Court Opinion

ID: 9574105
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:02:18.92808+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:44:06.217101
License: Public Domain

BRYNER, Chief Judge,
concurring.
In rejecting United States v. Robinson, 414 U.S. 218, 94 S.Ct. 467, 38 L.Ed.2d 427 (1973), and electing to follow the course taken by the Hawaii Supreme Court in State v. Kaluna, 55 Haw. 361, 520 P.2d 51 (1974), and by the California Supreme Court in People v. Brisendine, 13 Cal.3d 528, 119 Cal.Rptr. 315, 531 P.2d 1099 (1975), the Alaska Supreme Court went to great pains in Zehrung v. State, 569 P.2d 189 (Alaska 1977), to assure that searches incident to arrest be circumscribed by the principle of particularized need:
[I]n our view, the right to be ‘secure ... against unreasonable searches and seizures,’ under art. I, § 14 of the Alaska Constitution, requires that governmental intrusions into the personal privacy of Alaska citizens be limited in scope to that degree necessary under the particular circumstances.
Zehrung, 569 P.2d at 199 (footnote omitted).
To implement the protections inherent in art. I, § 14 of the Alaska Constitution, Zehrung held:
[Ajbsent specific articulable facts justifying the intrusion ..., a warrantless search incident to an arrest, other than for weapons, is unreasonable and therefore violative of the Alaska Constitution if the charge on which the arrest is made is not one, evidence of which could be concealed on the person.
Id. at 199-200 (footnote omitted).
This conclusion was based in part on People v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County, 7 Cal.3d 186, 101 Cal.Rptr. 837, 496 P.2d 1205 (1972), which, according to the Zehrung court, held that the search incident to arrest exception would not justify a warrantless search for evidence when an arrest was “for an offense which typically has neither instrumentalities nor fruits.” Id. at 199. While the Zehrung court recognized that a search for weapons is permissible in such cases, it emphasized that the search must be reasonably limited in its intensity and intrusiveness. Referring again with approval to People v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County, the court noted that “a pat-down, or limited search for weapons, is permissible ... if the arrestee is taken into custody.” Id. at 199 (footnote omitted).
What constitutes a “limited search” for weapons under Zehrung must be determined by the principles espoused in that case. Just as a person may not be searched for evidence when arrested for a crime “which typically has neither instru-mentalities nor fruits,” so that person should not, without articulable basis, be subjected to a search for weapons that delves into articles and areas that would typically contain no weapon. Zehrung compels the conclusion that the search incident to arrest exception does not permit an article such as a wallet to be searched for *1030uncommonly small weapons “unless there are particular facts present which would lead the officer to believe the arrestee is armed.” Id. at 199.1
A contrary reading of Zehrung would effectively nullify its holding. For it would be utterly meaningless to say, in one breath, that one’s wallet may never be searched for evidence when the search is incident to an arrest for a crime in which no evidence would typically be found, while saying, in the next, that the wallet may always be searched for safety pins, razor blades, and miniature switchblade knives. If the court in Zehrung had intended such a result, it would simply have followed the United States Supreme Court’s ruling in United States v. Robinson. Robinson’s bright-line approach may have its advantages. Even if we were inclined to follow Robinson, however, we would have no authority to overrule Zehrung.

. Nothing in Hinkel v. Anchorage, 618 P.2d 1069 (Alaska 1980), is to the contrary. Hinkel prohibits the search incident to arrest of articles that are not closely associated with the person of the arrestee; conversely, it permits articles closely associated with the person to be searched for weapons incident to arrest. But nothing in Hinkel suggests that articles associated with the person are subject to a search of limitless intensity, unsupported by any articulable grounds, for minute and uncommon weapons.