United States v. Richard S. Oswald

DAVID A. NELSON, Circuit Judge.

Before pleading guilty to a federal drug charge, defendant-appellant Oswald moved to suppress the principal evidence against him — some $300,000 worth of cocaine that a deputy sheriff found on opening a metal briefcase taken from the trunk of a burned-out automobile Oswald had left on the berm of an interstate highway. The trial court denied the motion to suppress, holding that a warrantless search of the suitcase did not violate Oswald’s constitutional right to be secure in his effects against unreasonable searches and seizures; Oswald had abandoned the…