State v. Cook, Unpublished Decision (8-2-2002)

I respectfully dissent from the majority opinion. I believe that the state failed to meet the final prong of the plain view doctrine by failing to demonstrate that the razor blade in appellant's ashtray was "immediately recognizable as an illegal object or contraband;" i.e. drug paraphernalia.

Under the plain view doctrine, a police officer may seize an item without a warrant, where: (1) the initial intrusion was lawful; (2) the discovery of the evidence was inadvertent; and, (3) the incriminating nature of the evidence was immediately apparent. State v. Williams (1978), 55 Ohio St.2d 82,…