Court Opinion

ID: 9579159
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:52:04.286185+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:34:30.220272
License: Public Domain

Danhof, J.
(dissenting). I dissent. I cannot agree with the majority’s disposition of the automobile search issue and its reliance upon Coolidge v New Hampshire, 403 US 443; 91 S Ct 2022; 29 L Ed 2d 564 (1971). There is no majority opinion in Coolidge. The judgment of the Court in Coolidge was (part I of Justice Stewart’s opinion) that the warrant authorizing the search of Coolidge’s car was invalid and (in part II D of that opinion) that, since the authorities had known for 2-1/2 weeks of the presence of Coolidge’s car and had planned all along to seize it, there were no exigent circumstances to justify failure to obtain a valid warrant. The context of the search in Coolidge is to be contrasted with that in the instant case. In Coolidge, defendant’s car was seized when parked in his private driveway. Here, defendant’s car was *761parked in a public alley near the scene of the crime. In Coolidge, the arrest and search were made at a time remote from the original suspicions of wrong-doing. Here, the arrest was made immediately and the search conducted two hours later. In Coolidge, it was only after a prolonged search of the car and analysis of the findings that the authorities were able to conclude positively that the car had a connection with the crime. Here, given the statement of defendant’s companion, there was probable cause to believe that defendant’s car contained goods stolen that same evening.
The question presented in this case is where does the factual situation present here fit within the spectrum of search and seizure law represented by the decisions in Coolidge, supra, and Chambers v Maroney, 399 US 42, 90 S Ct 1975; 26 L Ed 2d 419 (1970). If the police had known at the scene of defendant’s arrest of the presence of his car and its connection with the crime, they could have searched it there or immediately upon arrival at the station house. When the police learned of the car two hours after the arrest, they were certainly justified in seizing it. Between the available alternatives of either seizing and holding the car pending a magistrate’s determination of probable cause or carrying out an immediate search without a warrant, there is no constitutional difference in the degree of police intrusion. As was said in Chambers:
"Arguably, because of the preference for a magistrate’s judgment, only the immobilization of the car should be permitted until a search warrant is obtained; arguably, only the 'lesser’ intrusion is permissible until the magistrate authorizes the 'greater.’ But which is, the 'greater’ and which is the 'lesser’ intrusion is itself *762a debatable question and the answer may depend on a variety of circumstances. 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 carrying out an immediate search without a warrant. Given probable cause to search, either course is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment.” 399 US 51-52; 90 S Ct 1981; 26 L Ed 2d 428.
I, therefore, vote to affirm.