State v. Glenn

OPINION

DROWOTA, Justice.

We granted the State’s Rule 11 application for permission to appeal in order to consider the scope of a warrantless inventory search of an automobile lawfully impounded, pursuant to T.C.A. § 52-1443(b)(4). In a split decision, the Court of Criminal Appeals held that “closed containers found in the trunk of an impounded vehicle, absent exigent circumstances, may not be opened.” We must determine whether the Court of Criminal Appeals was correct in suppressing evidence found in closed containers, during an inventory search of Defendant’s vehicle.

The Defendant, Curtis…