State v. Coffee
State v. Coffee
Opinion of the Court
*676¶1 Mose Coffee appeals from judgments of conviction for operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated (OWI), second offense, and possession of THC with intent to deliver. He asserts the circuit court erred in denying his motion to suppress drug evidence found pursuant to a search of his vehicle following his arrest for OWI. Specifically, he argues the evidence should be suppressed "because there was no reason to believe that evidence of the OWI arrest would be found in the area of the vehicle searched by the officers." We conclude the court did not err and affirm.
Background
¶2 The following relevant evidence was presented at the hearing on Coffee's suppression motion.
¶3 During a traffic stop, Officer Timothy Skelton observed Coffee to have slurred speech and "very glazed over and bloodshot" eyes and detected the "strong odor" of intoxicants emanating from either Coffee or his vehicle. Following field sobriety tests, Coffee was arrested and secured in the back of Skelton's squad car.
¶4 Skelton informed two other officers who arrived on the scene as to the reason for Coffee's arrest-OWI-and asked them to search the vehicle. One of these officers located a tote-like bag on the floor behind the driver's seat. The officer testified that the set up of the vehicle was such that "anybody in the front could immediately access the back because there's nothing blocking the front of the car from the *677back of the car."
¶5 Coffee moved to suppress all of the drug evidence on the basis that he was originally arrested for OWI and it was not reasonable for officers to believe OWI-related evidence would be found near the bottom of the bag. The circuit court denied the motion, and Coffee pled to a charge of OWI, second offense, and possession of THC with intent to deliver. Coffee appeals.
Discussion
¶6 The review of a circuit court's order granting or denying a suppression motion presents a question of constitutional fact. State v. Dearborn ,
*678¶7 The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and article 1, section 11 of the Wisconsin Constitution protect against unreasonable searches. State v. Reed ,
¶8 In contending the circuit court erred in denying his suppression motion, Coffee argues
[a]lcohol, a legal substance, is generally consumed at home or at a bar or restaurant....
.... Without some indication that Mr. Coffee was consuming alcohol in the vehicle or that he was attempting to conceal something within the vehicle, an officer could not have a reasonable belief that alcohol-evidence of the crime of arrest-would be found [underneath other items] near the bottom of the black bag stored behind the driver's seat.
(Emphasis added.) Coffee points us to our unpublished decision in State v. Hinderman , in which we affirmed the suppression of marijuana and paraphernalia evidence found in a pouch approximately three inches by three inches by one-half to three-quarters inch during an OWI-related vehicle search.
*679State v. Hinderman , No. 2014AP1787,
¶9 We are not persuaded by Coffee's reliance on Hinderman . To begin, unlike the situation in Hinderman , in the case now before us the circuit court found that the bag at issue "certainly" was large enough to hold common alcohol containers,
¶10 The Gant Court stated that "the offense of arrest will supply a basis for searching the passenger compartment of an arrestee's vehicle and any containers therein." Gant ,
¶11 OWI, however, is different. While in his briefing Coffee attempts to define the "offense of arrest" in this case as being "alcohol-related OWI," (emphasis added), he identifies no basis in the Gant decision for so limiting the offense of arrest. While it is true alcohol was the only impairing substance the *681officer who arrested Coffee detected at the time of arrest, the offense for which he was arrested, i.e., the "offense of arrest," was "[o]perating under [the] influence of intoxicant or other drug," WIS. STAT. § 346.63 (2017-18).
¶13 Based upon the foregoing, we hold as a matter of law that when an officer lawfully arrests a driver for OWI, even if alcohol is the only substance detected in relation to the driver, a search of the *683interior of the vehicle, including any containers therein, is lawful because it is reasonable to believe evidence relevant to the offense of OWI might be found. Thus, the search of Coffee's vehicle in this case was lawful and the circuit court properly denied his suppression motion.
By the Court. -Judgments affirmed.
The circuit court found that the bag was within "arm's reach, right behind the driver's seat," and based on this location, Coffee, as the driver, "could clearly put his hand behind him and place an object in that bag."
In addition to the two mason jars found in the bag, the bag also contained cords, cables, multiple phones, a package of baggies, cardboard packaging, a box of light bulbs, some clothing, and a pouch.
Of note, our decision in State v. Hinderman seems to suggest we would have found the search in that case lawful and not suppressed the drug evidence if the pouch had been large enough to hold more common alcohol containers as opposed to just possibly being able to hold "a small, one-shot bottle of alcohol commonly served on passenger jets." See State v. Hinderman , No. 2014AP1787,
All references to the Wisconsin Statutes are to the 2017-18 version unless otherwise noted.
Wisconsin Stat. § 346.63(1) provides in relevant part:
No person may drive or operate a motor vehicle while:
(a) Under the influence of an intoxicant, a controlled substance, a controlled substance analog or any combination of an intoxicant, a controlled substance and a controlled substance analog, under the influence of any other drug to a degree which renders him or her incapable of safely driving, or under the combined influence of an intoxicant and any other drug to a degree which renders him or her incapable of safely driving[.]
In this case, one of the searching officers testified that when searching the vehicle of an impaired driver, he is generally looking for "any substance ... that could impair a driver's ability to operate the motor vehicle safely ... whether that could be prescription medication, nonprescription medication, alcohol, illegal drugs, or even up to possibly an inhalant." We need not detail the copious cases across this state and country in which a driver is arrested for OWI, a search of the vehicle is conducted, and alcoholic beverages and/or drugs are found. As one court has expressed, "It is certainly logical and reasonable to expect that items related to alcohol or drug consumption, such as alcoholic beverage bottles or drug paraphernalia, might readily be contained in the intoxicated driver's car." People v. Evans ,
Coffee concedes that if the search of the bag was lawful, the search of the trunk also was lawful.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- STATE of Wisconsin, Plaintiff-Respondent v. Mose B. COFFEE
- Cited By
- 7 cases
- Status
- Published