State v. Ingram

The Supreme Court adopted a tighter legal framework for warrantless inventory searches and seizures of automobiles under Iowa Const. art. I, 8 than provided under the recent precedents of the United States Supreme Court.In his challenge to the search and seizure provision of article I, section 8 of the Iowa Constitution Defendant noted that a number of state courts have rejected the approach of the United States Supreme Court - which generally provides that warrantless inventory searches of automobiles are permissible if they are conducted pursuant to law enforcement policies that govern the decision to impound the vehicle and the nature and scope of any subsequent search - in favor of a more restrictive approach that sharply limits warrantless searches and seizures of automobiles.The Supreme Court ultimately held (1) the police should advise the owner or operator of the vehicle of the options to impoundment, and when impoundment is necessary, personal items may be retrieved from the vehicle, and if the vehicle is impounded, containers found within the vehicle will not be opened but stored for safekeeping as a unit unless the owner or operator directs otherwise; and (2) the impoundment and search in this case was outside the bounds of any constitutionally permissible local impoundment and inventory policy. View "State v. Ingram" on Justia Law