People v. Wright

In this interlocutory appeal, the People challenge an order suppressing illegal drugs and drug paraphernalia seized by a police officer during a warrantless search of the defendant’s purse at a hospital while she was undergoing an x-ray examination after an automobile accident. The district court ruled that the search of the purse was not based on exigent circumstances and thus was constitutionally unreasonable. We affirm the suppression ruling.

I

The facts are not disputed. The defendant, Beverly Wright, is charged in the District Court of El Paso County with the following three offenses, all…