Not a lawyer, but I know that when a cop arrests someone in a car and the car is impounded, they catalog items. This is an unofficial search to make sure they aren’t liable for missing items. I would expect the same of a backpack. But perhaps that falls under the same disqualification of use as evidence you’re suggesting.
Not a lawyer, but I know that when a cop arrests someone in a car and the car is impounded, they catalog items.
Under Illinois v. Lafayette, 462 U.S. 640 (1983), it would be fine to inventory a bag when you’re being booked. But they hadn’t gotten that far, and I’m not aware of any evidence that they would have actually booked him without the contents of the bag.
That’s called an “inventory search”, and this motion says what happened isn’t an “inventory search” because they didn’t follow procedure (and cites supporting precedence).
If they would have just hauled him in for processing on the false identification, and then found the gun during an inventory search at the station, it would be better for the prosecution.
The motion also claims that the search couldn’t be a… safety search? (I don’t know the right term)… like checking a person for weapons, because before the search was initiated, the suspect was already handcuffed and separated from the backpack so didn’t have access to anything in it that could be hazardous to the officers. Prosecution might argue is was a safety search because they were looking for a hazard that didn’t need to be triggered by the suspect, like a timed device or just an incidental hazard.
The motion also claims that the search couldn’t be a… safety search?
You’re thinking of a Terry stop.
Prosecution might argue is was a safety search […]
That would be the exigent circumstances exception, but you need more than just an assertion for that; you need a rational basis for claiming exigent circumstances.
Not a lawyer, but I know that when a cop arrests someone in a car and the car is impounded, they catalog items. This is an unofficial search to make sure they aren’t liable for missing items. I would expect the same of a backpack. But perhaps that falls under the same disqualification of use as evidence you’re suggesting.
Under Illinois v. Lafayette, 462 U.S. 640 (1983), it would be fine to inventory a bag when you’re being booked. But they hadn’t gotten that far, and I’m not aware of any evidence that they would have actually booked him without the contents of the bag.
That’s called an “inventory search”, and this motion says what happened isn’t an “inventory search” because they didn’t follow procedure (and cites supporting precedence).
If they would have just hauled him in for processing on the false identification, and then found the gun during an inventory search at the station, it would be better for the prosecution.
The motion also claims that the search couldn’t be a… safety search? (I don’t know the right term)… like checking a person for weapons, because before the search was initiated, the suspect was already handcuffed and separated from the backpack so didn’t have access to anything in it that could be hazardous to the officers. Prosecution might argue is was a safety search because they were looking for a hazard that didn’t need to be triggered by the suspect, like a timed device or just an incidental hazard.
IANAL, just an interested citizen.
You’re thinking of a Terry stop.
That would be the exigent circumstances exception, but you need more than just an assertion for that; you need a rational basis for claiming exigent circumstances.