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N.D.W.Va.: SI of defendant's car valid under Gant even though defendant as put in police car; PC existed, and he had to be put in police car because ofhis own actions

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Search of defendant's car was valid as a search incident because the officer had probable cause to arrest defendant and believe that there was stolen property in the car. Defendant at first consented to the search if he could watch, but he became obnoxious and was put in the police car and withdrew his consent unless he could watch. Even though he was in the police car at the time, it was still valid under Gant. United States v. Williams, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 66706 (N.D. W.Va. July 31, 2009).* Motion to reopen suppression hearing would have been denied, so defense counsel was not ineffective. Brown v. United States, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 66887 (D. Me. June 8, 2009): I am confident that had counsel notified the court and/or moved to reopen the suppression hearing based on the information gleaned from the private investigator he would have been firmly rebuffed; quibbling with the court about the credibility of a witness at the suppression hearing with less than one month to go until trial would not have been a successful tactic...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on August 05, 2009 (boomark / email).