State v. Joubert

OPINION

EASTAUGH, Justice.

I. INTRODUCTION

Under Alaska law, when an arrest is for an offense of which evidence could be concealed on a person, a police officer is permitted to conduct a warrantless search of the arrestee for evidence of the crime at the time of arrest. When the officer conducting this search feels a small, hard object near the watch pocket of the arrestee's jeans, is he permitted to lift the hem of the arrestee's sweatshirt to determine what the object is? The court of appeals, evaluating this search as a warrantless pat-down of the arrestee for weapons, answered "no."…