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ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT Stephen Gerald Gray Indianapolis, Indiana

ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE Steve Carter Attorney General of Indiana Christopher L. Lafuse Deputy Attorney General Indianapolis, Indiana

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In the

Indiana Supreme Court
_________________________________ No. 29S04-0602-CR-58 SARAH SELLMER, Appellant (Defendant below), v. STATE OF INDIANA, Appellee (Plaintiff below). _________________________________ Appeal from the Hamilton Superior Court, No. 29D04-0111-CF-07259 The Honorable J. Richard Campbell, Judge _________________________________ On Petition to Transfer from the Indiana Court of Appeals, No. 29A04-0303-CR-147 _________________________________ February 16, 2006 Sullivan, Justice. Defendant Sarah Sellmer appeals her conviction for Possession of Marijuana Over Thirty Grams. Sellmer's arrest and conviction followed a chain of events triggered by an anonymous tip to the police that there was marijuana in her automobile and her subsequent consent to the search of the car. The anonymous tip did not provide the police with the reasonably articulated suspicion of criminal activity required by the Fourth Amendment to detain her. While the police were entitled to approach her and ask her if she was

willing to answer questions, the police procedures used here were such that her consent to search the car was not valid.

Background At approximately 5:00 p.m. on November 19, 2001, Noblesville police received a call from an anonymous informant, describing the make and color of an automobile the caller alleged contained a large amount of drugs: a silver Dodge parked backwards into a parking spot in front of a Supercuts Hair Salon located at 2610 Conner Street in Noblesville.

Acting on this tip, the Noblesville police dispatched officers Wade Roberts and Mike Freibel to the Supercuts to investigate further. At the scene, Officer Roberts saw a vehicle that matched the vehicle described in the anonymous tip. As he drove his police cruiser by the vehicle, he observed two women exit the car and enter the Supercuts.

Officers Roberts and Freibel entered the Supercuts where Officer Roberts spotted Defendant Sarah Sellmer, the driver of the silver Dodge, in the customer waiting area. He asked her whether she owned the silver Dodge and when she answered affirmatively, he asked her to step outside. Once outside, Officer Roberts and Sellmer engaged in a conversation that will be described in greater detail later in this opinion. At the end of this conversation, Sellmer gave Officer Roberts permission to search the vehicle. On the basis of this permission (but without a warrant), Officer Roberts conducted a search and discovered a large quantity of marijuana. Sellmer was arrested and charged with Possession of Marijuana Over Thirty Grams.

Before going to trial on this charge, Sellmer filed a motion to suppress the evidence gathered during the search of her car on May 29, 2002. She argued that the Noblesville police detained her and searched her vehicle in violation of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 11, of the Indiana Constitution. The trial court denied this motion on August 15, 2002, after a hearing and

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subsequently tried Sellmer, who was found guilty on January 23, 2003.

The Court of Appeals upheld the trial court's denial of Sellmer's motion to suppress in Sellmer v. State, 800 N.E.2d 671 (Ind. Ct. App. 2003). We grant transfer and vacate the decision of the Court of Appeals.

Discussion Sellmer appeals the trial court's denial of her motion to suppress the marijuana found in her automobile when Officer Roberts performed a warrantless search of her vehicle. She contends that the search of her automobile, seizure of the drugs, and use of the drugs as evidence against her in court violated her right under the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Article I, Section 11 of the Indiana Constitution "to be secure . . . against unreasonable searches and seizures. . . ." U.S. Const. amend. IV; Ind. Const. art. 1

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Indiana Law