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IA: Mixed motive for inventory does not make it unreasonable if it was otherwise objectively reasonable

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Defendant was stopped when he pulled into a driveway. He was arrested for not having a DL, and the passenger didn’t have one either. He was allowed to call somebody to pick up his dog. Defendant claimed to know the people where he stopped, but nobody came to the door when the officer knocked. So, he decided to have the vehicle towed. The inventory was objectively valid, even if there was a mixed motive for it. State v. Dank, 2010 Iowa App. LEXIS 280 (April 8, 2010): "The legality of an inventory search depends on two overlapping inquiries: the validity of the impoundment and the scope of the inventory." Huisman, 544 N.W.2d at 436. If either is unreasonable, the search violates the Fourth Amendment and any evidence discovered in the search must be suppressed...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on April 10, 2010 (boomark / email).