CA9: When defendant is being “detained” and not under arrest, search incident doesn’t apply

The inventory of defendant’s vehicle violated LVMPD’s limited inventory policy, and it is found unreasonable. The government’s search incident alternative wasn’t presented to the trial court. Even assuming it was not waived, this was during a “detention” on less than probable cause and not an arrest. United States v. Franco, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 28709 (9th Cir. Sept. 23, 2019).

The police had seen movement in defendant’s house before the entry, and a protective sweep was factually justified. A search warrant for the house then the car followed. The search warrant for the car was clearly justified by probable cause because the house search didn’t turn up what they were looking for, and the car was the next logical place. State v. Cane, 2019 Conn. App. LEXIS 353 (Sept. 24, 2019).*