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State v. Clancy4/19/2002
{ } Defendant, Bobby Lee Clancy, appeals from his conviction on one count of carrying a concealed weapon in violation of R.C. 2923.12(A), which was entered on his plea of no contest after the trial court overruled Clancy's motion to suppress evidence.
{ } The trial court denied Clancy's motion on a finding that the evidence Clancy sought to suppress, a gun that was seized from the glove box of his automobile during a warrantless search following Clancy's arrest, was nevertheless admissible because the search satisfied the inventory search exception to the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement. We find that while the State failed to demonstrate that the automobile was lawfully impounded, which is a necessary predicate to the inventory search exception, the search was nonetheless lawful as incident to the arrest. Therefore, the decision of the trial court overruling Clancy's motion to suppress will be affirmed.
{ } In the early morning hours of September 20, 2000, Officer Jeffrey Huber of the City of Dayton Police Department was dispatched on an aggravated robbery complaint. Huber met the victim of the alleged robbery, who told the officer that he had been robbed at gunpoint by two men, who then fled on foot. The victim explained that he and his uncle saw the two men at a gas station after the robbery. They confronted the men about the robbery, and the men denied involvement and drove off in a dark blue Pontiac. As Huber and the victim drove to the scene of the incident, the victim spotted the alleged perpetrators' Pontiac in a parking lot. Officer Huber broadcast a description of the car and its location on his police radio, and proceeded to drop the victim off at his home. Upon Huber's return, the Pontiac was gone, but another Officer saw a car matching the Pontiac's description sitting empty a few blocks away, in the parking lot of Broaster Hut Restaurant. Huber proceeded to the scene and parked in an alley to watch the Pontiac.
{ } Huber saw a man matching the description of one of the suspects looking out of the door of the restaurant in all directions. Other police cruisers arrived and were positioned to permit the officers inside to watch the Pontiac. Eventually, the suspect emerged from the restaurant and entered the driver's side door of the Pontiac. The police crews promptly pulled up to the vehicle and blocked it in.
{ } Huber approached the vehicle and ordered the suspect, Defendant Clancy, out of the vehicle. Clancy was placed under arrest and escorted to the back of another officer's cruiser. Huber decided to have the vehicle towed from the parking lot, and began an inventory search of the vehicle. Huber found a firearm loaded with ammunition in the glove box of the Pontiac. The gun matched the description that the victim had provided of the gun used in the robbery.
{ } On September 21, 2000, Clancy was charged by complaint with carrying a concealed weapon. On January 30, 2001, a hearing was held on Clancy's motion to suppress the evidence recovered during the search of the Pontiac. On March 16, 2001, the trial court denied the motion to suppress. Clancy subsequently entered a plea of no contest to the charge, and was convicted and sentenced. He filed a timely notice of appeal.
{ } Clancy presents one assignment of error.
ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR
{ } "THE TRIAL COURT ERRED BY OVERRULING MR. CLANCY'S MOTION TO SUPPRESS EVIDENCE DISCOVERED DUE TO THE ILLEGAL SEARCH OF THE CAR FROM WHICH HE WAS ARRESTED."
{ } When considering a motion to suppress, the trial court assumes the role of the trier of fact and is, therefore, in a better position than an appellate court to resolve factual
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