Opinion ID: 626752
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Warrantless Search of Automobile

Text: Investigator Suber searched Lebowitz's car after he was arrested at K.S.'s residence, and discovered evidence of Lebowitz's intentions, including sleeping bags and a zip-lock bag full of condoms and lubricants. The district court refused to suppress the evidence seized from Lebowitz's car. We review the district court's findings of fact for clear error. United States v. Farley, 607 F.3d 1294, 1325-26 (11th Cir.2010). The application of the exclusionary rule's good-faith exception is a legal issue we review de novo. United States v. Martin, 297 F.3d 1308, 1312 (11th Cir.2002). Even assuming Investigator Suber's search of Lebowitz's car violated his Fourth Amendment rights, the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule applies to a police officer's reliance on binding Circuit precedent. Davis v. United States, ___ U.S. ___, 131 S.Ct. 2419, 2429, 180 L.Ed.2d 285 (2011). In searching the car, Investigator Suber relied on our precedent, which until recently allowed a search incident to a recent occupant's arrest regardless of the occupant's ability to access the passenger compartment. See United States v. Davis, 598 F.3d 1259, 1262 (11th Cir.2010), aff'd, ___ U.S. ___, 131 S.Ct. 2419, 180 L.Ed.2d 285 (2011); United States v. Gonzalez, 71 F.3d 819, 825-26 (11th Cir.1996). Investigator Suber's good-faith reliance on that precedent precludes exclusion of the evidence seized from Lebowitz's car. The district court correctly denied the motion to suppress.