Case Summaries: Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals - December, 2019

This post summarizes criminal and related decisions published by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in December, 2019. Decisions of interest to state practitioners will be posted on a monthly basis. Previous Fourth Circuit case summaries are available here. Where search was conducted pursuant to valid inventory search procedure, discovery of firearm was inevitable U.S. v. Seay, 944 F.3d 220 (Dec. 4, 2019). In this case from the Eastern District of Virginia, police were called to a hotel to assist removing a “difficult” occupant. Officers went to the room and the occupants (the defendant and a woman) agreed to leave. The defendant carried a clear plastic bag when he left. Officers searched the room after they left, finding a bullet in the toilet and drug paraphernalia wrapped in women’s clothing. The defendant and woman were brought back to the room and interviewed separately. Officers decided to arrest the woman for the paraphernalia but wanted to determine who owned the other property. The woman acknowledged that the property in the clear bag was jointly owned by her and the defendant. A gun was found inside the bag and the defendant was indicted for possession of firearm by felon. He moved to suppress. The trial court granted the motion as to the defendant’s statements during the interview in the hotel room but denied the motion as to the firearm, finding that the gun would have inevitably been discovered. The defendant appealed. Inevitable discovery is an exception to the exclusionary rule that allows evidence [...]