Hey, it’s Dave. I just learned a couple days ago about a case that recently was ruled on by the Supreme Court called Arizona v. Gant. Basically, Rodney Gant was arrested for driving under a suspended license and was placed in a patrol car before his own car was searched. During the search, officers found a bag of cocaine in a jacket pocket in the car. Gant was found guilty of cocaine possession in the state courts, but he and his lawyer appealed, saying that this was an unwarranted search which violated his 4th amendment rights.
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Gant was found to be correct by the time the Supreme Court ruled on the case, and the precedent set by New York v. Belton was overruled. To clarify, the NYv. B precedent said that if a citizen was placed under arrest, his vehicle was subject to a full warrantless search, and any evidence found could and would be used against them. This new ruling makes it a bit tougher on cops to just arrest people and invade their privacy.
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The only way an officer can legally search your vehicle now is if you appear to be reaching for a weapon, appear to be destroying or getting rid of evidence, have evidence in plain sight from outside the vehicle, or if there is reason to believe that there is evidence in the car linked to the crime at hand. For instance, if you get pulled over for speeding, they can’t search your vehicle on the grounds of drug possession unless there is clear probable cause.
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Anyway, this is a bit long winded, but I figured you should know that every once in awhile a little light still shines through from our government. The people have gained a little power back from the police. Now all we have to do is work on lowering their numbers; you’d think we were living under martial law with all the pigs around these days.
Easy,
- Dave