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IA: Arrest five weeks after defendant's driving offense was not pretextual to cause a productive search incident

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Defendant's arrest five weeks after he was seen driving while barred under state law and the search incident that it occasioned was not shown to be pretextual. It was constitutional. State v. Christopher, 2008 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 125 (September 12, 2008): Christopher argues officers should not be allowed to "save up an arrest" in order to "conduct an otherwise illegal search under the guise of search incident to arrest." There is nothing in the record to suggest Butler arrested Christopher under pretext--i.e., there is no suggestion Butler had ulterior motives for making the arrest when he did. In any event, whether a Fourth Amendment violation has occurred does not turn on the officer's actual state of mind or subjective motives. See State v. Kubit, 627 N...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on September 16, 2008 (boomark / email).