M.D.Pa.: Mere passenger had no standing for search of trunk

While defendant arguably had standing to contest the stop of the vehicle [which Brendlin holds and the court does not even cite] he was a mere passenger and had no standing to contest the search of the trunk of a car where he was a mere passenger under Rakas. The search was valid both by consent and search incident for probable cause defendant was involved in a bank robbery. United States v. Shabazz, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18470 (M.D. Pa. February 14, 2012).* [Standing to challenge the stop of a vehicle is axiomatic. The court’s failure to cite Brendlin is both its own fault and defense counsel’s failure to raise it.]

Defendant pulled out into the street and stopped for a minute and then backed into the parking lot that he came from. He got the attention of an officer who walked toward his car. While the defendant blocked no traffic and committed no traffic offense, the officer recognized the defendant as somebody with a warrant out on him. That was reasonable suspicion for more. State v. Rodriguez, 2012 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 87 (February 13, 2012).*