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OH8: Criminal trespass does not support SI; legally parked car couldn't be towed for inventory

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Defendant’s arrest was for criminal trespass, so a search incident was invalid under Gant. Defendant’s car was legally parked, so impounding the car and inventorying it was unreasonable. A general claim the good faith exception should apply was also rejected. State v. Dent, 2011 Ohio 1235, 2011 Ohio App. LEXIS 1069 (8th Dist. March 17, 2011)*: [*P16] In the instant case, Lasker testified that he arrested Dent for criminal trespass and inventoried the Pontiac prior to the tow. However, the Pontiac was legally parked at the time of Dent’s arrest and would have been legally parked until 3:00 a.m. “‘This court has held that police may not seize a defendant’s car and conduct an inventory search following a defendant's arrest where it was legally parked and no public concern existed which required the removal of the car from its legally parked place...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on March 22, 2011 (boomark / email).