Court Opinion

ID: 9730708
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 15:21:18.76018+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:08.708957
License: Public Domain

N. J. Kaufman, J.
(concurring). I am concurring separately, because I want to stress that I am not giving lip service to anything but what I deem to be the law. The dissenting opinion bases part of its conclusion on the fact that the serial numbers on the allegedly stolen snowblower were the same numbers reported by complainant. This is true; however, the dissent does not discuss the fact that the police officer entered the garage for the purpose of checking this serial number. It is this part of the search which provided the officer with most of his probable cause. I do not know a great deal about snowblowers, but I assume that they all look pretty much alike. I do agree with Judge Bashara that once the police saw the identity of the numbers, exigent circumstances existed. However, this does not alter my conclusion that there was initially insufficient probable cause for the search. Wong Sun v United States, 371 US 471; 83 S Ct 407; 9 L Ed 2d 441 (1963).