State v. Johnson

MARY R. RUSSELL, Judge.

Four appeals have been consolidated1 because each involves the issue of whether evidence obtained in a search of a motor vehicle incident to a traffic arrest is admissible. The defendants were secured at the time of search, and there was no reason to believe that evidence of the crime for which each defendant was arrested was in any of their vehicles. The searches were performed in compliance with binding appellate precedent. New York v. Belton, 453 U.S. 454, 460, 101 S.Ct. 2860, 69 L.Ed.2d 768 (1981); State v. Harvey 648 S.W.2d 87, 89-90 (Mo. banc 1988). However, while…