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NM commerical truck inspection is constitutionally valid

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Administrative search exception for commercial trucks permits opening the back of a tractor trailer to inspect load or to ascertain there is no load, as the driver represents. Otherwise, merely representing there is no load would defeat an entry. This truck was stopped near a point of entry and marijuana was found. United States v. Mitchell, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 4505 (10th Cir. February 29, 2008): Mitchell acknowledges this court has previously considered the constitutionality of the New Mexico regulatory scheme governing commercial carriers and held the statute was constitutional. Vasquez-Castillo, 258 F.3d at 1211-12; see also United States v. Gwathney, 465 F.3d 1133, 1139-40 (10th Cir. 2006). . . . Mitchell also argues the officer's order to unlock the trailer exceeded the scope of the permissible § 65-5-1 inspections because Mitchell told the officer there was no cargo in the trailer and there was therefore no justification for inspecting the inside of the trailer...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on March 04, 2008 (boomark / email).