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State v. Elison11/16/2000
lty in securing a search warrant at the time of Elison's arrest. The State asserts that the court did not abuse its discretion by taking judicial notice of the fact that judges and magistrates are not reasonably available at 12:05 a.m. in Billings, Montana, because the fact was within the actual and immediate knowledge of the court. In the alternative, the State urges that we conclude that a warrantless search of a vehicle is permitted where the vehicle is readily mobile and an officer has probable cause to believe that the vehicle contains contraband or other evidence of a crime.
39 The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article II, Section 11 of the Montana Constitution prohibit unreasonable searches and seizures, including unreasonable searches of automobiles by law enforcement personnel. See State v. Allen (1992), 256 Mont. 47, 884 P.2d 105. Warrantless searches and seizures are per se unreasonable subject to only a few carefully drawn exceptions. State v. Loh (1996), 275 Mont. 460, 468, 914 P.2d 592, 597. One exception to the warrant requirement is the so-called "automobile exception." Allen, 256 Mont. at 51, 884 P.2d at 108. See also California v. Carney (1985), 471 U.S. 386, 390, 105 S. Ct. 2066, 2068, 85 L. Ed. 2d 406.
40 In Carney, the United States Supreme Court stated that the "automobile exception" is based on two grounds. One basis for the exception is exigency. According to the Court, the warrant requirement is excused based on the capacity of a vehicle to be quickly moved which "creates circumstances of such exigency that, as a practical necessity, rigorous enforcement of the warrant requirement is impossible." Carney, 471 U.S. at 391, 105 S. Ct. at 2069. The other basis of the exception is a reduced expectation of privacy. According to the Court, individuals have a reduced expectation of privacy on account of the pervasive regulation of vehicles capable of traveling on public highways and are, therefore, on notice that they may be stopped and searched without the protection afforded by a warrant. Carney, 471 U.S. at 392, 105 S. Ct. at 2069-70. "In short, the pervasive schemes of regulation, which necessarily lead to reduced expectations of privacy, and the exigencies attendant to ready mobility, justify searches without prior recourse to authority of a magistrate so long as the overriding standard of probable cause is met." Carney, 471 U.S. at 392, 105 S. Ct. at 2070.
41 As clarified by subsequent Supreme Court decisions, a warrantless search of an automobile does not violate the Fourth Amendment if the automobile is "readily mobile and probable cause exists to believe it contains contraband;" a further showing of exigent circumstances is unnecessary. Pennsylvania v. Labron (1996), 518 U.S. 938, 940, 116 S. Ct. 2485, 2487, 135 L. Ed. 2d 1031 (per curiam); Maryland v. Dyson (1999), 527 U.S. 465, 119 S. Ct. 2013, 144 L. Ed. 2d 422 (per curiam) (summarily reversing Maryland Court of Special Appeals which had concluded that a warrantless automobile search violated the Fourth Amendment because there was no exigency that prevented or even made it significantly difficult for the police to obtain a search warrant).
42 Officer Conrad certainly had probable cause to believe Elison's vehicle contained evidence of a crime after Elison informed Officer Conrad that he had tucked marijuana behind his seat. Elison's vehicle was also readily mobile-he had just been driving it. Under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the warrantless search of Elison's vehicle was not unreasonable.
43 We have also recognized an "automobile exception" to the warrant requirement under Article II, Section 11 of the Montana Constitution.
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