Lamont Wilford v. State of Indiana

Summary

The Indiana Supreme Court held that police failed to prove an established departmental procedure authorizing the warrantless impoundment of Lamont Wilford’s vehicle. Because the impoundment and ensuing inventory search were unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment and Article 1, Section 11 of the Indiana Constitution, the handgun discovered in the vehicle was inadmissible and Wilford’s handgun conviction was reversed.

Holdings

1. A warrantless vehicle impoundment under the community-caretaking function is reasonable only when the State proves both that the officer reasonably believed the vehicle posed a threat of harm to the community or was itself imperiled and that the decision to impound complied with an established departmental routine or regulation.
2. Written departmental procedures are not required, but officer testimony must describe the department's standard impoundment procedure and specifically explain how the particular impoundment complied with it; a generalized assertion that the officer acted pursuant to 'our procedures' is insufficient.
3. Because the impoundment was unreasonable, the ensuing inventory search was invalid and the handgun discovered during that search was inadmissible.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the warrantless impoundment of Wilford's vehicle under the police community-caretaking function was reasonable under the Fourth Amendment and Article 1, Section 11 of the Indiana Constitution.
2. Whether the State proved the established departmental routine or regulation required by Fair v. State when the officer offered only a generalized reference to departmental procedures.
3. Whether the handgun discovered during the inventory search was admissible when the underlying impoundment was unreasonable.

Disposition

reversed