Opinion ID: 1742701
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: blood in truck

Text: Ball contends that Arnold's testimony that he saw bloodstains inside Ball's truck should have been suppressed because Arnold illegally searched and seized the truck the morning of the murder. Arnold testified that his supervising officers sent him to Ball's truck around 6 a.m. to look for evidence and to secure the truck. After walking around the truck, he found nothing unusual. He then opened the truck's door and conducted a cursory inspection of the truck's interior. He claimed to be inventorying the truck for valuables, but admitted he did not follow State Patrol protocol for inventory searches until later in the investigation. Five to ten minutes after arriving, Arnold noticed what appeared to be blood. He then told his fellow officers what he found and stayed with the truck until 8:30 a.m., when it was towed to an impound lot. Arnold admitted that once he arrived on the scene, he would not have released the truck to Ball. The trial court justified admitting this evidence under three alternate rationales: (1) plain view, (2) inventory, and (3) inevitable discovery. In its suppression order, the court found that the observation of the bloodstains in Ball's truck was admissible under both the plain view and the inevitable discovery doctrines. Moreover, when ruling on Ball's renewed suppression motion and on his new trial motion, the court found that it would also be admissible as an inventory search. Because we find the evidence admissible under the inevitable discovery doctrine, we need not address the other findings. Both the U.S. and Nebraska Constitutions guarantee an individual the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. See, U.S. Const. amend. IV; Neb. Const. art. I, § 7. But if the State shows by a preponderance of the evidence that the police would have obtained the disputed evidence by proper police investigation entirely independent of the illegal investigative conduct, then such evidence is admissible under the inevitable discovery doctrine. See State v. Andersen, 232 Neb. 187, 440 N.W.2d 203 (1989). Ball argues that the State failed to meet its burden of establishing that the evidence would inevitably have been discovered by lawful means. In its suppression order, the trial court held that the evidence in the truck would have been discovered later that day when the State Patrol inventoried the truck. Ball, however, disputes this, arguing that there was no independent investigation into the truck and no legal source for a later inventory. To overcome its burden, the State must demonstrate that some lawful means of discovery would have produced the evidence in question; that is, such evidence inevitably would have been discovered without the police misconduct. Id. Moreover, courts have recognized that evidence which would have been discovered in the course of a lawful inventory search can be admissible under the inevitable discovery doctrine. See, e.g., U.S. v. Alvarez-Gonzalez, 319 F.3d 1070 (8th Cir.2003); State v. McGuire, 218 Neb. 511, 357 N.W.2d 192 (1984). See, also, Annot., 81 A.L.R. Fed. 331 (1987 & Supp.2005) (collecting cases). Here, the record shows that the State Patrol knew Ball left his truck sitting by the side of the road. It also shows that the State Patrol has an inventory policy for abandoned vehicles which would have allowed Arnold to impound Ball's truck and inventory its contents if Ball did not move it within 24 hours. Ball was arrested around 6:50 a.m.; he could not move his truck while in custody. Later that day, Arnold inventoried the truck according to the State Patrol's policy. Although Arnold impounded the truck prematurely after identifying the bloodstains, if he had not noticed the blood, the truck would have remained by the side of the road until the 24 hours had passed. At that point, Arnold would have lawfully entered the truck, inventoried it, and discovered the bloodstains just as he did earlier that day. Thus, even if the truck was illegally searched and seized, sufficient evidence exists that the blood would have been identified during a proper inventory search 24 hours later.