Defendant was arrested on his porch, but one could see the bedroom from there. Officers did not have a search warrant. He requested an officer to turn off the stove. A protective sweep of the bedroom was valid. \u201cDeputy Thomas observed a weapon in plain view in an open closet area in the bedroom.\u201d The search was valid, and it is described as incident to the arrest. United States v. Whitehead, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 131349 (N.D. Ala. Aug. 6, 2019).* [If the closet was searched, it is invalid as a search incident to arrest. If the gun were visible in a walk through looking for people, then seizure of the gun would be valid in the protective sweep. The opinion is confusing, uses \u201csearch incident\u201d and doesn\u2019t tell us exactly what happened.]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Defendant was arrested on his porch, but one could see the bedroom from there. Officers did not have a search warrant. He requested an officer to turn off the stove. A protective sweep of the bedroom was valid. \u201cDeputy Thomas … Continue reading