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FOR PUBLICATION

FILED
Jul 15 2011, 9:00 am
of the supreme court, court of appeals and tax court

CLERK

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT: STEPHEN GERALD GRAY Indianapolis, Indiana

ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE: GREGORY F. ZOELLER Attorney General of Indiana J.T. WHITEHEAD Deputy Attorney General Indianapolis, Indiana

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA
CHARLES MEEK, Appellant-Defendant, vs. STATE OF INDIANA, Appellee-Plaintiff. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

No. 49A02-1009-CR-964

APPEAL FROM THE MARION SUPERIOR COURT The Honorable John S. Alt, Commissioner Cause No. 49G14-0911-FD-97548

July 15, 2011

OPINION - FOR PUBLICATION KIRSCH, Judge

Charles Meek ("Meek") brings this interlocutory appeal from the trial court's order denying his motion to suppress evidence discovered during a warrantless search of his person during a Terry1 stop of his vehicle. Meek raises the following restated issue for our review: Does the odor of raw marijuana emanating from a vehicle in which the defendant is an occupant provide sufficient probable cause for law enforcement officers to search the car and its occupants? We affirm. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY On November 25, 2009, Officer Matthew Thomas ("Officer Thomas") of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department ("IMPD") observed Eric Moore ("Moore") walking southbound on Evanston Avenue away from a vehicle, talking on his cell phone, and pausing in front of each house he passed. Officer Thomas observed that the car from which Moore was moving, was disabled, had its hazard lights on, and appeared to have been involved in a collision. Officer Thomas then saw Meek driving a car with tinted windows stop his vehicle in the middle of Evanston Avenue. Moore entered the vehicle, and Meek drove away. Officer Thomas followed the car in his patrol car because he believed that Meek was driving away from a potential accident scene. Although Officer Thomas was only twenty feet away from the vehicle, he could not see the occupants because of the dark tint on the windows. Officer Thomas initiated a traffic stop because he could not see inside the car due to the dark window tint. Officer Thomas asked Meek to roll down his window, and Meek
1

Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968).

2

complied. Officer Thomas saw three occupants in the car, including a child between the age of three and eight. He also identified the odor of raw marijuana emanating from the passenger cabin of the car. Officer Thomas called for back-up, and Officer Derrick Jackson ("Officer Jackson") responded. He also smelled marijuana coming from the vehicle. Officer Thomas asked the occupants of the vehicle if there were any weapons or contraband in the vehicle. Both Meek and Moore responded that there were neither. The officers had Moore and Meek exit the vehicle, and Officer Thomas read each of them their Miranda rights. Meek told Officer Thomas that he had a weapon. For officer safety, the officers then conducted a pat-down search of Meek and Moore. The officers found nineteen hundred dollars in cash in the pocket of Moore's sweatpants. They also found Meek's gun, and a valid permit for the gun. The officers then searched the car for weapons and in an attempt to find the source of the marijuana odor emanating from the car. They found neither. The officers asked the men about the smell of marijuana coming from inside the car. Meek told the officers that he had smoked marijuana earlier. After hearing that, Officer Thomas told Meek that what he smelled was raw, not burnt, marijuana. Officer Jackson then conducted a more thorough pat-down search during which a baggie fell from Meek's pants leg. The baggie contained what the officers suspected was marijuana and some white pills suspected to be Vicodin and Hydrocodone. In the course of the search, some additional loose pills fell to the ground from Meek's pants. The State charged Meek with one count of Class D felony possession of a controlled substance.2 Meek moved to suppress the evidence obtained by the officers during the search
2

See Ind. Code

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