Opinion ID: 2590211
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Seizure of business binder containing list from trunk of defendant's car

Text: Defendant contends investigating officers improperly seized from the trunk of his car the business binder, later found to contain the list of cryptic entries that the prosecution maintained was a death list. He argues the justifications asserted for the seizure (i.e., to check for fingerprints and bodily fluid residues) were unreasonable given the circumstances of Gambrel's death and the apparent absence of any such residues on the binder. Defendant, however, fails to acknowledge the warrant authorized the seizure of various types of papers, including any written material pertaining to the homicide, papers and identification from areas of death scene tending to show identity and or relationship of victim to potential suspect or suspects and papers and identification showing owner, occupier or person who has dominion and control of vehicle. As the Attorney General notes, at the time of the search it may have appeared the binder could contain information showing who was in possession of the car, information indicating some relationship between the victim and defendant, or information concerning a motive for murder. That defendant, on arrest, stated Gambrel was a hitchhiker did not foreclose a search for such information among the papers in the trunk of defendant's car, inasmuch as (assuming the truth of the statement) written material pertaining to the homicide could include a written plan or notes prepared in advance of the crime.