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Vassar v. State10/29/2004
1 (10th Cir.1993) (quoting United States v. Ross, 456 U.S. 798, 824, 102 S.Ct. 2157, 72 L.Ed.2d 572 (1982)).
United States v. Vasquez-Castillo, 258 F.3d 1207, 1212-13 (10th Cir. 2001).
A lawful search of fixed premises generally extends to the entire area in which the object of the search may be found and is not limited by the possibility that separate acts of entry or opening may be required to complete the search.... When a legitimate search is under way, and when its purpose and its limits have been precisely defined, nice distinctions between closets, drawers, and containers, in the case of a home, or between glove compartments, upholstered seats, trunks, and wrapped packages, in the case of a vehicle, must give way to the interest in the prompt and efficient completion of the task at hand....
The scope of a warrantless search of an automobile thus is not defined by the nature of the container in which the contraband is secreted. Rather, it is defined by the object of the search and the places in which there is probable cause to believe that it may be found. Just as probable cause to believe that a stolen lawnmower may be found in a garage will not support a warrant to search an upstairs bedroom, probable cause to believe that undocumented aliens are being transported in a van will not justify a warrantless search of a suitcase. Probable cause to believe that a container placed in the trunk of a taxi contains contraband or evidence does not justify a search of the entire cab....... We hold that the scope of the warrantless search authorized by [the automobile] exception is no broader and no narrower than a magistrate could legitimately authorize by warrant. If probable cause justifies the search of a lawfully stopped vehicle, it justifies the search of every part of the vehicle and its contents that may conceal the object of the search.
United States v. Ross, 456 U.S. 798, 820-25, 102 S.Ct. 2157, 72 L.Ed.2d 572 (1982) (footnotes omitted). See also Wyoming v. Houghton, 526 U.S. 295, 119 S.Ct. 1297, 143 L.Ed.2d 408 (1999) and Hunter, 704 P.2d at 716-17.
We conclude that the circumstances of the instant case would lead a person of ordinary caution to believe that there was a fair probability that the appellant's automobile contained marijuana and/or paraphernalia associated with the use of marijuana. We have previously detailed the facts surrounding Trooper Guenther's seizure of the wooden stash box he observed among the contents of the vehicle's passenger compartment. In searching the stash box, Trooper Guenther discovered what he believed to be marijuana residue in the box, and also detected the odor of marijuana. The appellant does not question Trooper Guenther's reliability in arriving at either of these conclusions. Trooper Guenther also testified that he had previously (in other cases) seized stash boxes with marijuana paraphernalia such as a glass pipe or a bong.
In applying the above-cited legal principles, several other courts have found probable cause to search an automobile in its entirety based on the presence of marijuana, even in small quantities. See, for example, United States v. Sparks, 291 F.3d 683, 690-92 (10th Cir. 2002); United States v. Parker, 72 F.3d 1444, 1450 (10th Cir. 1995) (probable cause to search entire automobile where officers smelled marijuana in the automobile and found a rolled-up dollar bill with white powder residue and a marijuana cigarette on the defendant's person); United States v. Ashby, 864 F.2d 690, 692 (10th Cir. 1988), cert. denied, 494 U.S. 1070 (1990) (probable cause to search entire automobile where officer first smelled the odor of burnt marijuana and observed what he believed to be mari
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