State v. Jackson, COA23-727, ___ N.C. App. ___ (Mar. 19, 2024)

In this Avery County case, defendant appealed his conviction for possession of methamphetamine, arguing error in denying his motion to suppress the results from a search. The Court of Appeals disagreed, finding no error. 

Defendant was pulled over for driving while his license was revoked. The officer who pulled defendant over asked him to step out of the vehicle so that he could pat him down for weapons. During the pat down, the officer found a pill bottle, and the defendant told the officer the pills were Percocet. The bottle was not a prescription pill bottle. The officer handcuffed defendant and told him he was being detained for having the Percocet pills in a non-prescription bottle. The officer then searched defendant’s person, finding a bag of methamphetamine in defendant’s boot. After defendant was indicted for felony possession of methamphetamine, he moved to suppress the results of the search, arguing no probable cause. The trial court denied the motion, and defendant was subsequently convicted.  

Considering defendant’s argument, the Court of Appeals first noted the “plain feel doctrine” allows admission of contraband found during a protective frisk if the incriminating nature of the contraband is immediately apparent to the officer. Slip Op. at 7. The State pointed to State v. Robinson, 189 N.C. App. 454 (2008), as supporting the officer’s actions in the current case; the court rejected this comparison, noting that the supporting circumstances of location and nervousness of the suspect from Robinson were not present here. Slip Op. at 8. The court also rejected the assertion that the unlabeled pill bottle gave the officer probable cause to seize it. However, even if the search and seizure violated defendant’s constitutional rights, the court concluded “the methamphetamine found in defendant’s boot was still admissible because the contraband’s discovery was shown to be inevitable.” Id. at 9. Testimony from the officer at the suppression hearing supported the assumption that he would have arrested defendant for driving with a revoked license if he had not found the contraband. This triggered the “inevitable discovery doctrine” and justified admission of the contraband evidence despite the lack of probable cause for the search. Id. at 10. 

Judge Stading concurred in the result only.