Court Opinion

ID: 9580072
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:01:34.730362+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:36:00.631030
License: Public Domain

MELLOY, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I concur in the judgment of the court and write separately to address concerns I have about the automobile search analyzed in Section II.A. Despite this seemingly straightforward application of the automobile exception, aspects of this case give me pause. As the Nissan provided the crucial link to the home at 7339 Wabash, it is curious that officers did not seek a warrant for the car. Searches conducted pursuant to a warrant are always preferred. See Georgia v. Randolph, 547 U.S. 103, 117, 126 S.Ct. 1515, 164 L.Ed.2d 208 (2006) (“ ‘[T]he informed and deliberate determinations of magistrates empowered to issue warrants as to what searches and seizures are permissible under the Constitution are to be preferred over the hurried action of officers[.]’ ”) (quoting United States v. Lefkowitz, 285 U.S. 452, 464, 52 S.Ct. 420, 76 L.Ed. 877 (1932)). In contrast to many other instances where the automobile exception provided the grounds to search a car, in this case probable cause did not develop immediately prior to the search. Officers obtained no new information during the search of the residence to augment their existing suspicions about the car. Cf. United States v. Rowland, 341 F.3d 774, 785 (8th Cir.2003) (stating that evidence uncovered during a Terry search provided probable cause to search the entire car under the automobile exception). Nor was there any contraband in plain view. Cf. United States v. Fladten, 230 F.3d 1083, 1086 (8th Cir.2000) (per curiam) (upholding a search of a car parked in the driveway of a home subject to search pursuant to a warrant when officers observed items commonly used for the manufacture of methamphetamine in plain view). The lack of plain view evidence or additional incriminating information undermines any argument that it was impractical for the officers to obtain a warrant for the Nissan in advance of the search.
Additionally, the car was parked in Blaylock’s driveway. This court has previously upheld a warrantless search of a car parked in the driveway of a residence. Id. However, other courts have expressed reservations about applying the automobile exception doctrine to cars encountered on private property. See United States v. Fields, 456 F.3d 519, 524-25 (5th Cir.2006) (noting that the automobile exception “may not apply when a vehicle is parked at the residence of the criminal defendant challenging the constitutionality of the search”); United States v. Brookins, 345 F.3d 231, 237 n. 8 (4th Cir.2003) (suggesting that “heightened privacy interests may be triggered when a vehicle is encountered on private property”); but see United States v. Hines, 449 F.3d 808, 810, 815 (7th Cir.2006) (applying the automobile exception to a car parked on a private driveway); United States v. Markham, 844 F.2d 366, 369 (6th Cir.1988) (same).
*929The officers encountered the Nissan exactly where they expected to find it— parked in front of Blaylock’s residence— and learned nothing about the car that was not known prior to applying for a warrant for the house, but not the car. Yet the car search is justified by an exception to the warrant requirement originally grounded upon practical difficulties occurring when officers encounter a moving vehicle on a public road and develop probable cause during the encounter. Allowing for a war-rantless search in this context seems antithetical to the automobile exception as originally conceived; as the Carroll Court stated, “[i]n cases where the securing of a warrant is reasonably practicable, it must be used.” Carroll, 267 U.S. at 156, 45 S.Ct. 280.4 Regardless, the Court has more recently stated, “[i]f a car is readily mobile and probable cause exists to believe it contains contraband, the Fourth Amendment thus permits police to search the vehicle without more.” Labron, 518 U.S. at 940, 116 S.Ct. 2485. I interpret “without more” to foreclose the imposition of a requirement to obtain a warrant when probable cause is established well before a search of a car is conducted or the consideration of the location of the vehicle on private property. While I am troubled by the cavalier attitude towards obtaining a warrant this case represents, I concur in the court’s opinion upholding the search under the expansive reading of the automobile exception articulated by the Supreme Court.

. I acknowledge that the Court has steered away from the Carroll Court's suggestion that a warrant should be used when possible. See, e.g., Maryland v. Dyson, 527 U.S. 465, 466-67, 119 S.Ct. 2013, 144 L.Ed.2d 442 (1999) (per curiam) (rejecting a contention that a search pursuant to the automobile exception was invalid because the officers had time to obtain a warrant prior to searching the car, but declined to do so).