United States v. Christian, Morris

Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge GARLAND.

GARLAND, Circuit Judge:

Morris Christian, who was convicted of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), appeals the district court’s denial of his motion to suppress the firearm. He argues that the police violated his Fourth Amendment rights by searching his car, next to which he was standing at the time of his arrest. We agree with Christian that the search, which yielded the firearm, cannot be justified as a search incident to arrest because at the time of the search the police did not have…