State v. Ralston

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No. 103,358

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF KANSAS

STATE OF KANSAS,
Appellee,

v.

ABBY L. RALSTON,
Appellant.


SYLLABUS BY THE COURT

1.
Whether a defendant has abandoned property is an issue of standing.

2.
An individual who abandons property is not permitted to contest the legality of the
search and seizure of the property.

3.
The warrantless search of an automobile which has been abandoned by its owner
will violate the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution only if the defendant
manifest a subjective expectation of privacy in the automobile and its contents that
society accepts as objectively reasonable.

4.
One's personal right to Fourth Amendment protection of property against search
and seizure is lost when that property is abandoned, absent a manifested reasonable
expectation of privacy.


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5.
A thief acquires no legitimate ownership or possessory interest in a stolen vehicle
and has no standing to challenge the search of the vehicle.

6.
A lack of standing extends to a passenger in a stolen vehicle unless the passenger
can show that he or she was unaware the vehicle was stolen and that he or she had an
expectation of privacy in the property searched.

Appeal from Sedgwick District Court; DAVID J. KAUFMAN; judge. Opinion filed June 10, 2011.
Affirmed.

Lydia Krebs, of Kansas Appellate Defender Office, for appellant.

Matt J. Maloney, assistant district attorney, Nola Tedesco Foulston, district attorney, and Steve
Six, attorney general, for appellee.

Before HILL, P.J., BUSER, J., and BRAZIL, S.J.

BRAZIL, J.: Abby L. Ralston was a passenger in a stolen vehicle that crashed while
fleeing police. She appeals the denial of her motion to suppress the results of the search
of her purse which was found in that stolen vehicle. We affirm.

On April 4, 2008, at approximately 1 a.m., Officer Daniel Weidner was dispatched
to a suspicious character call in an apartment complex at 202 North Rock Road in
Wichita, Kansas. The caller told dispatch that earlier in the day her license plate was
stolen and that, at the time of the call, there was a white male "messing with" the license
plate area of her vehicle. Dispatch informed Weidner that the caller stated that the man
then got into a yellow Tiburon headed northbound on Rock Road.

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Weidner saw a vehicle driven by a white male matching dispatch's description.
Weidner had dispatch run the vehicle's tag and was informed that the tag was reported
stolen. Weidner stated that there were three people in the vehicle, and although he could
not see the person in the back seat well, he was certain there were two white males in the
front seat. When Weidner activated his lights to stop the vehicle, the vehicle sped away
immediately. As Weidner was pursuing the vehicle, it hit a dip in the road, causing it to
crash through a fence and into a tree.

Weidner pulled his patrol vehicle to the side of the road directly behind the
accident scene where he saw two white males exit the vehicle, and he ran after them. The
two men jumped a fence. As Weidner ran past the scene pursuing the two men, he saw an
individual wearing light-colored clothing in the back seat of the Tiburon. By the time
Weidner got to the fence, he had lost sight of the two men. He scanned the area and saw
someone running on the street just to the east of his location. He radioed dispatch for
assistance setting up a perimeter to attempt to contain the suspects.

Weidner began walking back to the scene of the accident when he saw a white
female, later identified as Ralston, wearing light-colored clothing walking towards him
away from the accident scene. He asked her to identify herself and asked her who was
driving the car. Ralston did not identify herself at that point. Weidner noted that she
looked disturbed and shaken up. He also noted that the impact of the crash was violent.
Ralston stated that she did not need an ambulance.

Ralston did not immediately tell Weidner she had been in the vehicle; however,
Weidner was fairly confident that she had been a passenger, due to the location, time of
evening, and the light-colored clothing she was wearing. Initially, she said that she was
walking from a QuikTrip located approximately 3 miles west of the accident; however,
Weidner noted that the direction she was going did not correspond to her statement.

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Ralston and Weidner walked back to the scene together, and at that point, Sergeant
Hatter was present. Weidner asked Hatter to stand with Ralston, who at this point had
only given Weidner her first name, while Weidner cleared the vehicle to ensure that there
were no injured people and to see if there was any identification in the vehicle. Weidner
noted multiple dark-colored backpacks and a purse that had been left in the vehicle. He
brought the purse to Hatter so that Hatter could see if there was identification inside the
purse. Hatter found a positive identification for Ralston and also a pouch, which
contained a substance that field tested as being methamphetamine. Hatter testified that
her report stated that Ralston claimed ownership of the purse; however, Hatter did not
independently recall this and could not remember when Ralston claimed ownership.

Officer Shelton arrived at the scene and Weidner asked him to run the vehicle
identification number of the Tiburon and the two license plates, one from the back of the
vehicle and one found inside the vehicle. Shelton confirmed dispatch's information that
the license plate on the back of the Tiburon had been reported stolen and that the license
plate inside the Tiburon belonged to the Tiburon, which had also been reported stolen.

Ralston testified that she gave Weidner her first and last name when they met.
Ralston testified that at the scene of the accident, she told Weidner she was not a
passenger in the vehicle but had been at QuikTrip. At the suppression hearing, she
admitted that she was in the accident and was fairly "banged up," and she remembered
complaining about her back and tailbone because of the impact of the crash. Ralston
testified that she told the officers that none of the bags inside of the car belonged to her.

Ralston was charged with possession of methamphetamine contrary to K.S.A. 65-
4160(a). Ralston filed a motion to suppress her statements and the evidence obtained
during the search of a silver cigarette box found in a blue fabric pouch in Ralston's purse,
which she left in the back seat of the Tiburon. The district judge overruled the motion and
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explained his ruling on the record. A bench trial was held, and Ralston was found guilty
of possession of methamphetamine.

The motion to suppress

On appeal, Ralston does not challenge the portion of the district court's decision
overruling the motion to suppress her statements. An issue not briefed by the appellant is
deemed waived and abandoned. State v. Martin, 285 Kan. 994, 998, 179 P.3d 457 (2008),
cert. denied 129 S. Ct. 192.

Ralston argues that the officer should have obtained a warrant prior to searching
the vehicle and the contents of her purse and the State failed to present sufficient
evidence that Ralston intended to abandon her purse in the vehicle.

Did Ralston abandon her purse, depriving her of standing?

The district court concluded that Ralston abandoned her purse. Our Supreme Court
treats the issue of whether a defendant abandoned property as a standing issue. See State
v. Grissom, 251 Kan. 851, 902-07, 840 P.2d 1142 (1992). Standing is an issue of law.
State v. Ernesti, 291 Kan. 54, 60, 239 P.3d 40 (2010).

"[A] defendant cannot object to the seizure of evidence without proper standing to
challenge the validity of the search. On the issue of standing, the burden is on the
defendant to show an expectation of privacy in the property searched. A defendant may
testify at a suppression hearing to establish his or her standing to challenge a search
without jeopardizing his or her defense at trial. State v. Cruz, 15 Kan. App. 2d 476, 484,
809 P.2d 1233, rev. denied 249 Kan. 777 (1991); see State v. Sumner, 210 Kan. 802, 803-
04, 504 P.2d 239 (1972)." State v. Gonzalez, 32 Kan. App. 2d 590, 593, 85 P.3d 711
(2004).

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In Grissom, 251 Kan. at 902, our Supreme Court said that it has long been the law
in Kansas that an individual who abandons property is not permitted to contest the
legality of the search and seizure of the property. The Grissom court, quoting State v.
Brunson, 13 Kan. App. 2d 384, Syl. ¶¶ 3, 4, 5, 771 P.2d 938, rev. denied 245 Kan. 786
(1989), said:

"'The warrantless search of an automobile which has been abandoned by its
owner will violate the Fourth Amendment only if the defendant manifested a subjective
expectation of privacy in the automobile and its contents that society accepts as
objectively reasonable.'
"'One's personal right to Fourth Amendment protection of property against search
and seizure is lost when that property is abandoned, absent a manifested reasonable
expectation of privacy.'
"'[I]n determining the continued existence of Fourth Amendment property rights,
whether the facts reveal a complete abandonment of an automobile in the strict property
rights sense is not the issue. The issue is whether, by any good, sound, ordinary sense
standard, the defendant abandoned any reasonable expectation to a continuation of his
personal right against having his car searched.' [Citation omitted.] " Grissom, 251 Kan. at
903-04.

In 1995, a panel of this court stated that "[f]or criminal law purposes, the concept
of abandonment of property has two components: (1) A defendant must intend to
abandon the property; and (2) the defendant must freely decide to abandon the property
and the decision must not merely be the product of police misconduct." State v. Likins, 21
Kan. App. 2d 420, 426, 903 P.2d 764, rev. denied 258 Kan. 861 (1995). The court went
on to note:
"'Thus, abandonment is a question of intent and exists only if property has been
voluntarily discarded under circumstances indicating no further expectation of privacy.'
68 Am. Jur. 2d, Searches and Seizures § 6, p. 645. Further, we cannot assume that a
disclaimer of ownership always constitutes an abandonment for Fourth Amendment
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purposes. 1 LaFave, Search and Seizure § 2.6(b), p. 474 (2d ed. 1987)." 21 Kan. App. 2d
at 426.

In this case, the district court found that Ralston "clearly meets the two prongs that
she intended to abandon the property and she freely decided to abandon that property,
without any coercion by the police." The court continued:

"Not only does she deny being in the car, she denies ownership of the purse and all
property in the car, and even when she is aware that the purse is gonna be searched,
because at that time Weidner gives the purse to Hatter, Ralston is right in the presence of
Hatter, she still maintains no—she makes no statement saying, That purse is mine and
you can't search it."

On appeal, Ralston argues that her case is more analogous to Likins, where intent
to abandon property was not found than Grissom and Brunson, where the courts found
intent to abandon.

The facts of Ralston's case, however, are similar to those she attempts to
distinguish herself from and very different from those presented in Likins. In Brunson,
the court concluded that the defendant, who "abandoned his automobile on a golf course
. . . with the police in pursuit, exited that vehicle, and fled on foot leaving the lights on
and the keys in the ignition, abandoned any reasonable expectation of privacy in the
contents of that automobile." 13 Kan. App. 2d at 391-95. Similarly, the vehicle Ralston
was a passenger in crashed into a tree and two male occupants were seen running from
the scene of the accident. Ralston left the vehicle, was seen walking away from the
accident, and then denied being a passenger in the vehicle.

Moreover in Grissom, the court held that the defendant, who parked on private
property without authorization, slept in a field across the street, did not attempt to
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intervene when the vehicle was towed or go to the police station to claim the car, and
subsequently stole another car to avoid arrest, had abandoned the car and did not have an
objectively reasonable expectation of privacy in the seized car. 251 Kan. at 905-07.
Similarly in this case, the district court made the factual finding that Ralston made no
claim to the ownership or possession of the purse. Although Ralston did identify her
purse at some point in time, it is clear from Ralston's own testimony at the hearing that
she initially denied having any property in the vehicle.

The Likins case, in contrast, was based on a distinction between possession and
ownership of a vehicle, where the defendant was driving his friend's vehicle and told an
officer that he could not grant permission to search another's car.

Under the circumstances of this case, Ralston's expectation of privacy in her purse
was not objectively reasonable, and she therefore lacked standing to challenge the search.
The district court's decision finding that Ralston had abandoned her purse is affirmed.

Does Ralston's status as a passenger in a stolen vehicle deprive her of standing?

The State additionally argues that Ralston lacks standing to challenge the search of
the stolen vehicle and her purse found in the vehicle, based on the vehicle being stolen.

The district court did not base its decision on the car's stolen status; however, the
State raised this issue at the motion to suppress hearing, and "[s]tanding is a component
of subject matter jurisdiction and may be raised for the first time on appeal." See Ernesti,
291 Kan. at 60 (citing Mid-Continent Specialists, Inc. v. Capital Homes, 279 Kan. 178,
185, 106 P.3d 483 [2005]).

The State argues that Ralston lacked standing to challenge the search and seizure
of items from the stolen vehicle. Because Ralston was a passenger in the vehicle, the first
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step in the analysis is to note that the general rule for passengers provides that "[u]nder
the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and § 15 of the Kansas
Constitution Bill of Rights, a passenger in a vehicle is seized when a law enforcement
officer stops the vehicle through a show of authority and the passenger does not flee."
State v. Smith, 286 Kan. 402, Syl. ¶ 1, 184 P.3d 890 (2008). In this case, although Ralston
did leave the scene initially and, therefore, was arguably not seized at that time, Weidner
testified that he asked Ralston to return to the scene and asked Hatter to keep an eye on
Ralston. Weidner testified that Ralston was being detained because he thought she had
been in the car that had just crashed. Therefore, as a panel of this court recently noted, for
purposes of this analysis, because Ralston was seized at the relevant point in time and no
incriminating evidence was obtained before then, this court need not determine whether
she was seized when the police attempted to stop the vehicle, which then crashed. See
State v. Reiss, 45 Kan. App. 2d 85, 244 P.3d 693 (2010).

Next, we must determine whether a passenger in a stolen vehicle has standing to
challenge the search of the vehicle. The State quotes from State v. Wickliffe, 16 Kan.
App. 2d 424, Syl. ¶ 3, 826 P.2d 522 (1992), where a panel of this court found that "a thief
acquires no legitimate ownership or possessory interest in a stolen vehicle." The State
argues that pursuant to Wickliffe, Ralston has no standing to challenge the search. Two
issues with the State's contention must be addressed. First, does the Wickliffe holding
extend to a passenger in a stolen vehicle, and if so, does the Wickliffe holding extend to
the search of Ralston's purse?

Beginning with whether Wickliffe's holding extends to a passenger in a stolen
vehicle, a review of the Wickliffe panel's holding is helpful:

"The basic test to determine whether a person has standing to challenge the
validity of the search is not whether the person had a possessory interest in the items
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seized, but whether he had a legitimate expectation of privacy in the area searched.
[Citations omitted.]
"It is clear that a person who does not have an ownership or possessory interest in
the property searched has little legitimate expectation of privacy in that property. State v.
Strayer, 242 Kan. 618, 620, 750 P.2d 390 (1988); State v. Sanders, 5 Kan. App. 2d [189,]
at 193-95 [614 P.2d 998 (1980)]. Based on Kansas case law, the lack of ownership or
possessory interest is dispositive on the issue of standing." Wickliffe, 16 Kan. App. 2d at
429.

No Kansas court has addressed whether a passenger in a stolen vehicle has
standing to challenge the validity of the search; however, Search and Seizure, a treatise
on the Fourth Amendment, addresses this issue and states:

"A person's standing depends upon his justified expectation of privacy, and this is not
determined upon the basis of what the police believe or even necessarily upon the actual
facts. For example, a passenger in a vehicle might have standing notwithstanding the
car's actual character as stolen property if the passenger believed that the person giving
him the ride had lawful possession of it." (Emphasis added.) 6 LaFave, Search and
Seizure §11.3(e), p.204 (4th ed. 2004).

Pursuant to this rationale, Wickliffe extends to a passenger if the passenger was aware that
the vehicle was stolen.

The record is nearly void of evidence regarding Ralston's knowledge of whether
the vehicle was stolen. The only time that this issue was addressed was during cross-
examination by the State, where Ralston testified that she did not know why the two men
were running from the police that night. Ralston's attorney objected to this testimony, and
the district court sustained the objection and ordered the answer stricken from the record.
Because on the issue of standing, the burden is on the defendant to show an expectation
of privacy in the property searched, Ralston has failed to meet this burden with respect to
the vehicle as she presented no evidence that she was unaware that the vehicle was stolen.
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Because under the facts of this case, Ralston lacks standing to challenge the search
of the stolen vehicle, we must determine whether she also lacks standing to challenge the
search of her purse contained in the vehicle. The State argues that Wickliffe extends to
Ralston's purse. In Wickliffe, the panel stated that an automobile thief has neither an
ownership nor a possessory interest in the property stolen, and "[a]s a result, that
individual cannot have a legitimate expectation of privacy in the vehicle stolen and does
not have standing to object to the search of the vehicle and seizure of items therefrom."
16 Kan. App. 2d 430. Therefore, pursuant to Wickliffe, Ralston lacks standing to
challenge the search of her purse, an item seized from the stolen vehicle.

Ralston argues that pursuant to State v. Stubby, No. 95,229, unpublished opinion
filed November 22, 2006, rev. denied 283 Kan. 933 (2007), she has standing to challenge
the search of her purse. In Stubby, a panel of this court found that although "the defendant
has the burden of showing an expectation of privacy by establishing ownership or
possession of the property searched," the panel had "absolutely no problem whatsoever in
finding that Stubby established ownership of the purse and that she reasonably had an
expectation of privacy with respect to the contents of her purse." Slip op. at 4. Stubby is
distinguishable from this case, however, because in Stubby the defendant's property was
not in a stolen vehicle.

Even if we were to find Ralston did not abandon her purse, she still fails to meet
her burden of establishing that she had standing to challenge the search of her purse
because the vehicle she was traveling in was stolen, and no evidence was presented that
Ralston was unaware of this fact (vehicle stolen) that was not stricken from the record by
her own counsel's objection.

Because Ralston does not have standing to challenge the search of her purse, we
need not address Ralston's argument that there was no exception to the warrant
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requirement authorizing the State to search Ralston's purse or the State's alternative
argument that the methamphetamine would have been inevitably discovered.

Affirmed.