NORTH CAPE MAY — Drugs found in folded pieces of torn paper in a wallet located in the impounded vehicle of a drunk driving suspect were deemed the fruit of an illegal search and correctly suppressed by a trial court judge, a recent appellate decision stated.
On July 23, 2008, Timothy Moore, a security officer with the Delaware River Bay Authority (DRBA), was directing traffic in the staging area at the ferry depot in North Cape May, where passengers park their vehicles before driving aboard the ferries that run to Lewes, Del.
According to court documents, Moore testified that a toll collector informed him that a black Lexus sport utility vehicle with a Delaware registration was parked in a lane designated for the 2:30 p.m. ferry. The toll collector said the vehicle was in the wrong lane because it was booked on the ferry departing at 3:30 p.m.
The Lexus was driven by Delaware resident Darius S. Mansoory.
Moore asked Mansoory to move his vehicle to the correct lane multiple times. When Mansoory failed to comply, Moore contacted DRBA patrol officer Brian Austin, who determined that the vehicle had created a dangerous situation and could have caused an accident.
Austin detected a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating from the vehicle and Mansoory’s body. Austin administered field sobriety tests and based on the results of those tests and his training and experience, he believed Mansoory was intoxicated.
When police determined that the passenger in Mansoory’s vehicle, Denise Norman, would be unable to drive the vehicle because of a suspended license, they informed Mansoory that the Lexus would be impounded.
DRBA Officer James Spahr impounded the vehicle and followed DRBA’s policy of conducting an inventory of its contents to protect the police against claims over lost or stolen property.
The Lexus contained: a case of cans of Red Bull, a three-piece tool set, extension cords, clothing and one black leather wallet, which was found in a pocket of the driver’s side door.
Additionally, Spahr inventoried the contents of the wallet finding: six business cards, two US Airway cards, a health insurance card, a Borgata card, a Cosco card, and various credit cards with Mansoory’s name. He also found three folded white pieces of paper in the wallet.
Spahr unfolded the papers and inside of each he found white powder, which he believed to be cocaine, which lab testing later confirmed.
On cross-examination, Spahr said he had to unfold the papers. He found the folded papers suspicious because from his experience he knew that cocaine is packaged like that. He unfolded the papers for that reason.
Superior Court Judge Susan Maven rendered a decision from the bench, finding: that the officers had validly impounded the vehicle; that the officer was lawfully permitted to inventory the items in the car; that it was appropriate for an officer to look into the wallet to determine if there were any valuables inside; however, that it was not reasonable for the officer to open the folded papers.
“The (trial) court stated that, if the officer was suspicious that the folded papers contained illegal drugs or drug paraphernalia, he should have obtained a search warrant to search the contents of the papers,” the decision stated.
“The court said that, when the officer unfolded the papers, he went beyond the permissible scope of an inventory search because he was no longer looking for items of value for purposes of safekeeping.”
In June 2009, the trial court granted defendant’s motion to suppress the cocaine found within the folded pieces of papers. The county Prosecutor’s Office argued on appeal that the trial court erred by granting defendant’s motion to suppress.
A two-judge appellate panel disagreed.
In their arguments, prosecutors cited several court cases that upheld similar searches, based on preventing terroristic attacks. Prosecutors argued that the search was permissible because signs posted at the ferry terminal entrance advised potential passengers that by entering the facility they agree to provide photo identification, video surveillance and searches of their persons and baggage and vehicles.
But the appellate judges said the state’s reliance on those cases was “misplaced.”
“The search of the papers found in the wallet was not undertaken in furtherance of a policy to search passengers and vehicles for weapons and explosives,” the appellate decision stated. “The search was undertaken in accordance with the DRBA’s policy to conduct inventory searches of impounded vehicles to protect the owner’s property and the DRBA from claims regarding lost or stolen property.”
Mansoory’s attorney Jeffrey April told the Herald that he agreed with the court’s decision that “the search was inappropriate, not a proper inventory search.” April said that his client had a “reasonable expectation of privacy” and the improper search violated that right.
April said he expected that the drug possession charge against Mansoory would be dropped and the case would be remanded to municipal court for the traffic violations.
It’s hard to prosecute a drug possession charge without the drug evidence, April said.
Contact Hart at (609) 886-8600 Ext 35 or at: jhart@cmcherald.com
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