Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Fourth Amendment

Criminal Law

: Fourth Amendment

TX2: Automobile exception applies to boat on the water

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Game wardens approached a boat on Lake Lewisville TX to conduct a safety check because it had improper lighting. They smelled and observed smoking of marijuana on the boat, and they conducted a search of the boat’s glove compartment and defendant’s wallet for marijuana. The search of the wallet was valid because it was a place where marijuana could be hidden for purposes of the automobile exception, which applies to boats on water. Dahlem v. State, 2010 Tex. App. LEXIS 3488 (Tex. App. — Ft. Worth May 6, 2010). A truant officer saw a car parked in a handicapped spot without a placard or proper plate and the windows were fogged up. He parked behind the car and talked to the occupants, who were stoned. The driver had been “tweaking...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on May 15, 2010 (boomark / email).