State v. Maynard

The state appeals the trial court’s grant of defendant’s motion to suppress evidence of methamphetamine that an officer found inside an opaque matchbox that he took from defendant. The state argues that the officer properly opened the matchbox as part of an authorized inventory process. We affirm.

While on patrol, Officer Kruger received a report of a person attempting to break into a parked car. When he arrived at the scene he found defendant attempting to open the door of a parked 1976 Chrysler with a bent coat hanger. In response to Kruger’s questions, defendant stated that it was not her…