State v. Reed

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NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION

No. 113,576

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF KANSAS

STATE OF KANSAS,
Appellant,

v.

TRAE D. REED,
Appellee.


MEMORANDUM OPINION

Appeal from Reno District Court; TRISH ROSE, judge. Opinion filed December 18, 2015.
Affirmed.

Daniel D. Gilligan, assistant district attorney, Keith E. Schroeder, district attorney, and Derek
Schmidt, attorney general, for appellant.

Shannon Crane, of Hutchinson, for appellee.

Before MALONE, C.J., HILL and STANDRIDGE, JJ.

Per Curiam: The State appeals the district court's decision granting Trae Reed's
motion to suppress evidence found in the search of his wallet at a car stop. Specifically,
the State contends that the search of Reed's wallet was a proper search incident to arrest.
In the alternative, the State argues that the evidence was admissible under the inevitable
discovery doctrine. Finally, the State argues that even if the search of Reed's wallet was
illegal, the evidence was admissible under the good-faith exception to the exclusionary
rule. Finding no merit to the State's arguments, we affirm the district court's judgment.

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On July 28, 2014, Officer Brian Carey of the Hutchinson Police Department
stopped Reed for driving without a driver's side mirror on his vehicle. Officer Travis
Lahaan also was present for the traffic stop. Carey spoke to Reed's passenger and other
people at the scene; the passenger ultimately was released to leave. Meanwhile, Reed got
out his wallet and produced identification at Lahaan's request. When Lahaan asked Reed
to get out of his vehicle, Reed said that the driver's side door was not working, so he
climbed out through the driver's side window, wallet in hand. After Reed got out of his
car, he placed his wallet on the roof of the car. Lahaan and Reed stood at the rear of
Reed's vehicle while Lahaan ran Reed's information through dispatch.

Upon learning that Reed had a suspended driver's license, Lahaan arrested Reed
for driving while suspended. Lahaan put Reed into his patrol car and after he and Carey
finished interviewing other people on the scene, Carey took Reed's wallet off the roof of
Reed's car. Without Reed's consent, Carey searched the wallet and found a small plastic
bag containing white residue Carey believed was methamphetamine. Reed was taken to
the Reno County Detention Center where, during the booking process, another small
clear plastic bag containing white residue was found in Reed's wallet.

On July 30, 2014, the State charged Reed with possession of methamphetamine,
possession of drug paraphernalia with the intent to introduce a controlled substance into
the human body, and driving on a suspended license. On March 19, 2015, Reed filed a
motion to suppress the drug evidence, arguing that the search of his wallet was
unreasonable and violated the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The district court held a hearing on the motion on March 30, 2015. At the hearing,
Lahaan and Carey testified for the State. In addition to relating the events of the traffic
stop and arrest, Lahaan testified that it was Hutchinson Police Department policy to
search a person and the "items that were on them at the time of arrest" as a search
incident to arrest. He believed that the search of the wallet was a proper search incident to
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arrest and stated that Carey took Reed's wallet from the top of his car so that Reed "could
take it with him to the jail." Carey similarly testified that it was policy to search arrestees
before placing them into patrol vehicles and to search arrestees' personal effects before
they are taken into custody. Deputy Kyle Webb, who searched Reed upon his booking
into the Reno County Detention Center, testified about the booking and searching
policies, including a policy of searching an arrestee's personal effects, such as Reed's
wallet. Reed did not present any evidence at the hearing.

After the evidence was presented, the State argued that the search of the wallet
was a proper search incident to arrest. The State also asserted that because Reed had the
wallet in his hand when he exited the vehicle, it was part of his personal effects and
would have been searched at the jail; thus, the doctrine of inevitable discovery applied.
The State also argued that even if the search was improper, there was no reason to apply
the exclusionary rule because the officers acted in good faith.

Reed argued that under Arizona v. Gant, 556 U.S. 332, 129 S. Ct. 1710, 173 L. Ed.
2d 485 (2009), there was no reasonable concern for officer safety that would have
justified the search of the wallet and the search was further prohibited by the fact that the
wallet was no longer accessible to Reed and could contain no evidence of the offense of
the arrest. In response to the State's inevitable discovery argument, Reed argued that
police could have given the wallet to one of the other people at the scene that Reed knew
or could have left the wallet in Reed's car. After hearing arguments of counsel, the district
court took the matter under advisement.

On April 2, 2015, the district court filed a written order, which stated, in relevant
part, as follows:

"Defendant was handcuffed and at the rear of his vehicle when his wallet was
first searched. The search of the wallet was not justified by safety reasons or as an effort
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to safeguard evidence of the offense of driving while suspended. The officers were in
possession of defendant's driver's license, the only evidence relevant to the crime for
which defendant was being arrested. There was nothing protruding from the wallet
suggesting any type of safety concern. Officer Carey testified it is police department
policy to search a person's effects before placing them in a patrol car. The court assumes
this policy is for safety reasons. Here though, defendant was separated from his wallet.
Defendant apparently was not asked what he would like done with his wallet, if anything.
If officers were concerned about security of defendant's property there was a passenger
who arguably could have assumed custody of the wallet. There was no indication the
passenger was a minor child or under the influence of drugs or otherwise incapacitated.
"The search was not authorized as incident to arrest. The inevitable discovery
doctrine does not authorize the admission of the evidence because the wallet was not
lawfully seized."

The district court granted Reed's motion to suppress the evidence. The State timely
filed an interlocutory appeal.

On appeal, the State renews its argument that the district court should have found
the search was legal as a search incident to arrest. In the alternative, the State argues that
the evidence was admissible because it would have been inevitably discovered as part of
an inventory search. Finally, the State argues that even if the search was improper, there
was no reason to apply the exclusionary rule because the officers acted in good faith.
Reed argues that the evidence was inadmissible under any theory and that the district
court properly granted the motion to suppress.

When reviewing a district court's decision on a motion to suppress evidence, an
appellate court determines whether the factual findings are supported by substantial
competent evidence. The ultimate legal conclusions drawn from those factual findings are
reviewed under a de novo standard. The appellate court does not reweigh the evidence or
reassess the credibility of the witnesses. State v. Reiss, 299 Kan. 291, 296, 326 P.3d 367
(2014). The State bears the burden of proof on a suppression motion. 299 Kan. at 296.
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The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as applicable to the
States under the Fourteenth Amendment, "protects everyone's right to be secure in his or
her person and not subject to unreasonable searches by the government." State v. James,
301 Kan. 898, 908, 349 P.3d 457 (2015). Any warrantless search is per se unreasonable
unless it falls within one of the exceptions to the search warrant requirement recognized
in Kansas. State v. Neighbors, 299 Kan. 234, 239, 328 P.3d 1081 (2014). Those
exceptions include: consent; search incident to lawful arrest; stop and frisk; probable
cause to search accompanied by exigent circumstances, of which hot pursuit is one
example; emergency aid; inventory searches; plain view; and administrative searches of
closely regulated businesses. 299 Kan. at 239.

Search incident to arrest

The State's primary argument is that the search of Reed's wallet was a proper
search incident to arrest. As the State notes, Reed conceded that the traffic stop was
lawful. Reed also did not challenge his arrest for driving while suspended. Because Reed
had the wallet in his hand when he exited the vehicle, the State argues that the officers
were authorized to search the wallet incident to Reed's arrest. Reed reasserts his argument
that the search of his wallet at the scene of the car stop was illegal under Gant.

Citing State v. Oram, 46 Kan. App. 2d 899, 266 P.3d 1227 (2011), the district
court held that "a search incident to arrest may only be conducted for the purposes of
protecting officers and safeguarding any evidence of the offense of arrest that an arrestee
might conceal or destroy." The district court noted that Reed was handcuffed and at the
rear of his vehicle during the search, there was nothing protruding from the wallet that
would support a safety concern, and the officers already had possession of Reed's driver's
license, which was the only evidence relevant to driving while suspended, which was the
crime of arrest. Thus, the district court found that the search was not an authorized search
incident to arrest.
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In one paragraph of its brief, the State argues that Oram and Gant are
distinguishable because those cases involved searches of a vehicle and Reed's case "does
not involve the search of a vehicle or the contents of a vehicle." Yet the State does not
explain why the vehicle distinction is important or how it renders Oram and Gant
inapplicable. A point raised incidentally in a brief and not argued therein is deemed
abandoned. State v. Waller, 299 Kan. 707, Syl. ¶ 5, 328 P.3d 1111 (2014). For this reason
alone, we could reject the State's argument that the search of Reed's wallet was a proper
search incident to arrest.

Moreover, the State's assertion that the search of Reed's wallet was a proper search
incident to arrest fails on the merits. The United States Supreme Court has explained that
the search incident to arrest exception

"derives from interests in officer safety and evidence preservation that are typically
implicated in arrest situations. [Citations omitted.]
"In Chimel, we held that a search incident to arrest may only include 'the
arrestee's person and the area "within his immediate control"—construing that phrase to
mean the area from within which he might gain possession of a weapon or destructible
evidence.' [Citation omitted.] That limitation, which continues to define the boundaries of
the exception, ensures that the scope of a search incident to arrest is commensurate with
its purposes of protecting arresting officers and safeguarding any evidence of the offense
of arrest that an arrestee might conceal or destroy. [Citations omitted.] If there is no
possibility that an arrestee could reach into the area that law enforcement officers seek to
search, both justifications for the search-incident-to-arrest exception are absent and the
rule does not apply. [Citation omitted.]" Gant, 556 U.S. at 338-39.

If Reed's wallet had been in his pocket or even in his hand when he was arrested,
the search in this case clearly would have been constitutional as a search incident to
arrest. But here, Reed placed his wallet on the roof of his car prior to his arrest. Before
officers searched Reed's wallet, Lahaan arrested Reed, placed him in the back of the
patrol car, and continued to complete the investigation and interview other people at the
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scene, including Reed's passenger. By the time Carey searched Reed's wallet, there was
no possibility that Reed could access the wallet. Therefore, under Gant, the justifications
of the search incident to arrest exception were absent and the exception did not apply.
The State's undeveloped argument that Gant is inapplicable because it concerned an
automobile is unpersuasive in light of the language quoted above from Gant.

The State bore the burden in the district court and continues to bear the burden to
show that the search of Reed's wallet was constitutional. Reiss, 299 Kan. at 296. It has
failed to do so in the context of a search incident to arrest. Thus, we conclude the district
court did not err in rejecting the State's claim that the warrantless search of Reed's wallet
was authorized as a lawful search incident to arrest.

Inevitable discovery doctrine

The State argues that the district court should not have suppressed the evidence
because it would have been inevitably discovered as part of an inventory search when
Webb searched Reed's wallet at the detention center. Reed argues that the inevitable
discovery doctrine does not apply because the wallet was not lawfully seized. "'The test
under the inevitable discovery rule is that, if the prosecution establishes by a
preponderance of the evidence that the unlawfully obtained evidence ultimately or
inevitably would have been discovered by lawful means, the evidence is admissible.'
[Citation omitted.]" State v. Stowell, 286 Kan. 163, 166, 182 P.3d 1214 (2008).

The search of Reed's wallet that occurred at the scene of the traffic stop was not an
inventory search. The later search of Reed's wallet at the detention center when Reed was
booked was an inventory search, but inventory searches are not valid if the police did not
lawfully have custody of the item being searched. See State v. Copridge, 260 Kan. 19, 23,
918 P.2d 1247 (1996) (holding that inventory searches are not valid if the police did not
lawfully have custody of the item being searched). Thus, for the booking search of the
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wallet to be a valid inventory search, the police must have had lawful custody of the
wallet in the first place. But for the reasons we previously have discussed, the police did
not lawfully seize the wallet at the car stop as part of a search incident to arrest.

As the district court noted, the inevitable discovery doctrine applies only to
evidence that "would inevitably be discovered through lawful means already initiated
when the seizure was made." (Emphasis added.) State v. Wilburn, 50 Kan. App. 2d 663,
683, 332 P.3d 199 (2014), rev. denied 301 Kan. ___ (2015); see also State v. Walker, 283
Kan. 587, 603, 153 P.3d 1257 (2007). In a nutshell, because the State did not have lawful
possession of the wallet at the scene of the car stop, any later inventory search of the
wallet was not lawful. See Copridge, 260 Kan. at 23. Therefore, the discovery of the
drugs at the jail through an unlawful inventory search does not render the evidence
admissible under the inevitable discovery doctrine.

The State argues that it would have been unreasonable to expect officers to leave
the wallet on the roof of the car. The State further asserts that "[i]f an item is personal in
nature, plainly connected to the suspect, and left out in the open, law enforcement should
be able to lawfully collect the item. Once the items are lawfully with law enforcement,
they may be searched. [Citation omitted.]" If the court accepts the State's assertion, it is
essentially saying that officers may search any item an arrestee is "plainly connected to"
and which is "left out in the open" without further requirement from the Fourth
Amendment. This would run afoul to the Fourth Amendment's premise that warrantless
seizures are impermissible without an established exception to the warrant requirement.

Good-faith exception

Finally, the State argues that even if the search of Reed's wallet was illegal, the
evidence was nevertheless admissible under the good-faith exception to the exclusionary
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rule. The State correctly notes that although it argued a good-faith exception in the
district court, the district court did not rule on this theory.

The exclusionary rule is a judicially created remedy which exists to prevent the
use of unconstitutionally obtained evidence in a criminal proceeding against the subject
of the illegal search. The rule applies when it would act as a deterrent to prevent law
enforcement officers from violating citizens' constitutional rights. See Hudson v.
Michigan, 547 U.S. 586, 594, 126 S. Ct. 2159, 165 L. Ed 2d 56 (2006); State v. Pettay,
299 Kan. 763, 769, 326 P.3d 1039 (2014) (the exclusionary rule is a deterrent measure
and not a personal constitutional right). The Fourteenth Amendment makes the
exclusionary rule applicable to the states. See Davis v. United States, 564 U.S. ___, 131
S. Ct. 2419, 2430, 180 L. Ed. 2d 285 (2011).

The United States Supreme Court has recognized certain exceptions to the
exclusionary rule, including when the evidence was obtained by law enforcement acting
in reasonable reliance on (1) a search warrant a detached and neutral magistrate issued
but was later found invalid; (2) a statute that was later found unconstitutional; or (3)
binding appellate precedent that was later overruled. See Davis, 131 S. Ct. at 2423-24
(establishing exception involving appellate precedent); Illinois v. Krull, 480 U.S. 340,
349-50, 107 S. Ct. 1160, 94 L. Ed. 2d 364 (1987) (establishing exception involving
statutes); United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897, 900, 104 S. Ct. 3405, 82 L. Ed. 2d 677
(1984) (establishing exception involving warrants); State v. Daniel, 291 Kan. 490, 498-
500, 242 P.3d 1186 (2010), cert. denied 131 S. Ct. 2114 (2011) (applying Krull); State v.
Hoeck, 284 Kan. 441, 442, 163 P.3d 252 (2007) (adopting the Leon good faith
exception). All of these exceptions have the underlying principle that the invalidity of the
search or seizure rested on the error of a party other than law enforcement.

Although the State urges this court to hold the exclusionary rule inapplicable in
this instance, Reed's case involves no reliance by the law enforcement officers on another
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party's error. Instead, the error in searching Reed's wallet was committed by law
enforcement. The Fourth Amendment violation did not result from reasonable reliance on
a later invalidated search warrant, statute, or appellate precedent. Therefore, none of the
established exceptions to the exclusionary rule apply.

The State contends that the officers acted "with an objectively reasonable good-
faith belief that their conduct was lawful." But even if Carey's motivation for searching
Reed's wallet may have been benign, the fact remains that he violated Reed's
constitutional rights by searching his wallet without a warrant and without an applicable
exception to the warrant requirement. This case presents a situation where the
exclusionary rule should be applied in order to deter Carey and other law enforcement
officers from making the same type of mistake in the future. Thus, the district court
correctly applied the exclusionary rule to suppress the evidence found in Reed's wallet.
All the evidence stemming from the search of Reed's wallet was properly suppressed as
fruit of the initial illegal search. See Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 487-88, 83
S. Ct. 407, 9 L. Ed. 2d 441 (1963).

Affirmed.