Court Opinion

ID: 9611601
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 03:58:33.35598+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:03:15.425537
License: Public Domain

HAIRE, Presiding Judge,
dissenting:
I am of the opinion that there was not a sufficient showing of probable cause to justify the warrantless search conducted in this case.
Police possess probable cause to search when they possess information sufficient to warrant a man of reasonable caution to believe that an offense has been or is being committed. Ker v. California, 374 U.S. 23, 83 S.Ct. 1623, 10 L.Ed.2d 726 (1963). The information which Officer Honea possessed did not meet this requirement. All that he knew was that the aircraft and its occupants conformed to some unspecified and undocumented profile which had been previously supplied to the airport authorities. Other suspicious circumstances pointed to by the officer at the suppression hearing were that they had loaded a large amount of luggage into the aircraft, had paid cash for their gasoline, had nervous mannerisms, long hair and some facial hair, and that they had acted in a suspicious manner in relation to the briefcase that was opened on the aircraft wing. These circumstances do not, in my opinion, warrant a man of reasonable caution to believe that a felony was being committed. It is interesting to note that Officer Honea himself did not believe that he had probable cause to search the airplane or its contents. For example, he testified that he had told the pilot that he did not even know if he could get a search warrant. He also testified that he did not believe that he would have been able to enter the aircraft on the basis of what he knew at that time. Furthermore, the prosecutor, in his response to the motions to suppress filed in the trial court, stated that he agreed with the defense’s contentions that there had been no probable cause to search, and relied solely on the contention that the search was valid because of the consent given by the pilot. I agree with the majority’s holding that under the facts the search cannot be upheld under the consent exception.
Since appellant’s arrest and subsequent search of the interior of the aircraft and the rest of the luggage was predicated upon finding the marijuana during the initial illegal intrusion into appellant Thyfault’s briefcase, I would hold that the remainder of the marijuana was the fruit of this initial illegal search and all of it was tainted thereby. As fruit of an illegal search, it should have been suppressed. Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 83 S.Ct. 407, 9 L.Ed.2d 441 (1963).
In my opinion there was neither probable cause nor a valid consent to the search, and the trial judge should have granted the motion to suppress. I would therefore reverse the judgments and sentences imposed upon defendants.