Opinion ID: 2582263
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Scope of Warrant

Text: Next, the defendant contends that officers exceeded the scope of the search warrant. The Court of Appeals panel in this case refused to consider this issue on the ground it was never raised before the trial court. Schoonover, slip op. at 31. On review, defendant points to a handwritten, pro se Motion to Dismiss which includes the statement: The result of the search went way beyond [the] scope of [the] search warrant. We will, therefore, consider the merits of his argument. The search warrant stated there was probable cause to believe the offenses of possession of anhydrous ammonia in an unapproved container and felony possession of drug paraphernalia had been committed and authorized officers to seize anhydrous ammonia, coffee filters, Coleman fuel, and an insulated Igloo cooler as evidence of these offenses. Officers seized over 40 items from the defendant's vehicle, including various items of drug paraphernalia as well as a pill bottle containing a white powder which turned out to be ephedrine and a plastic bag containing a green leafy substance which turned out to be marijuana. The defendant's argument seems to be that the searching officers only had the authority to enter the car to seize the exact items listed in the search warrant and could not look into containers such as the defendant's duffel bag for further evidence of the suspected offenses. That is clearly not the law. When a lawful search is conducted pursuant to a warrant, officers may open a container such as a duffle bag if the object of their search could be found inside. See State v. Yardley, 267 Kan. 37, 41, 978 P.2d 886 (1999). Furthermore, all of the items seized by the officers in executing the search warrant had a logical nexus with the items listed in the warrant, thus the unnamed items were admissible. See United States v. Gentry, 642 F.2d 385, 387 (10th Cir. 1981) (When a logical nexus exists between seized but unnamed items and those items listed in the warrant, the unnamed items are admissible.).