Court Opinion

ID: 9718391
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 07:22:26.996079+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:58.824543
License: Public Domain

TOM GLAZE, Justice, concurring. The majority court is correct that the appellant, Jewell Polk, was not entitled to any defense of joint occupancy under the facts of this case. He was the single occupant of the car he was driving when he was placed under arrest for improper lane usage and for driving with an expired license. The officer arrested Polk and impounded the car. The officer then conducted an inventory of the car. Arkansas Rule of Criminal Procedure 12.6(b) provides that a vehicle impounded in consequence of an arrest, or retained in official custody for other good cause, may be searched at such times and to such extent as is reasonably necessary for safekeeping of the vehicle and its contents.1 It was during the inventory that the officer found contraband inside the car. Because the officer conducted a proper inventory search, the items of contraband found in the car he was driving were considered to be in his constructive possession. See Fultz v. State, 333 Ark. 586, 596, 972 S.W.2d 222, 226 (1998) (where contraband is under the dominion and control of the accused, he is considered in constructive possession of the contraband). In this case, Polk had dominion and control over the car. Polk was the only person in the car and was the driver of the car. This court has also held that actual ownership is not required for the exercise of dominion and control. See Kilpatrick v. State, 322 Ark. 728, 734, 912 S.W.2d 917, 920 (1995). Simply stated, the other facts considered by the majority court to link Polk in possession of the contraband are wholly unnecessary. Polk’s conviction can be affirmed based solely on the legal inventory search. Imber, J., not participating.   Polk never objected to the inventory search and, while he made a motion that his arrest was pretextual and the judge denied it, Polk fails to raise any pretextual issue on appeal.