Court Opinion

ID: 9644984
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 21:09:43.09239+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:11:20.970000
License: Public Domain

MAUS, Presiding Judge,
dissenting.
I must respectfully dissent. At the time in question there was probable cause to believe one black woman, accompanied by two white women, driving a white Oldsmobile bearing Oklahoma license plates, were shoplifting in stores on South Glenstone in Springfield. There is no contention made that a police officer did not lawfully stop such a white Oldsmobile being driven by the defendant from a parking lot of a shopping mall on South Glenstone.
It is conceded the officers at the scene then validly arrested the defendant upon a warrant issued from Johnson County, Missouri. Before the arrest the defendant, who was from Oklahoma, said the car belonged to a friend. She also said she had just met two white women who either came to or were brought to the scene. By a radio check, the officers learned the Oklahoma license was not “on file.” Only after she was arrested did the defendant ask the officers to release the vehicle to the two white women.
The defendant was unable to verify her ownership of the car. Under such circumstances it was against police policy or regulations to so release the car. The established practice was to impound the car by having a private company tow the car to a privately owned place of impoundment. Under that practice it was mandatory that the car be inventoried before it was towed away. Where a key was available that inventory included the trunk.
The rules governing the validity of a warrantless search of motor vehicles have a long and tortuous history. Such searches have been upheld on a variety of bases. Recent decisions have established that circumstances may cause detailed and extensive searches to be reasonable. For example, the arrest of an occupant authorizes a *244contemporaneous search of the passenger compartment and containers therein. New York v. Belton, 453 U.S. 454, 101 S.Ct. 2860, 69 L.Ed.2d 768 (1981). Under United States v. Ross, 456 U.S. 798, 102 S.Ct. 2157, 72 L.Ed.2d 572 (1982), a probable cause search may extend to the trunk and certain containers therein. The cases have been reviewed and Belton followed in State v. Harvey, 648 S.W.2d 87 (Mo. banc 1983).
The inventory of a motor vehicle is another basis for a reasonable search thereof.
It is common practice for the police to conduct an inventory of the contents of vehicles they have taken into their custody. This practice, which is often extended to vehicles the police have caused to be placed in the custody of some third party, such as a towing company, is typically mandated by a police department regulation. ‘Inventory searches have two purposes: To protect the vehicle and the property in it, and to safeguard the police or other officers from claims of lost possessions.’ It is thus customary for an inventory to extend to all parts of the car where personal property might be found, and to include an inventory of containers found within the vehicle. 2 LaFave, Search & Seizure § 7.4, p. 565-566.
The practice and reasons therefore were considered and approved in South Dakota v. Opperman, 428 U.S. 364, 96 S.Ct. 3092, 49 L.Ed.2d 1000 (1976). In that case the automobile was towed to the police station for parking violations and searched in accordance with an established practice. In Michigan v. Thomas, 458 U.S. -, 102 S.Ct. 3079, 73 L.Ed.2d 750 (1982), what at least started as an inventory search, disclosed marihuana in a glove compartment and a more thorough search extending even to the air vents was approved. The Supreme Court of this state, relying upon South Dakota v. Opperman, supra, approved a search that revealed a gun hidden near a fire wall just above the transmission hump where part of a heater was missing. State v. Valentine, 584 S.W.2d 92 (Mo. banc 1979). An inventory search of a locked camper was expressly approved in United States v. Maier, 691 F.2d 421 (8th Cir.1982), cert. den., - U.S. -, 103 S.Ct. 1524, 75 L.Ed.2d 947 (1983). “To forbid entry into trunks as part of an inventory search would frustrate the very purpose of the inventory, since the trunk is a likely place for valuables to be stored.” State v. Ruffino, 94 N.M. 500, 612 P.2d 1311, 1313 (1980).
We are aware that legal authority is to be found both approving and disapproving trunk inventory searches, but in view of the recognized purposes served by inventory searches, we conclude that the better-reasoned cases authorize police inventory searches of locked and unlocked automobile trunks, glove compartments, and other compartments of a vehicle in which the owner might reasonably be expected to put personal effects or items of value. State v. Prober, 98 Wis.2d 345, 297 N.W.2d 1, 6 (1980).
The cases are collected in Prober. An inventory search under the floormat was approved in United States v. Edwards, 577 F.2d 883 (5th Cir.1978); under the hood in People v. Hardy, 77 Ill.App.3d 37,32 Ill.Dec. 513, 395 N.E.2d 743 (1979); in a trunk, State v. Roberge, 642 S.W.2d 716 (Tenn.1982).
State v. Peterson, 583 S.W.2d 277 (Mo.App.1979) condemns an inventory search because of improper seizure and impoundment of a properly parked automobile. United States v. Wilson, 636 F.2d 1161 (8th Cir.1980) was distinguished in United States v. Maier, supra.
The appellant does not question the legality of her arrest. She was being taken into custody under a warrant issued from Johnson County. It was necessary that the officers do something with the automobile she was driving. Its impoundment was as necessary as the impoundment of a car parked for an impermissible time in South Dakota v. Opperman, supra. The evidence was that the officers proceeded in accordance with an established practice within the meaning of the rule quoted above. The finding of the trial court that the search was not conducted upon a pretext is supported by the evidence.
*245It has been suggested that impoundment might be improper if the officers did not comply with the reasonable request of an arrestee concerning the disposition of a vehicle he was driving. 2 LaFave, Search & Seizure § 7.3, p. 559. The appellant stated she did not own the automobile. The Oklahoma license plates were not listed. She said she had just met the two white women who arrived on the scene. Under these circumstances, the refusal of the officers to entrust the car to them was reasonable. Lively v. State, 427 A.2d 882 (Del.Supr.1981); Fields v. Florida, 369 So.2d 603 (Fla.App.1978); Daniels v. State, 600 S.W.2d 813 (Tex.Cr.App.1980).
Further, the lack of pretext is established by the absence of any need to resort to pretext. The officers clearly had probable cause to believe the automobile contained stolen merchandise. They could have lawfully searched the automobile, including the trunk, under United States v. Ross, supra.
Still yet another principle establishes the search in question was not an unreasonable search.
We have since held that the fact that the officer does not have the state of mind which is hypothecated by the reasons which provide the legal justification for the officer’s action does not invalidate the action taken as long as the circumstances, viewed objectively, justify that action.... The Court of Appeals which have considered the matter have likewise generally followed these principles, first examining the challenged searches under a standard of objective reasonableness without regard to the underlying intent or motivation of the officers involved. Scott v. United States, 436 U.S. 128, 137-138, 98 S.Ct. 1717, 1723, 56 L.Ed.2d 168, 178 (1978).
Even if the officers burned with justified curiosity to look in the trunk because of an unstated motive, the search was in accordance with an established practice and valid. 1 LaFave, Search & Seizure § 1.2 (Supp. 1983).
For the several reasons stated, I believe the officers followed standard police practice, opening the trunk was not unreasonable, and the inventory search valid. South Dakota v. Opperman, supra; State v. Valentine, supra. I have examined the appellant’s other two points. Neither has merit. Therefore, I would affirm the judgment of the trial court.