Opinion ID: 719818
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Legality of the Automobile Search

Text: 48 Lacey next argues that the district court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence seized during a warrantless search of his van. Lacey was arrested by the F.B.I. on July 5, 1989 as he met with Mary Friesen on a dirt road outside Wichita, Kansas. After arresting Lacey, the F.B.I. agents searched the interior of Lacey's van and seized a small amount of cocaine, a pager, and a few thousand dollars in cash. The district court concluded that the evidentiary items were seized pursuant to a valid automobile search incident to arrest. See New York v. Belton, 453 U.S. 454, 460, 101 S.Ct. 2860, 2864, 69 L.Ed.2d 768 (1981). On appeal, Lacey argues that the district court erred in this conclusion. 12 49 In reviewing a denial of a pre-trial suppression motion, we accept the factual findings of the district court unless they are clearly erroneous, and we consider the evidence in the light most favorable to the government. United States v. Morgan, 936 F.2d 1561, 1565 (10th Cir.1991), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 1102, 112 S.Ct. 1190, 117 L.Ed.2d 431 (1992). The ultimate determination of reasonableness under the Fourth Amendment is, however, a conclusion of law which is reviewed de novo. Ornelas v. United States, --- U.S. ----, ----, 116 S.Ct. 1657, 1663, 134 L.Ed.2d 911 (1996). 50 In Belton, the Supreme Court held that a police officer may conduct a contemporaneous warrantless search of the passenger compartment of a vehicle incident to a lawful arrest. 453 U.S. at 460, 101 S.Ct. at 2864. In creating this bright line rule for automobiles, the Court reasoned that articles inside the relatively narrow compass of the passenger compartment of an automobile are in fact generally, even if not inevitably, within 'the area into which an arrestee might reach in order to grab a weapon or evidentiary ite[m].'  Id. (quoting Chimel v. California, 395 U.S. 752, 763, 89 S.Ct. 2034, 2040, 23 L.Ed.2d 685 (1969)) (alteration in original). Lacey contends that because he had been handcuffed and placed on the ground at the time of the search, and because the door to his van was closed, there was no threat that he would reach inside the vehicle for a weapon or to destroy evidence. Thus, Lacey argues, the rationale for a search incident to arrest did not exist, and the resulting warrantless search of the van was unreasonable. 51 We have previously held that where an officer has made a lawful arrest of a suspect in an automobile, the officer may seize items of evidence found within the passenger compartment of the vehicle as part of a search incident to a lawful arrest, even when the suspect is outside of the vehicle and handcuffed. United States v. McKinnell, 888 F.2d 669, 672-73 (10th Cir.1989); United States v. Cotton, 751 F.2d 1146, 1148 (10th Cir.1985). Thus, we must reject Lacey's argument that the district court erred in failing to suppress the fruits of the vehicle search. Because the agents in this case effectuated a lawful arrest of Lacey, no warrant was required under our case law to contemporaneously search the passenger compartment of his van. 52