Opinion ID: 1060645
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Cite and Release Statute and the Fourth Amendment

Text: A warrantless search is presumed unreasonable and thus violates the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 7 of the Tennessee Constitution. See Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443, 454-55, 91 S.Ct. 2022, 2032, 29 L.Ed.2d 564, 576 (1971); see also Yeargan, 958 S.W.2d at 629. An exception to the warrant requirement is a search incident to a lawful custodial arrest. When an officer places an individual under lawful custodial arrest, an officer is permitted to make a warrantless search incident to the custodial arrest. See United States v. Robinson, 414 U.S. 218, 235, 94 S.Ct. 467, 477, 38 L.Ed.2d 427, 440-41 (1973); see also Crutcher, 989 S.W.2d at 300. If an individual is unlawfully placed under custodial arrest, a subsequent search is also unlawful and evidence seized as a result of the unlawful search is suppressed and not admissible in the prosecution's case in chief. See Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 484-85, 83 S.Ct. 407, 416, 9 L.Ed.2d 441, 453-54 (1963); see also State v. Clark, 844 S.W.2d 597, 600 (Tenn.1992); Tenn. R.Crim. P. 41(f). As discussed, an officer is to issue a citation in lieu of custodial arrest unless the misdemeanant is unable to offer satisfactory evidence of his or her identification, in which case the officer must place the misdemeanant under full custodial arrest. Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-7-118(b)(1) & (c)(3) (1997). An officer makes a lawful custodial arrest, under Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-7-118(c)(3), when it is objectively reasonable to reject the evidence offered as proof of identification. In such cases a warrantless search incident to the custodial arrest is permitted. If, however, an officer's rejection of the evidence is objectively unreasonable, the custodial arrest and subsequent search are unlawful, and evidence gained as a result of the search must be suppressed.