State v. Gowans

KRUCKER, Chief Judge.

This is an appeal by the State from an order granting a motion to suppress evidence. The defendant, Kenneth E. Gowans, had been charged with possession of marijuana. The sole question to be decided is whether the order of the court suppressing the evidence obtained in a routine inventory of the defendant’s automobile was erroneous and if the seizure of the evidence (marijuana) was a result of an illegal search in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution.

Careful scrutiny of the record reveals the following facts. Gowans was stopped on an open…