When a Courtesy Turns Up Evidence

This wikilog article is a draft, it was not published yet.

by: Ryan • March 24, 2012 • no comments

It's not an uncommon situation. The police arrest someone in their own home, and the man or woman isn't wearing pants. Or perhaps he or she doesn't have a coat and it's cold and wet outside. The police offer to get some clothes and during a search of those clothes (for officer safety), evidence is found.

That is the issue in a recent petition for cert. The exact question presented is:

Whether the Fourth Amendment requires suppression of a pistol in a coat belonging to a suspect properly arrested for a felony, when the officers took control of the coat solely for the purpose of giving it to the suspect to protect him from the elements, and when the trial court expressly found that the officers acted in good faith, and that the search of the coat was conducted for the officers' safety and not for the purpose of obtaining evidence of criminal activity.

All of the briefs can be found at the link above. I'd be surprised if SCOTUS granted review, and I rather hope they don't, since I don't think I'd like the result.