State v. Bell

Officers lacked authority to perform an inventory search of defendant's vehicle pursuant to impoundment since the car was legally and safely parked on private property when defendant's was arrested for drinking alcohol inside a liquor store.

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Derrick Bell was charged with trafficking in cocaine, possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. The state appeals the trial court’s grant of Bell’s motion to suppress evidence seized from his car after he was initially arrested for drinking alcohol inside a liquor store. Because the evidence authorized the trial court to find that the search of the car was unreasonable under the circumstances, we affirm.

In reviewing the grant of a motion to suppress, we construe the evidence most favorably to uphold the findings and judgment of the trial court, and we adopt the trial court’s findings as to disputed facts and credibility unless clearly erroneous. State v. Peirce, 257 Ga. App. 623, 623-624 571 SE2d 826 2002. At the hearing on the motion, Officer T. A. Peck testified that he was working at a liquor store on May 8, 2000 when he saw Bell and a passenger pull up in a car. Both Bell and the passenger exited the car at the same time. Bell walked toward the store entrance holding a small glass imprinted with the name of a cognac. He was drinking from the glass as he came into the store. The officer took the glass from Bell’s hand and determined that it contained alcohol.1 He asked Bell for his identification, and Bell walked back to his car. Peck saw Bell reaching around on the floorboard of his car, before pulling his identification from the overhead visor. Peck then placed Bell under arrest for consuming alcohol in the vicinity of a liquor store in violation of a municipal ordinance.

State v. Bell

Officers lacked authority to perform an inventory search of defendant's vehicle pursuant to impoundment since the car was legally and safely parked on private property when defendant's was arrested for drinking alcohol inside a liquor store.

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