United States v. Arrocha, No. 12-2853 (8th Cir. 2013)
Annotate this CaseDefendant pled guilty to being a felon in possession of a handgun seized during a warrantless search of his vehicle, and body armor seized in a subsequent search of his home. On appeal, defendant argued that the district court erred in concluding that the handgun was seized during a valid inventory search of his vehicle prior to the vehicle being towed. The district court denied defendant's motion to suppress, concluding that impounding the vehicle was consistent with applicable Missouri statutes and police department policy because, in the judgment of the officer, abandoning the car in a QuikTrip store's busy parking lot would unreasonably interfere with the property owner's possession. The court agreed with the district court that, although the officer exercised some discretion in deciding that the vehicle must be towed, he acted within the degree of standardized criteria or established routine that the court's prior towing cases required. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment.
Court Description: Criminal case - Criminal law. While the arresting officer exercised some discretion in determining that defendant's vehicle had to be towed, he acted within the degree of standardized criteria or established routine that the court's prior towing cases require, and the district court did not err in denying defendant's motion to suppress a weapon found during an inventory search conducted prior to the towing.
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