Court Opinion

ID: 9486496
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 11:50:01.184309+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:51:45.257315
License: Public Domain

EMILIO M. GARZA, Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part:
For the reasons set forth previously, I continue to dissent in part.
Furthermore, I do not share the majority’s view that the central issue in this case — i.e., whether the briefcase was within Johnson’s “area of immediate control”4 — is a question of law to be reviewed de novo. The majority’s analogy to the standard this Court has adopted for reviewing probable cause determinations is not persuasive authority. Unlike issues of probable cause, the issue of whether an object is within a defendant’s area of immediate control does not require us to consider abstract legal doctrines, to weigh underlying policy considerations, or to balance competing legal interests. Consequently, the issue of immediate control is essentially a question of fact, which should be reviewed under a clearly erroneous standard.5 See Fed.R.Civ.P. 52(a).
This Court has not definitively stated what standard of review applies when reviewing a Chimel determination of immediate control. The Seventh and Eighth Circuits review such determinations for clear error. See United States v. Morales, 923 F.2d 621, 627 (8th Cir.1991) (“We conclude that the finding of the magistrate adopted by the district court that the bags were within Morales’ area of immediate control is not clearly erroneous.”); United States v. Bennett, 908 F.2d 189, 193 (7th Cir.1990) (“We find that although the defendants were handcuffed and placed against the wall of the room at the time of the search, the facts of this case are such that the district court’s finding that the search was limited to the area within their immediate control is not clearly erroneous.”). The Ninth Circuit reviews Chimel determinations of immediate control de novo. See United States v. McConney, 728 F.2d 1195, 1206-07 (9th Cir.1984) (en bane).
For the foregoing reasons, I would review for clear error the district court’s determination that Johnson’s briefcase was within his area of immediate control.

. See Chimel v. California, 395 U.S. 752, 89 S.Ct. 2034, 23 L.Ed.2d 685 (1969).

. That the issue of immediate control may be considered an ultimate question of fact, dependent upon certain subsidiary facts, does not mean that Rule 52(a) no longer applies. See Pullman-Standard v. Swint, 456 U.S. 273, 286, 102 S.Ct. 1781, 1789, 72 L.Ed.2d 66 (1982) (holding that ultimate findings of fact are reviewed for clear error). To the extent that the issue of immediate control may be considered a mixed question of law and fact — i.e., because it involves an application of the Chimel rule to the established facts — the general rule in this Circuit is that such questions are freely reviewable. See, e.g., Barrientos v. United States, 668 F.2d 838, 841 (5th Cir.1982). However, we have recognized that to the extent such questions are predominantly factual, they are reviewable for clear error. See, e.g., Connally v. Transcon Lines, 583 F.2d 199, 202 (5th Cir.1978); Backar v. Western States Prod. Co., 547 F.2d 876, 884 (5th Cir. 1977).