Opinion ID: 6341114
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Search of Edwards’s Outlander

Text: On November 9, 2018, the Madison Police Department obtained a search warrant for the Outlander. Oﬃcers searched the vehicle and recovered a loaded 9mm handgun, cash, drugs, gloves, a ski mask, and items from Woods’s purse. Law enforcement returned the warrant on November 12, 2018, sealed the Outlander with evidence tape, and stored it in an impound facility without conducting a separate inventory search. In December 2018, Woods was incarcerated and awaiting trial. Edwards was still missing. The night of her arrest, Woods informed oﬃcers that her personal handgun was in a pink purse in the back of “Moe’s” car. Now, Woods’s counsel asked the government for the money in Woods’s purse to fund her jail account. Because the purse was not in the inventory of seized property, law enforcement believed it must still be in the Outlander. No. 20-3297 5 On January 1, 2019, Detective Johnson broke the evidence tape sealing the Outlander and entered the vehicle through the front passenger side door to retrieve Woods’s purse. Realizing that the purse was in the back seat, he reached over the front seat and inadvertently bumped into the sunglasses holder on the ceiling. The holder dislodged and revealed a hidden compartment. As he attempted to reinsert the holder, Detective Johnson immediately recognized a Glock handgun stashed in the compartment. He left the Outlander and contacted a federal prosecutor, who advised Detective Johnson to get a search warrant, which FBI Agent Boxwell obtained. Law enforcement oﬃcers searched the vehicle and found a knit cap and Glock handgun bearing Edwards’s ﬁngerprints.