Court Opinion

ID: 9665744
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 00:55:59.629469+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:18.370153
License: Public Domain

DOUGLAS, Judge
(concurring).
I concur in the result reached that the arraignment in the presence of the jury under the circumstances of this case is harmless error.
Further, the result reached concerning the search of the automobile is correct. However, it should be noted that the car was stopped because of a traffic offense and the appellant was a passenger outside the automobile when the search was made. In Wilson v. State, 511 S.W.2d 531, this Court, in the majority opinion, held that a search of an automobile after the arrest of the driver for a traffic offense was unauthorized even though the accused had made a gesture toward the location of the contraband before he was arrested. The distinction between this case and the Wilson case is too fine. When an arrest has been made, an officer for his own protection should have the right to make the search even if it was for a traffic arrest at night.
In the present case, the driver, appellant and the other passenger were outside the car when it was searched. If the officer planned to take appellant and the others to jail, there was no better reason to search the car than the car in the Wilson case and the reasoning that it was for the safety of the officer.
When an officer makes a search after a legal arrest, he decreases the chances of being harmed. The legality of the search should not depend merely upon the officer’s statement that he was in a possibly dangerous situation. In the Wilson case there was no testimony that the officer was afraid that he might be harmed. That case was reversed on the ground that the search was illegal. In the present case the officer testified, “It is a very dangerous time when a person is alighting from the vehicle in any traffic situation at that time of night.” This is common knowledge, but the Wilson case was reversed because there was no testimony about this obvious fact, and it should be overruled. See the dissenting opinions in Wilson v. State, supra. The fact that one officer says it is a dangerous situation in one case and the officer in another case does not say so should not be the difference between an affirmance and a reversal. The Wilson case should be overruled.