Posted on 07/22/2013 10:41:15 PM PDT by Red Steel
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) —The Oregon Court of Appeals has broadened the reach of warrantless vehicle searches, adding to a controversial area of state law that has expanded police powers considerably since it was first taken up in the 1980s.
The court ruled this week that everything connected to a car, including a trailer, is available to a warrantless search. In doing so, it sided with prosecutors who had appealed a trial court's decision to invalidate a search.
The state law that gave police the power to search cars suspected of criminal involvement is rooted in a 1986 case that said police must first pull over a vehicle in order to search it without a warrant. That was later challenged and updated: Police had only to see the vehicle moving, or "encounter" it, to later search it.
The appeals court ruling this week stemmed from a drug bust in Silverton in 2011, when a detective watched Jerry E. Finlay sell methamphetamine to a police informant. Finlay drove to the meeting in a pickup truck towing a trailer, which he used to run his landscaping business.
In a second meeting later that year, the detective watched Finlay park at a restaurant. Finlay walked inside but quickly decided to leave and was arrested 100 feet from his truck. Police searched Finlay and found no drugs, but the detective ordered a search of the car and trailer, where police found methamphetamine.
---
The Oregon Supreme Court has ruled that parked cars are not mobile and therefore require warrants to search.
(Excerpt) Read more at kpic.com ...
Obviously they’re not searching for marijuana.
I’m a truck driver that travels a lot through Oregon and most of the western states. For years, any law enforcement official can pull us over, check our paperwork and search our trucks without a warrant or probable cause. You people that drive 4 wheelers, cars, are now catching up to the crap we’ve had to deal with for years. California is the worst for this.
No drug war, no searchee.
Yep. follow da money.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.