United States v. Chaney, No. 09-1835 (1st Cir. 2011)
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During a raid of a motel room in which he was a guest, defendant was place on the floor and handcuffed in the wake of his host's arrest on drug charges. Defendant consented to a search of his pants pocket to locate identification; the search turned up seven small bags of crack cocaine. A dozen rounds of .38-caliber ammunition were later discovered in the pocket of his jacket. After unsuccessfully moving to suppress this evidence, he entered a conditional guilty plea to charges of simple possession of cocaine and possession of a firearm after a prior felony conviction. The First Circuit affirmed. Given consent to retrieve an object from a cramped space, like a pocket, it is objectively reasonable to assume that the consent extends to the removal of items that either may constitute the object of the search and cannot be immediately identified or that obstruct further access to other items in the pocket. The consent was voluntary. The circumstances justified use of handcuffs and drawn guns. Defendant was experienced in dealing with law enforcement and showed no signs of intimidation.
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