{"id":3876,"date":"2010-12-28T18:21:47","date_gmt":"2010-02-20T06:54:30","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-02-20T06:52:29","slug":"en-US","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=3876","title":{"rendered":"CA3: Arrest on a warrant led to seeing defendant’s wallet; plain view search of wallet invalid"},"content":{"rendered":"

Defendant was arrested in his boxer shorts in his house on a warrant for being an illegal alien. He asked for clothes to go to jail in, and they officers took him to his bedroom. There, an officer saw his wallet and opened it looking for identification and found a gun permit. Then they searched for a gun. Defendant was arrested for being an alien in possession of a weapon. The plain view search of the wallet was invalid. United States v. Rivera-Padilla<\/a>, 365 Fed. Appx. 343 (3d Cir. 2010) (unpublished):<\/p>\n

Agent Pausic was authorized to enter Rivera-Padilla’s home for the purpose of arresting him. After accomplishing that task and associated precautionary measures, he decided that he would look for evidence tending to confirm Rivera-Padilla’s identity and establish his country of origin, a search which he was not authorized to make. While the plain view doctrine might arguably have extended his authority to seize such evidence had it been in plain view, no such evidence, or any other incriminating evidence, was in plain view. All that was in plain view was an ordinary wallet whose contents, in which Rivera-Padilla retained a reasonable expectation of privacy, were not visible. It was not until Pausic searched inside the wallet that the gun permit came into plain view. The plain view doctrine does not authorize an otherwise unauthorized search, even if it is a fruitful one. Indeed, the plain view doctrine does not authorize searches; by definition, it only authorizes seizures of items in plain view to which the officer has a right of access. See Dickerson, 508 U.S. at 375.<\/p>\n

In Berenguer, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit was confronted with a situation almost identical to the one before us. Berenguer was arrested in his apartment on a drug charge. After he had been shackled and placed on a bed, the arresting agents conducted a protective sweep of the apartment. They observed a billfold, which when searched was found to contain approximately $3,200 in $100 bills. The District Court declined to suppress the cash, relying on the “plain view” doctrine. The Court of Appeals reversed because that doctrine required that “the incriminating nature [of the seized item] must be immediately apparent,” and this requirement was clearly not met. Berenguer, 562 F.2d at 210. There, as here, the “billfold offered no immediately apparent evidence of an inculpatory nature. It was only after the billfold itself had been searched that the large denomination currency was revealed.” Id.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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