Opinion ID: 620949
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Search of Ochoa's Cell Phone

Text: Second, Ochoa challenges the search of his cell phone. The government argues in response that the search was legal and that, even if it was not, the district court properly denied the motion to suppress because the cell phone would have been inevitably discovered when officers later conducted a routine inventory search of the vehicle. The government made the same arguments at the hearing on the motion to suppress before the district court, and the district court denied the motion noting simply that it agree[d] with the government's position. We conclude that we need not determine whether the search itself was proper because, in any event, the cell phone would have inevitably been discovered pursuant to law enforcement's routine inventory search of the vehicle. The inevitable discovery doctrine applies if the Government demonstrates by a preponderance of the evidence that (1) there is a reasonable probability that the contested evidence would have been discovered by lawful means in the absence of police misconduct, and (2) the Government was actively pursuing a substantial alternate line of investigation at the time of the constitutional violation. See United States v. Zavala, 541 F.3d 562, 579 (5th Cir.2008). The government argues that Ochoa's cell phone would have been discovered during the lawful inventory of his vehicle. [A]n inventory search of a seized vehicle is reasonable and not violative of the Fourth Amendment if it is conducted pursuant to standardized regulations and procedures that are consistent with (1) protecting the property of the vehicle's owner, (2) protecting the police against claims or disputes over lost or stolen property, and (3) protecting the police from danger. Id. (quoting United States v. Hope, 102 F.3d 114, 116 (5th Cir.1996)). We have recognized that evidence initially seized improperly should not be suppressed if it would have been discovered pursuant normal police practices. United States v. Seals, 987 F.2d 1102, 1108 (5th Cir.1993); see also United States v. Castro, 166 F.3d 728, 734 (5th Cir.1999). Agent Robertson testified that DEA has standard operating procedures calling for an inventory of a vehicle to protect the agency from claims of lost or stolen property. Indeed, pursuant to those procedures, agents began taking an inventory of Ochoa's car shortly after the cell phone was seized. Further, there was at least a reasonable probability that the agents would have uncovered the cell phone, which had been ringing as one of the agents drove Ochoa's car to the agency, during the inventory. Accordingly, we hold that the district court properly denied the motion to suppress based on the inevitable discovery rule.