was established in Carroll v. United States, 267 U. S. 132 (1925), that such an exigency may justify a warrantless search of an automobile in a public place.
It can be argued that there was no exigency here where the occupants of the vehicle were under arrest and the car was within police control. However, in Chambers v. Maro-ney, 399 U. S. 42 (1970), as in the instant case, there was no reasonable likelihood that the automobile would or could be moved, and nevertheless a warrantless search of the vehicle was upheld. The dissenting Justices in Cardwell v. Lewis, 417 U. S. 583, 596-599 (1974), would hold that, even where probable cause is shown, the vehicle may be searched only with a valid warrant in any case where there is no reasonable fear that evidence might be destroyed while the warrant is being sought. See Preston v. United States, 376 U. S. 364 (1964).
In my view, the more pertinent reasoning — and the reasoning which, given probable cause, would support a warrantless search of the vehicle in this case — is that which examines the extent to which a warrantless search sacrifices Fourth'Amendment values. In the circumstances of this case, if probable cause had been shown, the intrusion of a warrantless search was probably less extensive, almost certainly no more extensive, than the intrusion that would accompany the delay and the more elaborate prelude to the procuring of a warrant and a subsequent search. “For constitutional purposes, we see no difference between on the one hand seizing and holding a car before presenting the probable cause issue to a magistrate and on the other hand *394carrying out an immediate search without a warrant. Given probable cause to search, either course is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment.” Chambers v. Maroney, supra, at 52.

 The majority opinion may be read as indicating that the statement immediately preceded the observation of the marihuana in the driver’s pocket. The trial judge’s findings show, however, that the statement was made when the occupants of the van first noticed the officer walking down the street. As such, the statement is not directly connected to the observation of the marihuana which occurred only after the officer signalled the van to stop, asked for the driver’s license and registration, and spoke to the driver who had at that point exited from the van, thereby allowing the officer to observe the marihuana on his person.