State v. Bennett

This criminal case involves two codefendants, Bennett and McCall, and presents an appeal and cross-appeal of a pretrial ruling on their motion to suppress.1 The state appeals the trial court’s pretrial order partially granting defendants’ motion to suppress; defendants cross-appeal the partial denial of that motion. At issue is evidence discovered during a search of McCall’s car, a search of a backpack found in the car, and a subsequent search of that same backpack. The state contends that the automobile and officer safety exceptions to the warrant requirement allowed officers to search the…