CA3: No time requirement of when a bag seized from a vehicle under the automobile exception may be searched

There is no temporal requirement of when a bag seized from a vehicle under the automobile exception may be searched. Here, the government waived the argument that a fugitive for FTA in federal court after conviction never has standing while on the run. United States v. Donahue, 764 F.3d 293 (3d Cir. August 22, 2014):

The broad sweep of the automobile exception is of controlling significance in this case because if we determine, as in fact we do, that the government had probable cause to seize and search the Mustang, two more conclusions will follow from that determination. First, the government was justified in opening the bag found in the Mustang’s trunk containing the pistol. See, e.g., United States v. Alexander, 573 F.3d 465, 475 (7th Cir. 2009) (“[U]nder the automobile exception to the warrant requirement, [the police officers] were authorized to open the bag and seize the handgun.”). Second, the delay between the time that the government seized the Mustang and the time of the search that uncovered the weapon—five days after the government impounded the vehicle—was immaterial. See Johns, 469 U.S. at 487-88, 105 S.Ct. at 887 (holding that warrantless search of containers seized from a vehicle already impounded for three days “was reasonable and consistent with our precedent involving searches of impounded vehicles”); United States v. Gastiaburo, 16 F.3d 582, 586 (4th Cir. 1994) (upholding warrantless search of a vehicle 38 days after it was impounded); United States v. McHugh, 769 F.2d 860, 865-66 (1st Cir. 1985) (approving search seven days after truck’s seizure because the Supreme Court declined to impose an “arbitrary temporal restriction” on the automobile exception).