{"id":10387,"date":"2014-02-14T18:38:26","date_gmt":"2014-02-15T03:37:10","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-02-14T18:38:26","slug":"en-US","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=10387","title":{"rendered":"ND: Automobile exception search included locked box in backseat"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The officer did not \u201cstop\u201d defendant when he approached, and he found defendant apparently under the influence, a gun and pills in plain view. Then he put defendant in the police car. There was then probable cause there was controlled substances in the car, and the automobile exception permitted a warrantless search of a locked box in the backseat. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ndcourts.gov\/_court\/opinions\/20130192.htm\">State v. Reis<\/a>, 2014 ND 30, 2014 N.D. LEXIS 23 (February 13, 2014):<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>[\u00b618] When police officers have probable cause to believe a vehicle contains contraband and the automobile exception to the warrant requirement applies, the officers may search the vehicle and any containers within the vehicle that may contain the object of the search. United States v. Ross, 456 U.S. 798, 800 (1982); see also Wyoming v. Houghton, 526 U.S. 295, 301, 307 (1999); State v. Haibeck, 2004 ND 163, \u00b6\u00b6 10-11, 685 N.W.2d 512. &#8230; This applies equally to all containers, and includes the ability to search a locked container if the container may conceal the object of the search. Id. at 822; see also Houghton, at 301. A showing of individualized probable cause for each container searched is not required. Houghton, at 302.<\/p>\n<p>[\u00b619] The district court found sufficient probable cause existed to search the entire car for controlled substances and other contraband. The court also found the probable cause extended to the locked box located on the vehicle&#8217;s backseat, justifying the search of the box.<\/p>\n<p>[\u00b620] Citing Florida v. Jimeno, 500 U.S. 248 (1991), Reis argues the search of the locked box was illegal. However, Jimeno is different from this case. In Jimeno, the United States Supreme Court decided whether a criminal suspect&#8217;s Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches is violated when the suspect gives police consent to search his vehicle and the police open a closed container found within the car. Id. at 249. The Court held there is not a Fourth Amendment violation if it is objectively reasonable for the police to believe the scope of the suspect&#8217;s consent to search permitted them to open the container. Id.<\/p>\n<p>[\u00b621] In this case, the officers did not ask for consent to search the vehicle, the officers had probable cause to believe contraband was located in the vehicle, and they could search any part of the vehicle where the contraband could be found, including the locked box. The officers did not need Reis&#8217; consent to open the locked box or search any of the other containers. Because probable cause existed to search the vehicle for controlled substances and the locked box could contain the object of the search, the police officers were allowed to search the locked box. The district court properly found the search of the locked box and other containers did not violate Reis&#8217; Fourth Amendment rights.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>b2evALnk.b2WPAutP <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=10387\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"pingsdone","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10387\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}