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VT: Search incident of defendant's backpack was unreasonable

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Defendant was the target of a controlled buy of marijuana that had recently been brought across the border in a backpack and the courier detained. The courier agreed to make the delivery. When the police heard the code words on the wire, they came in to make the arrest, and found another backpack that belonged to defendant. The warrantless search of his own backpack violated the Vermont Constitution. The court rejects claims that just because the controlled delivery happened in a public place defendant had no expectation of privacy in the closed container. State v. Birchard, 2010 VT 57, 2010 Vt. LEXIS 55 (June 24, 2010): [*P13] In Savva, we announced the rule controlling our decision today that police cannot open and search a closed container when there is ample opportunity to obtain a warrant prior to doing so...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on June 29, 2010 (boomark / email).