CA4: Unhitched trailer was subject to automobile exception where there was activity around it

A parked trailer with illegal liquor was seen in an open field and an ABC officer tried to look through a gap in the back but could not see much. Eight days later he came back and saw that stuff had been moved, and he used a carpenter’s scope to look through a crack inside the trailer. The search was valid under the automobile exception even though the trailer was unhitched and parked. United States v. Smith, 456 Fed. Appx. 200 (4th Cir. 2011) (unpublished):

In [United States v.] Navas[, 597 F.3d 492 (2d Cir. 2010)] in a thorough opinion, the Second Circuit held that the automobile exception applied to a tractor trailer unhitched from its cab, even when the defendants were already placed under arrest at the time of the search. Id. at 501. The court reiterated that “a vehicle’s inherent mobility—not the probability that it might actually be set in motion—is the foundation of the [automobile exception’s] mobility rationale.” Id. at 498. Thus, “the mobility rationale … does not turn on case-by-case determinations by agents in the field regarding either the probability that a vehicle could be mobilized or the speed with which movement could be achieved.” Id.

In this case, the automobile exception applies to the tractor trailer on the land in Pittsylvania County. The tractor trailer clearly was inherently mobile, and counsel for Smith conceded at oral argument that the tractor trailer could be moved by simply attaching a cab to the tractor trailer. Moreover, the recent unloading activity at the tractor trailer suggested that it might be moved when all of the liquor jugs were unloaded. In short, embracing Smith’s position here would contravene the sound reasoning of both Carney and Navas.