State v. Vanburen

Defendant appeals a judgment of conviction for unlawful possession of a Schedule I controlled substance, ORS 475.840. He assigns error to the trial court’s denial of his motion to suppress evidence discovered during a war-rantless search of a closed bag that was located several feet outside of the entrance to his apartment. The state argued that the search was lawful under State v. Pidcock, 306 Or 335, 759 P2d 1092 (1988), cert den, 489 US 1011 (1989), because the police reasonably believed that the bag was lost property and conducted the search to ascertain the identity of the bag’s owner.…