Cal.6th: Search incident of cell phone is reasonable in a drug case because that’s how drug users and dealers connect, and that means evidence might be found there

Search incident of a vehicle for being under the influence is proper in California for evidence of what the defendant is under the influence of. That produced drug evidence, and that justified a search incident of defendant’s cell phone because drug users and dealers connect through cell phone text messages and calls. People v. Nottoli, 199 Cal. App. 4th 531, 130 Cal. Rptr. 3d 884 (6th Dist. September 26, 2011):

We reject respondents’ assertion that there must be specific, articulable facts “indicating that the cell phone held relevant evidence of the offenses for which Reid Nottoli was arrested.” Respondents cannot point to any language in Gant imposing such a requirement. Under Gant, a vehicular search incident to arrest is justified “when it is reasonable to believe that evidence of the offense of arrest might be found in the vehicle.” (Gant, supra, 129 S.Ct. at p. 1714, italics added.) It does not require any degree of probability that evidence bearing on that offense will be found in a particular container that is searched.

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Moreover, even if Gant were construed to require a factual predicate for searching each object found in a vehicle searched incident to arrest, a proposition we reject, it was reasonable for Deputy Ryan to believe, based on the objective circumstances and his training and experience, that evidence relevant to Reid’s offense of arrest for being under the influence might be found on Reid’s cellular phone. The deputy testified that, in his experience, drug users and sellers use cell phones as their “main communication” and cell phones can contain text messages related to acquiring and offering drugs. Further, as suggested by the People, text messages saved in Reid’s cell phone might have identified the controlled substance or contained his admissions “as to what he had done that night.” This would be corroborative evidence.