STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLANT,
v.
JOSEPH LEO LANDRY, APPELLEE
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Florida reversed the suppression order, holding that an officer lawfully opened a duffel bag during an inventory search of defendant's car because probable cause existed when the bag resembled a recently stolen bag containing firearms.
An officer may open a closed container during an inventory search of a lawfully stopped vehicle when probable cause exists to search that container.
[1] Probable cause to search a lawfully stopped vehicle justifies opening closed containers within the vehicle without a standardized procedure for doing so.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“when probable cause exists to justify the search of a lawfully stopped vehicle, it justifies the search of every part of the vehicle and its contents”
Court citing United States v. Ross for the principle that probable cause to search a vehicle extends to all containers within it.
Police stopped defendant's car for driving with a suspended license and arrested him. During an inventory search, an officer found a duffel bag that r…
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PER CURIAM.
We reverse the order granting defendant’s motion to suppress a duffel bag, and firearms found in the bag, during an inventory search of defendant’s car following the stop of the car and defendant’s arrest for driving with a suspended driver’s license.
The stop and inventory search were valid. See State v. Irvin, 483 So. 2d 461 (Fla. 5th DCA), rev. denied, 491 So. 2d 279 (1986); State v. Holmes, 256 So. 2d 32 (Fla. 2d DCA 1971), approved, 273 So. 2d 753 (1972). The officer who found the firearms was entitled to open the bag after he saw that it looked like the duffel bag which had been recently stolen, together with firearms, from the sheriff’s department offices and had felt firearms inside the bag. United States v. Ross, 456 U.S. 798, 825, 102 S.Ct. 2157, 2173, 72 L.Ed.2d 572, 594 (1982) (when probable cause exists to justify “the search of a lawfully stopped vehicle, it justifies the search of every part of the vehicle and its contents”). See also United States v. Portillo, 633 F. 2d 1313 (9th Cir.1980), cert. denied, 450 U.S. 1043, 101 S.Ct. 1764, 68 L.Ed.2d 241 (1981). Although the evidence did not show that a standardized procedure had been established for the law enforcement officials to open closed containers during such a search, State v. Wells, 539 So. 2d 464 (Fla.1989), does not require a contrary result. Here, in contrast to the situation in Wells, there was, as we have indicated, probable cause to search the bag.
Reversed and remanded for proceedings consistent herewith.
CAMPBELL, C.J., and LEHAN and ALTENBERND, JJ., concur.
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Citator
Cited By
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Brown v. State, 24 So. 3d 671 (Fla. 5th DCA 2009)…. 3d 1063, 1067 (8th Cir.1996) (involving search after arrest for driving with suspended license); United States v. Byrd, 47 F. 3d 1170, 1177, 1995 WL 72299 (6th Cir.1995) (upholding search incident to arrest for traffic violation); State v. Landry, 543 So. 2d 314 (Fla. 2d DCA 1989) (upholding search of vehicle and duffel bag after arrest for driving with suspended license); State v. Irvin, 483 So. 2d 461, 463 n. 3 (Fla. 5th DCA 1986) (holding initial stop for driving with suspended license validates search i…
Authorities Cited
- United States v. Ross, 456 U.S. 798 (U.S. 1982)
- State v. Wells, 539 So. 2d 464 (Fla. 1989)
- United States v. Portillo, 633 F.2d 1313 (9th Cir. 1980)
- State v. Holmes, 256 So. 2d 32 (Fla. 2d DCA 1971)
- Shelton v. United States, 450 U.S. 1043 (U.S. 1981)
- Moore v. Baker, 450 U.S. 1043 (U.S. 1981)
- State v. Irvin, 483 So. 2d 461 (Fla. 5th DCA 1986)
- Holmes v. State, 273 So. 2d 753 (Fla. 1972)