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A typical level of confusion amongst regulation enforcement and the general public is about the usage of unlabeled capsule bottles. Is it authorized to own prescription drugs in a container aside from the unique bottle with the prescription affixed? Does discovering an unlabeled capsule bottle justify seizing and looking out it to see if it accommodates contraband? Can a capsule bottle be faraway from a pocket throughout a frisk based mostly on plain really feel? Does it present cheap suspicion or possible trigger to go looking or arrest a suspect? A case determined by the Courtroom of Appeals earlier this month, State v. Jackson, No. COA23-727; ___ N.C. App. ____; ___ S.E.2nd ___ (Mar. 19, 2024), sheds some mild on these questions. Learn on for the small print.
Details of Jackson. An officer on patrol in Avery County seen the defendant driving down the highway. The officer was accustomed to the driving force and was conscious that he lacked an energetic driver’s license. The officer had arrested the defendant earlier than for possession of firearm by felon and had some (apparently obscure) notion that the defendant had beforehand been concerned in drug possession. Jackson Slip op. at 2, n. 1. The officer instantly requested the defendant if he may search the defendant’s truck and the defendant consented. The officer requested the defendant to step outdoors of the car, and once more the defendant complied. The defendant didn’t exhibit any nervousness or evasive conduct throughout the interplay however did volunteer that he was in possession of a pocketknife. The officer carried out a frisk of the defendant and instantly felt what appeared to the officer to be a small capsule bottle (the idea for the frisk shouldn’t be clear from the opinion). In line with the officer, he may inform that the capsule bottle within the defendant’s pocket was dissimilar to a traditional prescription bottle (the opinion doesn’t point out what was totally different about this bottle versus a “regular” capsule bottle). The officer then requested the defendant what it was and concurrently eliminated the bottle from the defendant’s pocket. When requested what was inside, the defendant said that it was his drugs. When requested what sort of drugs, the defendant replied that it was Percocet and that he had a sound prescription. The officer then opened the bottle, discovering two tablets inside. From there, the officer informed the defendant he was being detained based mostly on the tablets. He cuffed the defendant and searched the remainder of his pockets. Through the interplay, the officer repeatedly informed the defendant that he was not allowed to hold his prescription drugs outdoors of its unique container. “It’s towards the regulation to hold Percocets round like that with no prescription bottle,” stated the officer to the defendant. Id. at 4. Based mostly on the unlabeled capsule bottle and admission to possession of Percocet, the officer started a full search. This culminated within the discovery of a possession-level quantity of methamphetamine within the defendant’s boots. The defendant was cited for driving on a revoked license and arrested for possession of meth.
The defendant moved to suppress. The trial courtroom denied the movement, and the defendant was finally convicted of the felony by a jury. He appealed, arguing that the trial courtroom erred in denying his movement to suppress. The defendant argued a number of grounds for suppression, together with that the search couldn’t be justified by search incident to his arrest for driving whereas license revoked (“DWLR”) as a result of he was by no means arrested for that offense, that the officer didn’t have possible trigger to open the capsule container, and that he was unlawfully seized based mostly on the officer’s discovery of the capsule bottles.
The Holding. The defendant finally misplaced earlier than a unanimous panel of the Courtroom of Appeals based mostly on inevitable discovery. When the State exhibits by a preponderance of proof that the contested merchandise would have been legally found by regulation enforcement independently of any unlawful search or seizure, the proof should be used regardless of having been initially found through an unlawful search of seizure underneath the inevitable discovery doctrine. State v. Larkin, 237 N.C. App. 335 (2014). Right here, the officer testified on the suppression listening to that he would have arrested the defendant for the DWLR cost whether or not he discovered extra contraband or not, and that the defendant would have been searched incident to that arrest. There was fairly a bit of debate on that time throughout argument within the case, with the defendant arguing that the officer didn’t credibly testify on that time, noting the shortage of any discovering in regards to the defendant’s probability of getting been arrested for less than the DWLR within the trial courtroom’s order, and pointing to the extra widespread observe of officers merely citing folks for the category 3 misdemeanor. In rebuttal, the State argued that an officer is entitled to arrest somebody for that crime, and that the trial courtroom’s order didn’t have to expressly handle the problem both method. Finally, the Jackson courtroom sided with the State and accepted that the medicine discovered on the defendant would have been inevitably found through a search incident to arrest for the visitors offense of DWLR.
Plain Really feel Seizure of the Capsule Bottle. The arguments rejected by the courtroom in Jackson have been maybe extra attention-grabbing than the last word choice. The courtroom disagreed with the State that the seizure of the capsule bottle was justified by plain really feel. Beneath the plain really feel doctrine, an officer conducting a frisk for weapons throughout an investigative frisk could seize contraband felt throughout the encounter when the incriminating nature of the merchandise is straight away obvious. Minnesota v. Dickerson, 508 U.S. 366, 375 (1993). A hunch {that a} suspect’s pockets include contraband shouldn’t be sufficient; the officer should have possible trigger to imagine the suspicious merchandise is contraband. State v. Shearin, 170 N.C. App. 222, 226 (2005). The State argued that the officer in Jackson had possible trigger to imagine the capsule bottle contained medicine, pointing to State v. Robinson, 189 N.C. App. 454 (2000). There, the officer felt a movie canister on the suspect, eliminated it, and searched it, discovering medicine. In upholding the plain really feel seizure, the Robinson courtroom noticed that the defendant was in a identified drug space, acted nervously, and exhibited evasive conduct with the officer. The officer had additionally arrested three different folks with the precise sort of movie container (all of whom have been discovered to be in possession of crack cocaine) and had data that the defendant had not too long ago offered medicine within the space. Additional, the officer testified that it was instantly obvious upon touching the canister that it contained crack. These info distinguished that scenario from the circumstances of Jackson, the place the defendant was not in a drug space, there was no data that the defendant had offered medicine close by, the defendant was cooperative with the officer, and was not nervous or evasive. Considerably, the courtroom famous {that a} capsule bottle – even an unlabeled one, with out the prescription label affixed—was not just like the movie canister in Robinson and didn’t represent proof of against the law. Jackson Slip op. at 4, n. 4 (recognizing that no state regulation requires prescription drugs to be stored in its unique container). Within the phrases of the courtroom: “Thus, the State’s software of the ‘plain really feel’ doctrine and Robinson is misplaced.” Id. at 9.
Possible Trigger to Search Based mostly on the Capsule Bottle. Past discovering the plain really feel seizure of the capsule bottle unjustified on the info of the case, the courtroom rejected the concept an unlabeled capsule bottle gave the officer possible trigger to search for different medicine or contraband as nicely. In line with the courtroom:
We additionally reject the State’s rivalry that the unlabeled capsule bottle, for which the defendant was unable to supply a prescription throughout the cease, gave [the officer] possible trigger that it contained contraband to grab it. The State was unable to quote to a single case in North Carolina to assist this rivalry, and plenty of jurisdictions expressly reject this concept. Id.
In different phrases, even when the capsule bottle had been lawfully seized, the officer was not justified in opening it or looking out the defendant and his automotive based mostly solely on its presence. The officer’s assertion to the defendant that it was unlawful to hold prescription drugs in one thing aside from the unique prescription bottle was merely improper—once more, no state regulation imposes that requirement, and nothing forbids an individual from carrying their drugs nevertheless they like.
This makes intuitive sense. An individual carrying a Sunday-Saturday each day capsule container (like this one) shouldn’t be topic to go looking or seizure of the container merely based mostly on the presence of drugs outdoors of its unique container. A traveler who places his or her each day medicines into one container for a protracted flight likewise doesn’t commit against the law by doing so, and that alone doesn’t justify a search or seizure of the container. Possible trigger is after all at all times a query of the totality of circumstances, and there could also be occasions when an unlabeled capsule bottle, coupled with different suspicious info, does give rise to possible trigger. As an example, if the officer knew that individuals within the space have been utilizing unlabeled capsule bottles just like the one discovered on the defendant in Jackson to move medicine within the space and had arrested others with an identical container with medicine, the possible trigger evaluation could also be totally different. Even then, the officer will want greater than to really feel the form of a capsule bottle to justify its elimination from a suspect’s pockets underneath Jackson.
Takeaway. Returning to the questions raised firstly of the put up: There is no such thing as a regulation prohibiting an individual in North Carolina from carrying prescription medicine in a container aside from its unique prescription bottle. There may be additionally no regulation requiring somebody to hold a duplicate of their prescription(s) when in possession of prescription medicine. An officer’s discovery of a capsule bottle—whether or not the bottle is labeled or not—doesn’t present possible trigger to grab or search the bottle, and it doesn’t, standing alone, justify a search an individual or their belongings. That stated, a capsule bottle will likely be an element within the total totality of the circumstances. An officer could also be justified in looking out or arresting based mostly on the presence of an unlabeled capsule bottle when there are extra, unbiased incriminating info suggesting that the defendant is committing against the law, however even an unlabeled capsule bottle alone shouldn’t be indicative of against the law. Jackson is an effective reminder about this space of regulation, and a robust case for the protection on the bounds of plain really feel. (An astute reader identified that a normal situation of probation requires supervisees to hold prescription managed substances within the unique container underneath G.S. 15A-1343(b)(15), so the evaluation would additionally change the place an officer is aware of a suspect is on probation. Hat tip to Scott Boyles on that word).
(Be aware: After penning this piece, it got here to my consideration that Jeff Welty coated a few of the points mentioned right here in a put up on the principles round prescription medicine again in 2011. Test that out here when you like!)
In case you have questions, feedback, or different suggestions, I can at all times be reached at dixon@sog.unc.edu.
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