State v. Lopez

OPINION

TIMMER, Judge.

¶ 1 The State of Arizona appeals from the trial court’s dismissal of drug possession charges against Maximiliano Lopez. The trial court dismissed the case against Lopez after granting his motion to suppress evidence of drugs seized by police. The state argues that the trial court misapplied the law in suppressing this evidence.

¶2 We are asked to decide whether the police, incident to an arrest of a driver, can legally search the pockets of a passenger’s pants packed in a backpack found in the vehicle’s passenger compartment, even though there is no indication that either…