State v. Phifer

HUSKINS, Justice.

The State contends the warrantless search of the glove compartment of defendant’s car was part of a valid police inventory of the car’s contents. The State relies on South Dakota v. Opperman, 428 U.S. 364, 49 L.Ed. 2d 1000, 96 S.Ct. 3092 (1976), where the United States Supreme Court held that a police inventory search, when conducted pursuant to standard police procedures, was not unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment. In upholding the validity of such searches, the Court carefully delineated the context within which an inventory search constitutes a constitutionally…