State v. Wells

I respectfully dissent. Regardless of whether exigent circumstances justified the search, I believe the search was proper as incident to appellant’s lawful arrest. The jacket was within appellant’s “immediate control,” as that term has been defined by the courts.

The main opinion recognizes that police restraint is not dispositive of the immediate control issue. Therefore, even though appellant was handcuffed during the seizure, the jacket could still have been within his immediate control. See State v. Kent, 665 P.2d 1317, 1317-18 (Utah 1983) (upholding search where defendant was “handcuffed…