CA8: Inevitable discovery saves search that was likely bad search incident but good inventory; good facts for police

Four guys came from Florida to Arkansas to pass counterfeit checks. Three got arrested fleeing from the police when called by a bank, and one had a hotel receipt on him. Police went to the hotel looking for confederates. The police saw defendant dispose of a bag with counterfeit checks in the parking lot, and he had luggage on a hotel cart about to flee. The checks matched those from the arrested three. The police went to prepare a search warrant for the hotel room he was in, but the clerk called to say he was checking out. They came back and arrested the defendant and searched the luggage finding blank check stock and a computer. On top of the luggage was a printer. The police claimed search incident or inventory because the luggage would have been left on the baggage cart, so they took it. The arrest was clearly with probable cause. The search of the luggage was justified either as inventory or inevitable discovery. “Since the evidence showed that all the items on the luggage cart would have inevitably been discovered and the officers were pursuing an alternative line of investigation, Nix, 467 U.S. at 433, the district court did not err in denying Allen’s motion to suppress.” United States v. Allen, 713 F.3d 382 (8th Cir. 2013). [Note: I was CJA appointed to one of the guys arrested passing the checks. They drove off from a bank when the police showed up, and were arrested at gunpoint. The “from Florida” in the first line was my own knowledge of the case; they all admitted to coming to Arkansas to pass counterfeit checks and then run back to Florida before anybody knew, they hoped. My guy wouldn’t have standing in that luggage.]