CA11: Protective weapons search of car or an envelope in the car unjustified by any facts

A purported protective sweep of defendant’s car for a weapon was not justified by any facts, and neither was a search of an envelope which would hardly contain a weapon. Neither was there probable cause for the automobile exception. “In the light of these facts and guided by our precedent about the kinds of circumstances sufficient to support probable cause, no reasonable and prudent officer on the scene could have concluded that a fair probability existed (not that it was just conceivable) that contraband or evidence of a crime would be found in West’s truck or in the envelope. That West, in a routine traffic stop, looked repeatedly at his mirror at the officer who had stopped him and opened his fist over an envelope — without more — is not enough to give rise to probable cause supporting a warrantless search of West’s truck.” United States v. West, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 10529 (11th Cir. Apr. 3, 2020).

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