Supreme Court Redefines Warrantless Searches
Article provided by Law Offices of Christopher M. Cosley
Visit us at http://www.chicagotrafficlawyer.com/
The 1999 arrest of Rodney Gant was routine, but a decade later a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the case is changing the way police departments across the country conduct searches.
Gant was arrested by Tucson, Ariz., police for driving with a suspended driver's license. The arrest occurred in a friend's yard after Gant had parked his car in the driveway. After handcuffing Gant and putting him in the back of their cruiser, police officers searched Gant's car, finding a weapon and bag of cocaine. He was charged with drug possession and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Gant was later convicted on both charges. His convictions were eventually reversed by the Arizona Supreme Court, which said the drug evidence should have been suppressed at his trial. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld that court's decision, changing the way officers may conduct warrantless searches of vehicles.
In an opinion written by Justice Stevens, "police may search a vehicle incident to a recent occupant's arrest only if the arrestee is within reaching distance of the passenger compartment at the time of the search or it is reasonable to believe the vehicle contains evidence of the offense of arrest."
The decision means once an arrestee has been secured by officers, a warrantless search of the vehicle can no longer be justified on the grounds of enhancing officer safety (someone handcuffed and locked in the back of a police car can clearly not access weapons in their car).
Officers may search a vehicle if they believe it may contain evidence related to the crime the arrestee is suspected of committing. In other words, if the person has been arrested for drug crimes, a search of the vehicle for drugs may be allowed. If the person has been arrested for an expired driver's license, a search would not be permitted, as there would be no possible evidence in the vehicle related to the crime of driving with an expired license.
Before the decision in the Gant case, police officers felt free to automatically search vehicles after making an arrest. These "free searches" conducted without warrants were based on an earlier case, New York v. Belton. The Belton decision had long been criticized for failing to require probable cause before a warrantless search.
Article provided by Law Offices of Christopher M. Cosley
Visit us at http://www.chicagotrafficlawyer.com/
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