- Court: 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Archives
- Area(s) of Law: Constitutional Law
- Date Filed: 07-17-2012
- Case #: 11-10311
- Judge(s)/Court Below: Circuit Judge Bea for the Court, Circuit Judges Wallace and Callahan
Travis Pope appeals the denial of his motion to suppress evidence of his possession of marijuana. The issue at hand regards whether a Forest Law Enforcement Officer鈥檚 two separate commands constituted illegal searches, violating the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Pope admitted to the Officer he had been smoking marijuana, but denied having any 鈥渙n him.鈥 The Officer ordered Pope to 鈥渆mpty his pockets,鈥 but Pope made no move to empty them. After the Officer asked a second time about having marijuana in his possession, Pope admitted to the possession. The Officer told Pope to 鈥減lace the marijuana on the hood of the patrol car,鈥 which Pope complied with. The Court defines a Fourth Amendment 鈥渟earch鈥 as occurring 鈥渨hen the government infringes on a subjective expectation of privacy that society is prepared to recognize as reasonable.鈥 All agreed that Pope did have a reasonable expectation of privacy in his pockets, however when one does not comply with a command and 鈥渘othing already exposed to the public was revealed,鈥 the mere command does not intrude on that reasonable expectation of privacy. In addressing the first command, the Court contrasts Pope鈥檚 situation with cases where compliance with commands constitute searches. Since Pope did not comply, the command did not effectuate a search. In regards to the second command, the Court did find a Fourth Amendment search; however, they held this search to be permissible 鈥渂ecause the search was supported by probable cause to arrest, and because the evanescent nature of the evidence justified a limited warrantless search.鈥 The Court addressed three elements justifying a search without a warrant: 1] there is probable cause to arrest, 2] high risk evidence will be destroyed; and 3] the search 鈥渨as commensurate with the circumstances necessitating the intrusion.鈥 All criteria were met. AFFIRMED.