Summary 2006 WY 88

[SPECIAL NOTE: These opinions use the "Universal Citation." They were given "official" citations when they were issued. You should use these citations whenever you cite these opinions, with a P.3d parallel citation. You will also note when you look at the opinions that all of the paragraphs are numbered. When you pinpoint cite to a quote, you should cite to this paragraph number rather than to any page number. If you need assistance in putting together a citation from this, or any future opinion using the Universal Citation form, please contact the Wyoming State Law Library and we will provide any needed assistance]

Summaries are prepared by Law Librarians and are not official statements of the Wyoming Supreme Court

Case Name: Clark v. State

Citation: 2006 WY 88

Docket Number: 05-103

Appeal from the District Court of Hot Springs County, Honorable Gary P. Hartman, Judge

Representing Appellant (Defendant): Ken Koski, State Public Defender, PDP; Donna D. Domonkos, Appellate Counsel.

Representing Appellee (Plaintiff): Patrick J. Crank, Attorney General; Paul Rehurek, Deputy Attorney General; D. Michael Pauling, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Daniel M. Fetsco, Senior Assistant Attorney General.

Date of Decision: July 21, 2006

Issues: Whether the district court erred when it denied appellant's motion to suppress evidence seized from the motor vehicle he was driving at the time of his arrest.

Holdings: Under Wyoming Constitution Article 1 § 4, a search incident to arrest must be reasonable under all the circumstances. Appellant argues the search of the vehicle in this case was not reasonable because once he had been arrested and placed in the patrol car it was not reasonable to search the vehicle. Wyoming jurisprudence provides that searches similar to the one at issue are reasonable under the state constitution because of officer safety concerns. Appellant contends that unlike prior cases, the instant case involved no officer safety issue; therefore, the search incident to arrest was not reasonable. However, the record shows, that after a valid stop for an equipment failure, it was discovered Appellant was driving with a suspended license, had a prior outstanding ticket in Wyoming for the same offense and had a warrant out for his arrest in Colorado for failing to appear on a domestic violence charge. Additionally, Appellant's passenger was recognized by the officer who had made the stop as having a prior arrest related to methamphetamine. Further, the officer observed suspicious behavior on the part of both individuals, including Appellant's passenger disappearing from view momentarily inside the vehicle. He detected the odor of alcohol coming from the vehicle and saw a taped Nintendo box behind the driver's seat and did not know what might be inside. When the search commenced, Appellant had been lawfully arrested. By the time the Nintendo box was opened, the officer knew that Appellant's passenger was intoxicated. He also knew that the Nintendo box had been partially covered by someone inside the vehicle after it was first observed. Although the passenger was out of the vehicle, he was not under arrest and was standing next to the vehicle. The presence of a box the size of an Nintendo, the contents of which were unknown and which had been partially covered up by someone inside the vehicle after the initial stop, presented officer safety concerns justifying the warrant-less search incident to arrest. Appellant's arrest justified a search of the passenger compartment of the vehicle and all containers in it, open or closed, locked or unlocked, for weapons or contraband which presented an officer safety concern. Thus, the search was incident to a lawful arrest and reasonable under all the circumstances because of officer safety concerns. It did not, therefore, violate Article 1, § 4 of the Wyoming Constitution.

Affirmed.

J. Kite delivered the opinion for the court.