State v. McDougal

The issues raised on this appeal deal only with the existence and validity of an “inventory search.” There is no attempt by the state to justify the intrusion into the automobile as a consent search, a search incident to arrest, a probable cause search, an exigent circumstances search, or anything other than an inventory search. The record clearly indicates that due to the lack of consent, the time and place of the intrusion, and the general lack of any other mitigating circumstances, no other justification can arguably be found.

The state contends that an inventory of a motor vehicle is not a…