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IN: Test firing defendant's gun in inventory and sending it to IBIS was not an unreasonable search

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Defendant's gun was taken during a 2004 traffic stop and test-fired with the results going into IBIS (Integrated Ballistic Identification System) under a departmental policy of testing all guns in inventory. In 2006, the gun was linked to a murder and then back to the defendant. The 2004 test of the gun was not unreasonable. Engram v. State, 2008 Ind. App. LEXIS 2035 (September 19, 2008): Engram also argues that the results of the 2004 ballistic test should have been suppressed because the test was performed without probable cause in violation of the Fourth Amendment. As noted above, the police department test-fired Engram's handgun pursuant to a department policy. That policy required test-firing on all handguns of specified calibers that are in police custody, as well as documentation of the results in a national database...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on September 23, 2008 (boomark / email).