PORTLAND, Maine — Police must inform a driver of the reason for a search before they can open closed containers, backpacks or other items inside a vehicle, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court unanimously ruled Thursday.
The court upheld Superior Court Justice E. Allen Hunter’s decision to suppress the evidence of drugs found more than two years ago in a shaving kit during a vehicle safety check.
Bradley Sargent, 32, of Presque Isle, was charged with Class C unlawful possession of scheduled drugs after 4½ methamphetamine pills were discovered in his shaving kit inside his vehicle at a safety checkpoint in Presque Isle.
Because of the court’s ruling, a motion to dismiss the charges will be filed after the first of the year, Todd Collins, assistant district attorney for Aroostook County, said Friday.
“Under the facts of this case as found by the court, the circumstances did not reasonably suggest consent by Sargent to search closed containers within his vehicle,” Justice Warren Silver wrote for the court in an eight-page opinion. “Sargent was not informed of the object of the search before he consented.
“Under these circumstances,” Silver concluded, “a reasonable person would have understood that the police intended, and Sargent agreed to, a search for further safety or possible traffic violations. Therefore, under the objective circumstances in this case, the court did not err in concluding that Sargent did not consent to a search of the shaving kit.”
Sargent was stopped on Sept. 10, 2007, in the southbound lane of U.S. Route 1 during a routine safety check being conducted by the Aroostook County Sheriff’s Office and the Presque Isle Police Department, according to court documents. Because he was not wearing a seat belt, Sargent was referred to a secondary checkpoint.
Once there, Sargent gave consent for a police officer to “look through the vehicle,” according to court documents. The officer did not tell Sargent what he was looking for or why he needed to search the car for not wearing a seat belt.
Sargent was not issued a summons for violating the seat belt law, according to court documents.
Francis Bemis, Sargent’s Presque Isle attorney, on Friday praised the court’s decision.
“The court was clear that in a safety inspection stop police cannot search closed items inside a vehicle without stating what they are looking for and why and without the owner’s permission,” Bemis said.
The attorney speculated that police now would be trained to be more specific in requesting permission to search the inside of vehicles. Bemis also said that the decision applied to the specifics of Sargent’s case — the search of containers inside his car after a vehicle safety check. He does not expect the decision to be applied more broadly.