Court Opinion

ID: 9566902
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 19:44:36.751168+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:40:48.139155
License: Public Domain

Judge McCRODDEN
concurring in the result.
I concur with the majority on the disposition of the issues concerning the two investigatory stops. As to the issue of the search of the defendant, however, I concur only in the result. The majority cites no authority, and indeed my research can disclose no case law, for the proposition, implied by the majority, that, for the purpose of determining the existence of probable cause for a warrantless search, a search begins when law enforcement officers make the decision to search. The proper time to determine whether there is probable cause to justify a warrantless search is immediately before law enforcement officers begin the actual search because, at any point prior to that, the officers may abandon the search, and the target of the aborted search would have suffered no constitutional harm. To the extent that the majority opinion implies that we measure probable cause at an earlier point in time, I disavow it.
I believe that the officers in this case in actuality arrested defendant without probable cause immediately prior to searching her. I would therefore find the search in violation of defendant’s Fourth Amendment right and agree with the majority that the trial court should have granted defendant’s motion to suppress.