IN: Search incident of jacket left in car on arrest for outstanding warrant was unreasonable

Defendant was pulled over because an LPN check showed his license was suspended and there was a warrant out for him. When he got out of the car, he took off his jacket and left it in the car. Since he was being arrested for the warrant, his car was being towed. The officer called it a “search incident to arrest” although it was an inventory. The search of the jacket went beyond the purposes of the inventory and was unreasonable. Anderson v. State, 2016 Ind. App. LEXIS 432 (Dec. 5, 2016). [This one might be hard to justify elsewhere if you see it as inventory. It can easily be argued by the state that valuables could be in the jacket, too. Perhaps the problem was the officer being fast and loose with using search incident. Around here, they all use “inventory” like it’s a panacea or Fourth Amendment extinguisher.]

Defendant was parked in an alley and apparently completed a hand-to-hand drug deal. The officer approached the window and surprised defendant who was looking in the envelope he had just received. The officer could see the envelope contained a baggie similar to those holding drugs. Defendant put it in the glove compartment before getting out of the car. There was justification for a search of the car. (Defendant’s response to statements, however, is suppressed for lack of a Miranda warning.) State v. Turner, 2016-Ohio-7983, 2016 Ohio App. LEXIS 4868 (2d Dist. Dec. 2, 2016).*