Summary 2008 WY 54

Summary of Decision issued May 14, 2008

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

Case Name: Holman v. State

Citation: 2008 WY 54

Docket Number: 06-140

Appeal from the District Court of Natrona County, the Honorable W. Thomas Sullins, Judge.

Representing Appellant (Defendant): Thomas R.; Smith of Chapman Valdez at Beech Street Law Office, Casper, Wyoming.

Representing Appellee (Plaintiff): Patrick J. Crank, Attorney General; Paul S. Rehurek, Deputy Attorney General; D. Michael Pauling, Senior Assistant Attorney General: Eric A. Johnson, Faculty Director, Prosecution Assistance Program; and Geoffrey Gunnerson, Student Director, Prosecution Assistance Program.

Facts/Discussion: Holman pled guilty to one count of third possession of a controlled substance reserving his right to appeal the district court’s denial of his motion to suppress evidence seized during the search of his car at the time of his arrest.
The Court has stated that warrantless searches and seizures are per se unreasonable unless justified by probable cause and established exceptions. The Court reviewed the record to determine if an exception applied. The Officer’s reason for conducting the search was clear: search incident to arrest. The officer presented no evidence that the search of the vehicle was conducted to ensure officer safety or preserve evidence. He offered no testimony regarding specific facts or circumstances indicating that those concerns were present in the instant case. The Court’s review of the record revealed no objectively identifiable facts in support of those concerns. The Court stated the State failed to meet its burden. The Court has recognized that the mobility and the diminished expectation of privacy in the use and regulation of vehicles, permits warrantless searches in circumstances where searches would not be reasonable in other contexts. Their review of the record revealed no circumstances which would cause a reasonably prudent person to believe that the vehicle contained evidence of the crime for which Holman was arrested, or any other crime. The limited nature of the search did not justify the otherwise impermissible search. Although a driver of a vehicle has a diminished privacy interest in the contents of his vehicle, it does not mean he has no expectation of privacy. The Court agreed it would be irresponsible to park the vehicle in a public place if the officer had cause to believe it contained contraband or other dangerous items. In the instant case, the officers searched without any reason to believe it contained evidence of any crime.

Holding: Upon their review of the totality of the circumstances surrounding the search of Holman’s vehicle, the Court concluded that the search was not reasonable under any of the recognized exceptions to the warrant requirement and therefore violated Article I, Section 4 of the Wyoming Constitution.

Reversed.

C.J. Voigt delivered the decision.

J. Hill concurred: J. Hill wrote to distinguish the present case from Pierce and Sam. He stated that the goal of the Court’s review is to determine whether or not the search and seizure was “reasonable” under the facts and circumstances presented by any given case. His analysis led to the conclusion that the stop, search and seizure was one prompted more by suspicion than by concrete fact. As a matter of law, he concluded that they were not reasonable and therefore they were unconstitutional.

J. Burke dissented: J. Burke stated that his analysis revealed that similar to Pierce, the decision in the instant case was inconsistent with Wyoming precedent establishing that the arrest itself is sufficient justification to search the arrested person and the area within his immediate control.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/5r8fyg .

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