E.D.Mich.: Mixed motive for otherwise valid inventory doesn’t make it unreasonable

A mixed motive for an inventory search doesn’t make it unreasonable as long as the inventory was reasonable. United States v. Dowl, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7184 (E.D. Mich. Jan. 19, 2017):

That the Southfield Police may have also believed that they evidence of criminal activity might be found in the search does not defeat the inventory search exception to the warrant requirement. See United States v. Harvey, 16 F.3d at 112; United States v. Smith, 510 F.3d at 651. It is only when a vehicle is searched solely for the purpose of investigating criminal conduct that validity of the search will be dependent on the application of the probable cause and warrant requirements of the Fourth Amendment. Bertine, 479 U.S. at 371; Harvey, supra; United States v. Fleming, 201 F. Supp. 2d 760, 771 (E.D. Mich. 2002). Here, the testimony was that the search was done to secure items of monetary value (i.e., IRS checks), pursuant to SPD policy. It cannot be said the search was done solely for the purpose of uncovering evidence of criminality.

This entry was posted in Inventory, Reasonableness. Bookmark the permalink.

Comments are closed.