Opinion ID: 2618246
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: search of the defendant's automobile was constitutional

Text: The defendant does not contest the validity of the initial stop by Officer Graves or his authority to arrest the defendant for failure to maintain insurance. The State asserts that the search of the defendant's car was a valid search incident to arrest as authorized by New York v. Belton, 453 U.S. 454, 101 S.Ct. 2860, 69 L.Ed.2d 768 (1981). The defendant asserts that Belton does not give a police officer unbridled discretion to conduct a search of an automobile after arresting an occupant of that automobile, but that the police officer must still have a reasonable belief or other justifiable reason to search for a weapon or evidence of the crime for which the individual is arrested. The defendant misreads the Belton decision. The Belton Court stated: Accordingly, we hold that when a policeman has made a lawful custodial arrest of the occupant of an automobile, he may, as a contemporaneous incident of that arrest, search the passenger compartment of that automobile. It follows from this conclusion that the police may also examine the contents of any containers found within the passenger compartment, for if the passenger compartment is within reach of the arrestee, so also will containers in it be within his reach. Id., 453 U.S. at 460, 101 S.Ct. at 2864 (citations and footnotes omitted). In part, Belton relied upon United States v. Robinson, 414 U.S. 218, 94 S.Ct. 467, 38 L.Ed.2d 427 (1973), and applied it to those situations involving the arrest of an occupant of an automobile. The Belton opinion explained: The authority to search the person incident to a lawful custodial arrest, while based upon the need to disarm and to discover evidence, does not depend on what a court may later decide was the probability in a particular arrest situation that weapons or evidence would in fact be found upon the person of the suspect. A custodial arrest of a suspect based on probable cause is a reasonable intrusion under the Fourth Amendment; that intrusion being lawful, a search incident to the arrest requires no additional justification.  (Emphasis added.) Id., 453 U.S. at 461, 101 S.Ct. at 2864, quoting from United States v. Robinson, 414 U.S. 218, 235, 94 S.Ct. 467, 476, 38 L.Ed.2d 427 (1973). The effect of Belton was to apply the rule of Chimel v. California, 395 U.S. 752, 89 S.Ct. 2034, 23 L.Ed.2d 685 (1969), which authorized police officers to search the area within the immediate control of the arrestee. Id., 395 U.S. at 763, 89 S.Ct. at 2040. Chimel recognized that a valid arrest supported a search of the area within the immediate control of the arrestee for evidence and weapons without further justification. Belton applied the Chimel rule to automobile cases and defined the area within the immediate control of the arrestee as the passenger compartment of the automobile. We have recognized the authority of police officers to search the passenger compartment of an automobile incident to the arrest of an occupant. This Court first applied the Belton rule in State v. Calegar, 104 Idaho 526, 661 P.2d 311 (1983). In State v. Smith, 120 Idaho 77, 813 P.2d 888 (1991), we stated that, pursuant to Belton, the police officers involved were justified in searching the interior of the automobile, including any containers, as soon as the defendant was placed under arrest. Id., 120 Idaho at 80, 813 P.2d at 891. Once having made a lawful custodial arrest of an occupant of an automobile, there is no need for further justification in order to search the passenger compartment of an automobile. In this case, the defendant does not contest the fact that Officer Graves made a lawful custodial arrest after which he searched the defendant's car. Therefore, we affirm the trial court's denial of the defendant's motion to suppress.