State v. Edwards

Under the Oregon Constitution,“the fact of arrest does not grant an unqualified right to search an arrestee’s person for crime evidence,” State v. Owens, 302 Or 196, 201, 729 P2d 524 (1986), and requirements must be met for the exception to apply.

Defendant appealed a conviction of unlawful heroin possession and assigned error to the denial of her motion to suppress. On appeal, Defendant argued that the heroin inside a metal box in the truck was found in an unreasonable search in violation of Article I, Section 9 of the Oregon Constitution because the office was not justified to search of everything in her possession. In response, the State argued the search was permissible as a search incident to arrest for theft, because items stolen could have been small enough to fit inside. Under the Oregon Constitution, “arrest does not grant an unqualified right to search an arrestee’s person,” State v. Owens, 302 Or 196, 201, 729 P2d 524 (1986). A search, incident to arrest, is an exception based on facts that show reasonableness of time, scope, and intensity. The Court reasoned that the search of the metal box in this case was reasonable because the search was conducted incident to Defendant’s arrest for theft and it was reasonable to believe that some stolen items could be small enough to fit inside the metal box. The Court held that the trial court did not err in denying Defendant’s motion to suppress. Affirmed.