Court Opinion

ID: 9742550
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 21:15:42.401121+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:33.529422
License: Public Domain

Smith, J. (dissenting in part).
I agree that, for the reasons explained in Judge Graffeo’s opinion, the visual search did not violate defendant’s constitutional rights. I think the seizure of the contraband was lawful also, and therefore I would deny the motion to suppress.
The visual search, which we today hold valid, led officers Burnes and Spiegel to observe a string hanging from defendant’s rectum. The record shows that Burnes twice ordered defendant to remove the string, and warned him that if defendant did not do so, Burnes would do it himself. Defendant remained motionless. Burnes and Spiegel then held defendant’s arms and forced him into a bent position. Burnes pulled the string, and a plastic bag containing rocks of crack cocaine came out “easily.” There is no evidence that either officer put a hand or implement in defendant’s body, or even touched him below the waist.
The majority holds that, when defendant refused to cooperate, the officers had to leave the contraband where it was until they got a search warrant. In that situation, getting the warrant seems to me a pointless exercise, and I do not believe the State or Federal Constitution requires it.
*323The general rule, of course, is that a person arrested can be searched without a warrant. In Schmerber v California (384 US 757 [1966]), the Supreme Court established an exception for searches that intrude into the human body. “Search warrants,” the Court said in Schmerber, “are ordinarily required for searches of dwellings, and absent an emergency, no less could be required where intrusions into the human body are concerned” (384 US at 770). I find Schmerber inapplicable here, for the simple reason that no one intruded into defendant’s body. There is no evidence that any hand or implement was inserted, or that the officers’ actions had any significant internal effect on defendant. All Burnes did was pull on a plainly visible string, causing the contraband to emerge with no difficulty. There is no claim that this action caused defendant any pain, or put him at risk of injury. The removal of the contraband in this case seems to me a lesser violation of privacy than the lawful search that led to its discovery.
The majority relies on People v More (97 NY2d 209 [2002]) to hold that Schmerber governs this case. It is true that we applied Schmerber in More, and that we held the removal of drugs from defendant in that case unconstitutional, but the facts in More were different from the facts here.
Our statement of the central facts in More is brief: “Defendant initially cooperated by taking off most of his clothes, but at some point he protested and scuffled with the officers. During the search, which took place in a bedroom, the police removed a plastic bag, an outer portion of which they saw protruding from defendant’s rectum” (97 NY2d at 212). Defendant’s brief in our Court, however, was more detailed and less delicate:
“Officer Schoonmaker grabbed Appellant and called for help, claiming that he saw a piece of cellophane protruding from appellant’s anus. Appellant was immediately surrounded by police officers. A struggle ensued as the officers attempted to reach into the appellant’s rectum. Appellant resisted the assault for three or four minutes in spite of the fact that 5 or 6 officers were trying to wrestle him to the ground. Eventually, he was incapacitated by the police. One officer was holding each leg, one officer was lying on top of his head and one officer was holding each of his arms. The defendant was handcuffed. His face was forced into the floor and his buttocks forced up to the ceiling. At this point, as *324Appellant continued to struggle, an unknown officer called for a flashlight. Another unknown officer came in and shined a flashlight into the rectum of the Appellant. Detective Sergeant Wilson put on a rubber glove and proceeded to enter the rectum of the Appellant. He groped and probed extensively. As it turned out, the baggie that Officer Schoonmaker had earlier testified was protruding from the appellant, was, instead, other officers testified, so far inside the appellant that it was barely visible to the naked eye and was very difficult to remove. So much force was used to accomplish the extraction that the baggie was covered with blood and human tissue.” (Appellant’s brief, People v More, at 5-6 [record references omitted].)
The People’s brief in More did not challenge this summary of the way the evidence was retrieved. In light of that, I find it unsurprising that our opinion in More simply assumes, without discussion, that the search involved an intrusion “beyond the body’s surface” (97 NY2d at 212) and that Schmerber therefore applied. There is another important difference between the More facts and ours: the officers in More did not have reason to suspect, before performing a visual body cavity search, that the defendant was concealing drugs inside his body. He had been arrested when police officers found him sitting near a crack pipe and a small piece of crack cocaine. Our opinion in More seems to reflect the belief—well justified by the record in that case— that even the visual body cavity search was unlawful. Among the authorities we relied on were Mary Beth G. v City of Chicago (723 F2d 1263 [7th Cir 1983]) and Arruda v Fair (710 F2d 886 [1st Cir 1983], cert denied 464 US 999 [1983]), both of which involved only visual searches (see 97 NY2d at 213).
We should not treat More as being conclusive on an issue not presented or discussed in that case: whether, when an object protruding from a body cavity is found during a lawful search, the removal of that object without intrusion into the body requires a warrant under Schmerber. No other New York case decides the question, and decisions from other jurisdictions are of limited help, though several give some indirect support to the People’s position here (see United States v Himmelwright, 551 F2d 991 [5th Cir 1977] [removal during border search not unlawful]; State v Jones, 76 Wash App 592, 887 P2d 461 [1995] [removal not a body cavity search under state statutes]; State v *325Nieves, 383 Md 573, 586, 861 A2d 62, 70 [2004] [search held unlawful for lack of reasonable suspicion, but court concluded that removal of protruding bags was not “a physical body cavity search”]). In a case almost identical to ours, State v Barnes (215 Ariz 279, 159 P3d 589 [2007]), an intermediate appellate court in Arizona divided 2 to 1 in the defendant’s favor.
I agree with Judge Espinosa, dissenting in Barnes, who said: “It makes little sense ... to require officers to obtain a warrant in cases such as this, where contraband is visible between the cheeks of the buttocks and may be retrieved easily, without harm to the individual” (215 Ariz at 285, 159 P3d at 595). I do not see why it is unreasonable for the officers to take, with minimal force, what they have already lawfully seen (cf. Horton v California, 496 US 128 [1990] [lawful to seize object in plain view]). The majority’s contrary holding will, I fear, add unnecessarily to the many problems faced by police officers trying to make headway against street drug dealers.
Accordingly, I would affirm the order of the Appellate Division.
Chief Judge Kaye concurs with Judge Graffeo; Judge Ciparick concurs in result in a separate opinion in which Judge Jones concurs; Judge Smith dissents and votes to affirm in another opinion in which Judges Read and Pigott concur.
Order reversed, etc.