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Traffic stop revealing suspended license can lead to search incident

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Defendant's stop was for a minor misdemeanor, but it revealed that defendant was driving on a suspended license, and that justified a search incident. State v. Singleton, 2008 Ohio 3557, 2008 Ohio App. LEXIS 3008 (8th Cir. July 17, 2008).* Maine's commercial truck checkpoint statute constitutionally permitted the defendant's checkpoint stop and review of his logbook and toll receipts under Burger. When the logbook looked false, the officer had probable cause for a search of the cab. State v. Melvin, 2008 ME 118, 2008 Me. LEXIS 119 (July 17, 2008).* Officer's subjective determination that he did not have probable cause for a blood test was not determinative. Here, there objectively was probable cause. State v. Preston, 2008 Ga. App. LEXIS 842 (July 11, 2008): The fact that the officer did not believe he had probable cause to request the blood test does not require a different finding on whether the circumstances in fact gave rise to probable cause to support the request...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on July 19, 2008 (boomark / email).