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State v. Adams5/2/2005
At approximately 5:00 a.m. on October 16, 2003, Deputy Steve Todd of the Weakley County Sherriff's Department responded to a 911 call involving an automobile accident. When he arrived at the scene, Deputy Todd saw the defendant's vehicle overturned in a ditch and noticed the defendant inside. Deputy Todd then opened the rear door of the vehicle, allowing the defendant to climb out.
Once the defendant was outside the vehicle, Deputy Todd noticed that she appeared intoxicated. Deputy Todd then proceeded to conduct a field sobriety test, which revealed that the defendant's pupils were constricted. He also questioned her as to what happened and asked, " s there anything you want to tell me, Rosemary?"
Before Deputy Todd conducted any further sobriety tests, he accompanied the defendant to an ambulance, which had arrived at the scene. After the defendant signed a medical release and told paramedics that she was fine, Deputy Todd resumed field sobriety testing. He asked the defendant to do the "one-leg stand" and the "walk-and-turn." At the completion of these tests, Deputy Todd stated, " ou didn't do very well, Rosemary. . . . Is there anything else you want to tell me?" The defendant then pulled a contact lens case from her pants pocket and gave it to Deputy Todd, stating, " ell that's what I had."
Before opening the case, Deputy Todd placed the defendant under arrest for D.U.I. He then shined a flashlight into her vehicle, revealing a discolored vial "believed to be used in the . . . smoking of . . . methamphetamine." Deputy Todd found methamphetamine in the contact lens case and twenty-five bags of methamphetamine and $300 in cash in the defendant's purse.
After being indicted for possession with intent to deliver methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia, and driving under the influence , the defendant filed a motion to suppress the evidence. At the hearing on the motion, Deputy Todd testified that, upon his arrival at the accident scene, the defendant "appeared . . . under the influence of an intoxicant or drug." He stated that she voluntarily gave him the contact lens case and that the search of her purse, contact lense case, and vehicle occurred after he placed her under arrest for D.U.I. The defendant admitted that she gave Deputy Todd the contact lens case but denied giving her consent to search. The trial court denied the defendant's motion, stating:
The testimony is undisputed that [the defendant] gave Officer Todd the container which contained methamphetamine and consented to him looking into that. I think really it's undisputed that the search was incident to a lawful arrest. When the person was searched - - when the rest of the meth was found, she was under arrest. That was Officer Todd's testimony, and also [the defendant's] testimony. And for those reasons, the Court finds that there was consent to search the container, and that the remainder of the search was a search incident to a lawful arrest. The motion is denied.
The defendant subsequently entered a best interest guilty plea to possession of methamphetamine and to possession of drug paraphernalia, reserving a certified question challenging the trial court's denial of the motion to suppress. The D.U.I charge was dismissed. At the sentencing hearing, the trial court found that no mitigating factors applied and stated, " here's one enhancing factor, that is number two, previous history of criminal conduct, making reference to this prior misdemeanor possession charge." The trial court then sentenced the defendant to four years in the Community Corrections program after four months of service in the county jail and fined the defendant $2,000 for the possession w
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