Facts
On July 3, 2020, Landon Ates, who was a narcotics investigator with the Smith County Sheriff’s Department at the time, came in contact with Regie Dale Goodson in the middle of a public county road in Smith County. Initially, Ates had been called to the location because of a 911 call that had been made regarding a disturbance. Joel Houston was also called to the scene of the disturbance, along with Ates.
Upon arriving at the home, Ates and Houston noticed blood on the porch. After assessing the scene and speaking to witnesses, Ates and Houston began looking for a suspect named Austin Sanders, who had gotten into an argument with his mother and cut his arm when he punched the glass out of the front door of the home. As Ates and Houston were walking back to their patrol vehicles to begin patrolling to locate Sanders, they saw Goodson standing in the middle of the street. Goodson had come from his residence across the street. Goodson was not a person of interest related to the 911 call.
When Goodson saw the officers, Goodson approached them and asked them who they were looking for. Goodson got approximately arm’s length away from the officers in the middle of the road. At this point, Ates noticed a clear baggy sticking out of Goodson’s watch pocket with a crystal-like substance. Ates testified that the entire bag was not sticking out of Goodson’s watch pocket—only a part of it—but it was sticking out enough to see the methamphetamine inside of it. Ates then grabbed the part of the clear bag that was sticking out of Goodson’s pocket and removed the bag from the pocket. When Ates was asked why he grabbed the clear bag from Goodson’s pocket, Ates testified that it was in plain view. Ates asked Goodson what was inside the bag, and Goodson responded that it contained methamphetamine. Ates did not search Goodson’s person any further and did not search his property, vehicle, or home. Ates did not arrest Goodson at that time because officers were acting under COVID-19 protocol restrictions and were directed to arrest only violent offenders.
Ates confiscated the plastic bag and secured it in his patrol vehicle, while he and Houston continued looking for the suspect. After patrolling and failing to locate Sanders, Ates returned to the Smith County Sheriff’s Department, where he locked and logged the bag into evidence.
On March 27, 2023, a few days prior to Goodson’s trial, he filed a motion to suppress evidence, which was heard at the start of Goodson’s trial. Goodson contended that the basis of the motion was that the bag Ates had confiscated was the fruit of an illegal search of Goodson’s person. After hearing testimony from Ates, the trial court denied Goodson’s motion.
At the end of Goodson’s trial, the jury found him guilty of possession of methamphetamine. During the sentencing phase, the trial judge stated that because this was Goodson’s third felony, he would be sentenced as a habitual offender. For this reason, the trial court sentenced him to serve six years in custody day-for-day. On appeal, Goodson argues the evidence should have been suppressed. MCOA affirmed.
Analysis
Goodson asserts that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress the plastic bag containing the methamphetamine that Ates removed from Goodson’s pocket.
The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article 3, Section 23 of the Mississippi Constitution guarantee a person’s right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. As a general rule, our state and federal Constitutions prohibit searches without a valid warrant unless an exception applies. However, the plain-view doctrine holds that no warrant is required to seize an object in plain view when viewed by an officer from a place he has the lawful right to be, its incriminating character is readily apparent and the officer has a lawful right of access to the evidence. See MCOA Johnson.
When the plastic bag was taken from Goodson’s watch pocket, he was standing in the middle of a public county road in Smith County. Ates and Houston had been dispatched there after a 911 call was made about a domestic disturbance. When walking back to their patrol vehicle to leave the scene, Goodson stopped the officers in the road to ask them who they were looking for. Goodson was standing “two to three feet max away from the officers, and it only took Ates about thirty seconds to notice the plastic bag sticking out of Goodson’s pocket.
During the suppression hearing, Ates testified that the reason he retrieved the bag from Goodson’s pocket was because it was in “plain view,” although Ates could not testify with certainty the approximate portion of the bag that was protruding from Goodson’s watch pocket. He did testify with certainty, however, that he immediately noticed a crystal-like substance in the portion of the bag that was visible. Furthermore, Ates’ position at the time with the Smith County Sheriff’s Department was as a narcotics investigator, and Ates testified that he had attended several schools over the years as part of his training, including “narcotics school.” As a narcotics investigator, Ates had prior knowledge of methamphetamine and how to identify the illegal substance.
Therefore, because Ates was lawfully in the middle of a public county road when approached by Goodson, and because the crystal-like substance in the portion of the plastic bag that was sticking out contained what was readily apparent to be an illegal substance, Ates satisfied an exception to the warrant requirement under the plain-view doctrine. Thus, the trial court did not err in denying Goodson’s motion to suppress this evidence at trial.