AR: State’s auto insurance database isn’t up to date, but missing insurance record is still PC for a stop

A computer check showed defendant’s vehicle insurance was cancelled, although the database was admittedly often not current with this warning: “The insurance information is provided by the Department of Finance and Administration. Valid insurance policies may exist that are not included in the database at this time.” Statute also says that the database is just a “rebuttable presumption” of a lack of insurance. Probable cause is not guilt, just reason to believe, and the database satisfies that requirement. Smith v. State, 2018 Ark. App. 80, 2018 Ark. App. LEXIS 108 (Feb. 7, 2018).

Defendant was a suspect in a robbery. Police received information that defendant was at the house of two brothers, Davis and McCraney. They consented to entry in writing to look for defendant, and officers found him. Officers also searched a backpack that had papers in it that wasn’t connected to the residents or defendant. Defendant never spent the night there, and thus he had no standing to contest the entry. He also asserted no interest in the backpack. Anderson v. State, 2018 Ark. App. 92, 2018 Ark. App. LEXIS 94 (Feb. 7, 2018).*

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