Opinion ID: 1176846
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Heading: Prior decisions by this court.

Text: Fundamentally, of course, the question to be decided in each case is whether the search and seizure was unreasonable. That determination involves a balancing of the right of privacy of an individual against the needs of the state. State v. Douglas, 260 Or. 60, 67, 488 P.2d 1366 (1971), cert. denied, 406 U.S. 974, 92 S.Ct. 2420, 32 L.Ed.2d 674 (1972). We have also held that whether a search was reasonable depends upon the facts and circumstances of each case. State v. McCoy, 249 Or. 160, 163, 437 P.2d 734 (1968). A search and seizure without a warrant is per se unreasonable, as a general rule, subject to some exceptions. One of the recognized exceptions to the warrant requirement is that when arrested, a person can be searched as an incident to that arrest. State v. Chinn, 231 Or. 259, 266, 373 P.2d 392 (1962). Despite decisions by the Supreme Court of the United States strictly construing the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States with reference to searches of places in the control of defendants at the time of their arrest and despite decisions by this court to the same effect, this court has frequently sustained searches of arrested persons. The seizure of lettters and other documents found on the persons of defendants at the time of their arrest was sustained in early decisions by this court. State v. McDaniel, 39 Or. 161, 169-170, 65 P. 520 (1901); State v. Wilkins, 72 Or. 77, 80, 142 P. 589 (1914); and State v. Duffy et al., 135 Or. 290, 306-307, 295 P. 953 (1931). See also State v. Ware, 79 Or. 367, 373, 154 P. 905, 155 P. 364 (1916); and State v. Laundy, 103 Or. 443, 494, 496, 204 P. 958, 206 P. 290 (1922). Similarly, the seizure of whiskey, drugs, guns or other contraband found on the persons of defendants at the time of their arrest has been sustained. State v. McDaniel, 115 Or. 187, 231 P. 965, 237 P. 373 (1925); State v. Hayes, 119 Or. 554, 556, 249 P. 637 (1926); State v. Dempster, 248 Or. 404, 407-408, 434 P.2d 746 (1967). See also State v. Johnson, 232 Or. 118, 122, 374 P.2d 481 (1962), and State v. Johnson, 249 Or. 55, 56, 437 P.2d 110 (1968). But see State v. Elkins, 245 Or. 279, 283, 422 P.2d 250 (1966). The court has also sustained the involuntary taking for examination and tests of the clothing of a previously arrrested person or a sample of blood from his body  a search and seizure far more drastic than the taking of the contents of his wallet or billfold. State v. Cram, 176 Or. 577, 582, 160 P.2d 283 (1945); State v. Tracy, 246 Or. 349, 359-361, 425 P.2d 171 (1967); and State v. Whitewater, 251 Or. 304, 307, 445 P.2d 594 (1968). [4] Thus, it is not surprising that this court has previously sustained the right of police officers to search the contents of the purse, wallet or billfold of an arrested person, as in this case. State v. Broadhurst, 184 Or. 178, 251, 196 P.2d 407 (1948). But see State v. O'Neal, 251 Or. 163, 166, 444 P.2d 951 (1968). In several of these cases, as in this case, the articles seized from the persons of arrested defendants were offered in evidence to sustain charges of crimes different from the crimes for which such persons were arrested, particularly when such articles constituted drugs or other contraband. State v. Hayes, supra ; State v. Dempster, supra ; and State v. Whitewater, supra . See also ORS 133.535. To the same effect, see State v. Christensen, 151 Or. 529, 534, 51 P.2d 835 (1935); State v. Johnson, supra ; State v. Turner, 237 Or. 609, 390 P.2d 177 (1964); and State v. Krogness, supra . But see State v. Elkins, supra , and State v. O'Neal, supra, 251 Or. at 166, 444 P.2d 951. See also State v. McCoy, supra, 249 Or. at 163, 437 P.2d 734; State v. Chinn, supra, 231 Or. at 274-278, 373 P.2d 392; and Note, 43 Or.L.Rev. 333 (1964). Although no specific reference was made to Article I, § 9, of the Oregon Constitution in some of these cases, the searches and seizures were sustained in several of these cases by opinions in which specific reference was made to Article I, § 9. State v. Laundy, supra, 103 Or. at 494, 204 P. 974; State v. McDaniel, supra, 115 Or. at 193 and 218, 231 P. 965; and State v. Duffy, supra, 135 Or. at 297, 295 P. 953. See also State v. Chinn, supra, 231 Or. 265, 296, 373 P.2d 392; State v. Krogness, supra, 238 Or. at 142, 388 P.2d 120; and State v. Elkins, supra, 245 Or. at 282, 422 P.2d 250. Various tests have been applied by this court in considering the validity of searches of the persons of arrested defendants, including the nature and scope of such searches. The general test, as stated in some of our more recent decisions, although in cases involving searches of automobiles, rather than of persons, is that the search must be reasonably related to the offense which prompts the arrest. State v. Krogness, supra, 238 Or. at 144, 388 P.2d at 124, and State v. Cloman, 254 Or. 1, 15, 456 P.2d 67 (1969). See also State v. O'Neal, supra, 251 Or. at 166, 444 P.2d 951 and State v. Chinn, supra, 231 Or. at 267, 373 P.2d 392. [5]