United States v. Abbott

OPINION

SIMMONS, District Judge.

In the present criminal action this Court reviews the legality of a warrantless search of a parked automobile by local law enforcement officers.

On August 29, 1983, at approximately 11:00 P.M., two plainclothes police officers, Richard Martine and Robert Harbough, were stopped in an unmarked police car at a red light. In the lane to their immediate left sat an automobile operated by Charles J. Abbott, the defendant. A female pas senger, Kimberly Karpiak, was in the automobile with Abbott. In the lane to Abbott’s immediate left was a taxi cab. While the vehicles…