Court Opinion

ID: 9575449
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:13:53.506887+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:48:12.364038
License: Public Domain

SABERS, Justice
(dissenting).
Peterson was stopped for Exhibition Driving. Officer Selves noticed the odor of alcoholic beverage on Peterson’s breath which would allow the officer to look into the ear and seize items in plain view. However, this incident went way beyond that point.
As indicated in the majority opinion, Peterson was placed in the patrol car. Officer Selves called for assistance. In doing so, Officer Griswold radioed instructions to hold the individual because he wanted to check him out “for a possible 10-80.” As indicated, “a 10-80 is a code number referring to narcotics information or involvement.” Officer Griswold testified “that he did not know whose vehicle had been stopped when he first heard the trooper’s communication.” If the members of this court believe that, there is a man in Brooklyn who has a bridge to sell them.
1. Officer Griswold clearly wanted to have Officer Selves hold Peterson so Griswold could search the car for “narcotics information.”
2. Officer Griswold claimed he wanted the passengers (Peterson’s friend was sitting in the right front seat with his girlfriend on his lap) to remove themselves from the car to do a “plain view search within the driver’s reach.” This is pure fiction and an obvious pretense for an illegal search.
3. There is no such thing as a plain view search, only a plain view seizure. In other words, under certain circumstances, an officer can seize that which is in plain view. He cannot require people to remove themselves from a vehicle so that he can conduct a “plain view search or seizure” in and around the driver and passenger seat, the console, the glove compartment.
4. All items seized after the officer required the passengers to remove themselves from the vehicle were the result of an illegal search and seizure. (This includes the empty beer can, roach clip, and round hollow stone on the person of Delbert Peterson and the marijuana (one ounce plus) from the console or glove compartment.)
The majority opinion claims: “ ‘[i]f probable cause justifies the search of a lawfully stopped vehicle, it justifies the search of every part of the vehicle and its contents that may conceal the object of the search.’ ” (emphasis added) This language should not apply to the facts of this case because probable cause did not exist and did not justify this type of search. If it does, it is wrong. See United States v. Ross, 456 U.S. 798, 825, 102 S.Ct. 2157, 72 L.Ed.2d 572, 594 (1982).
Under these circumstances, the officer’s search of Peterson’s vehicle was invalid and must be considered merely a pretext for a drug investigation. The trial court should have granted Peterson’s motion to suppress the evidence. The judgment of the trial court should be reversed.