Court Opinion

ID: 9580456
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:05:11.333577+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:36:17.168619
License: Public Domain

Sognier, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. My detailed examination of the transcript discloses the following facts, as testified to by the two police officers involved in this case. After noting what the officers believed to be an abandoned vehicle and approaching to check the vehicle, the officers observed two persons (appellees) in the car. The officer driving the police car turned on his blue light and stopped “16 to 20 feet” from appellees’ car. The officers exited their vehicle and Lieutenant Maloney advised appellees to exit their car; appellees exited their car and walked off in a different direction. According to Lieutenant Maloney, “[ic]e never had a chance to get to the vehicle at that point.” (Emphasis supplied.) The two officers then stopped appellees 35 to 40 feet from their car. After checking appellees’ identification and learning that they were trying to decide where to eat, Lieutenant Maloney decided to check appellees’ car while the other officer detained appellees. Maloney testified that he had no idea what he was looking for. It was at this point that he looked in appellees’ car for the first time, and by use of his flashlight observed some “roaches” in the ash tray and on the back seat. The officer then searched the entire passenger compartment of the car and picked up a letter-sized white envelope from the floor under the front passenger seat. The officer opened the envelope and found an orange card with perforations in it which he recognized as “blotter acid” (LSD). Both officers testified that they had no reports of suspicious activity in the area on the night in question, that appellees were not committing any illegal act, and that at *26no time did appellees commit any unlawful act in their presence.
“Articulable suspicion” has no application to a general search; rather, it is the standard applied to determine if a brief, “Terry-type” stop of an individual, including a pat-down for weapons, is a justifiable intrusion on the individual’s privacy. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U. S. 1 (88 SC 1868, 20 LE2d 889). Further, Terry limits any “search” to a pat-down of the outer clothing of an individual if the officer believes the person detained is armed and dangerous. Here, the officer who searched appellee’s vehicle testified that he and his partner had no fear whatsoever of appellees, did not believe they were armed, and did not even conduct a pat-down to determine if appellees were armed. This court has held that a Terry stop is a brief stop, limited in time to that minimally necessary to investigate the allegation invoking suspicion, and limited in scope to identification, licensing of a driver and a vehicle if appropriate, a protective pat-down of the outer surface of clothing for weapons if the officer has reasonable apprehension that the person is armed and dangerous, and limited questioning reasonably related to the circumstances that justified the initiation of the momentary stop. State v. Avret, 156 Ga. App. 527, 528 (1) (275 SE2d 113) (1980).
In the instant case the officers had an articulable suspicion which justified stopping appellees to check their identification and determine what they were doing in the area. Once those facts were ascertained, any further search was limited to a pat-down for weapons. Terry v. Ohio, supra. “An automobile in which contraband is concealed and transported may be searched without a warrant if police have probable cause for believing the automobile to be searched contains contraband.” Chambers v. Maroney, 399 U. S. 42 (90 SC 1975, 26 LE2d 419); Avret, supra. The right to search and the validity of the seizure are dependent on the reasonable cause the seizing officer has for belief that the contents of the automobile offend against the law. Id. Here, the officer who searched appellees’ car had no probable cause to believe that the car contained contraband. This is evidenced by the officer’s testimony that he had no idea what he was looking for. Thus, an articulable suspicion sufficient to authorize a Terry stop was present here, but probable cause to search the car was not. Avret, supra. The argument that the roaches were in “plain view” has no application here, because the plain view doctrine only applies where police are conducting a lawful search. Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U. S. 443, 467 (11) (91 SC 2022, 29 LE2d 564). Thus, using the plain view doctrine to justify the search is a classic example of “bootstrapping,” since the plain view doctrine does not apply until a lawful search is in progress. The Supreme Court also held in Coolidge that plain view alone is never enough to justify the warrantless seizure of evidence; the discovery of evidence in plain view must be inadvertent. *27Since the officer here had no probable cause to search the vehicle and the discovery of the roaches was anything but inadvertent, I find the search and seizure here unlawful.
Decided July 16, 1987
Rehearings denied July 31, 1987
Thomas J. Charron, District Attorney, Debra H. Bernes, Nancy I. Jordan, Assistant District Attorneys, for appellant.
Kenneth S. Waldrop, Ivan A. Pearlberg, for appellees.
In a hearing on a motion to suppress the judge sits as a trier of fact; credibility and weight, and the resolution of conflicts within the testimony of a witness (or witnesses), are matters to be determined by the judge. State v. Betsill, 144 Ga. App. 267, 268 (2) (240 SE2d 781) (1977). In the absence of evidence demanding a finding contrary to the judge’s determination, this court will not reverse the ruling granting a motion to suppress. Id. See also Burnette v. State, 168 Ga. App. 578, 579 (1) (309 SE2d 875) (1983); Branch v. State, 182 Ga. App. 818, 819 (1) (357 SE2d 136) (1987). I find no evidence demanding a finding contrary to the judge’s determination. Accordingly, I would affirm.
I am authorized to state that Chief Judge Birdsong, Presiding Judge McMurray and Judge Benham join in this dissent.