NCJ Number
129359
Date Published
1991
Length
84 pages
Annotation
The U.S. Supreme Court cases presented pertain to arrests and associated searches; field detentions and related searches; traffic stops, sobriety checkpoints, and related detentions, and "pretext" detentions.
Abstract
Chimel v. California (1969) held that a warrantless search incident to the execution of an arrest warrant is unconstitutional if it extends to an area beyond the immediate vicinity of the arrestee. New York v. Belton (1981) ruled that a search of the passenger compartment of a car incident to the lawful arrest of the driver is permissible so long as the area is within the immediate control of the driver. In Terry v. Ohio (1968), the Court held that a search of arrestees incident to an arrest to determine possession of weapons is constitutional, and any weapons seized in such a search may be properly admitted as evidence against the person from whom they were taken. Florida v. Royer (1983) ruled that Royer was being illegally detained when he consented to the search of his luggage at an airport, so that the consent was tainted by the illegality of the detention and thus insufficient to justify the search. In Michigan v. Sitz (1990) the Court determined that a State's use of highway sobriety checkpoints does not violate the fourth and fourteenth amendments of the Constitution. In State v. Blair (1985), the Court held that an arrest for one offense used as a pretext to obtain evidence for another unrelated offense warrants suppression of the evidence. Notes on each case are included.