Court Opinion

ID: 9473831
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 04:40:46.816393+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:43:45.344915
License: Public Domain

HUG, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I concur in the majority opinion and add these comments.
The clear plastic bag containing white powder justified a seizure, just as the white powder in plain view in a plastic bag justified a seizure in U.S. v. Jacobsen, 466 U.S. 109, 104 S.Ct. 1652, 1660, 80 L.Ed.2d 85 (1984). The subsequent testing of the white powder in this case by the agent did not constitute a search, just as the testing of the white powder did not constitute a search in Jacobsen, 104 S.Ct. at 1662. However, the opening of the fiberglass container clearly did constitute a search. It went far beyond testing the powder to determine whether it was a controlled substance.
As I view the single-purpose container exception, a warrantless seizure is permitted because it is so obvious that the contraband is within the container that it is equivalent to seizing contraband itself that is in plain view. In this case, once the suspected contraband, the white powder, was tested and found not to be a controlled substance, there was no justification for going further to search the package without a search warrant.
The plurality opinion in Robbins v. California, 453 U.S. 420, 101 S.Ct. 2841 (1981), stated, “In short, the negative implication of the'Sanders opinion is that, unless the container is such that the contents may be said to be in plain view, those contents are fully protected by the Fourth Amendment.” Id. at 427, 101 S.Ct. at 2846, and the Court went on to explain, “a container must so clearly announce its contents, whether by its distinctive configuration, its transparency or otherwise, that its contents are obvious to an observer,” id. at 428, 101 S.Ct. at 2847. It cannot be said that this package of white powder so clearly announced that within it was a container holding cocaine that it was obvious to an observer. It was, indeed, suspicious and Agent Markonni’s experience with narcotics wrapped in packages with various substances enclosing narcotics would furnish probable cause for a search warrant, but it did not provide a basis for a warrantless search of the opaque fiberglass container within the bag.
My reading of the Supreme Court’s cases on this issue convinces me that a far greater degree of certainty is required for a warrantless search of a container than the probable cause necessary to seize it. Justice Stevens’ concurring opinion in Texas v. Brown, 460 U.S. 730, 751, 103 S.Ct. 1535, 1548, 75 L.Ed.2d 502 (1983), describes it as a “virtual certainty.” The plurality opinion in Robbins indicated that the single-purpose container doctrine would apply in that case if the package could “only” contain marijuana. 453 U.S. at 428, 101 S.Ct. at 2847. There was not a degree of certainty in this case that the package contained cocaine sufficient to justify a warrantless search under the single-purpose container rule.