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KA: Failure to allow vehicle to be moved to avoid inventory was a factor in totality, here favoring defendant

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

When the State failed to establish that the vehicle operated by the defendant was unattended, illegally parked, or obstructing traffic, and the officers failed to consult the operator or attempt to contact the registered owner regarding disposition, the impoundment of the vehicle was not based on reasonable grounds under the totality of the circumstances. State v. Branstetter, 2009 Kan. App. LEXIS 11 (January 23, 2009). Telling a person to come home or be arrested for felony fleeing implicated the Fourth Amendment because the person would not feel capable of freely not complying. Silvan W. v. Briggs, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 1520 (10th Cir. January 23, 2009) (unpublished).* The knock-and-announce statute, 18 U.S.C. § 3109, was not violated by officers entering with their guns drawn after defendant failed to answer the door...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on January 30, 2009 (boomark / email).