Search Incident to the Arrest of an Occupant of a Vehicle: Review and Update (Part II)

This topic was divided in two parts. This is Part II. Part I was posted yesterday. In yesterday’s blog post, I discussed the United States Supreme Court in 2009 ruling in Arizona v. Gant that significantly restricted an officer’s authority, based on the theory of search incident to arrest, to conduct a search of the passenger compartment of a vehicle after arresting an occupant or recent occupant. The Court ruled that officers may search a vehicle incident to arrest only if (1) the arrestee is unsecured and within reaching distance of the passenger compartment when the search is conducted, or (2) it is reasonable to believe that evidence relevant to the crime of arrest might be found in the vehicle. Gant ruled that officers in that case did not have a reasonable belief to search the arrested defendant’s vehicle for evidence of driving with a suspended license. The Court did not define reasonable to believe, but after Gant the North Carolina Supreme Court in State v. Mbacke, 365 N.C. 403 (2012), ruled that it is the equivalent of reasonable suspicion. I left for this blog post a discussion of circumstance (2), which has been the subject of almost all of the North Carolina cases decided since Gant. The only North Supreme Court case involving Arizona v. Gant is State v. Mbacke, cited above. The court reversed the court of appeals and ruled that a search of the defendant’s vehicle incident to his arrest for carrying a concealed gun did not violate [...]