HI: Conflict of laws: Search on a military base by NCIS governed by federal law in a state murder case

Federal law should govern a federal NCIS search on a military base for evidence of a murder of a civilian employee on the base that ends up prosecuted in state court. The court finds that this is a narrow issue in this case. The security search of defendant’s car on the military base was also valid. State v. Torres, 122 Haw. 2, 222 P.3d 409 (2009), amended by, reconsideration granted by 2010 Haw. App. LEXIS 1 (Haw. Ct. App., Jan. 4, 2010)
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We further conclude that Sergeant Rozkiewicz’s security inspection of Torres’s car was lawful based on Torres’s implied consent and that the Command Authorization validly authorized the subsequent full-scale search by federal agents. Based on federal appellate court decisions involving searches in analogous circumstances on military bases, we hold that Torres implicitly consented to the search of his car, at least to the extent of the security inspection conducted by Sergeant Rozkiewicz.

Defendant was not seized by the officer. The officer was parked far away from the defendant and walked up to him and talked to him. The encounter was consensual. State v. Williams, 2009 N.C. App. LEXIS 2328 (December 22, 2009).*

Dog sniff within five minutes of stop was reasonable. Becoats v. State, 301 Ga. App. 768, 688 S.E.2d 686 (2009).*

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