Ep. #336: Does an open container allow further search of a motor vehicle?

📌 Numerous courts have held that an open-container violation provides probable cause for a vehicle search under the automobile exception. See, e.g., People v. Hill, 929 P.2d 735, 737, 739–40 (Colo. 1996) (en banc) (holding that open beer bottles gave officers probable cause of an open-container violation and justified a warrantless search); State v. Thla Hum Lian, 481 P.3d 759, 764–65 (Idaho Ct. App. 2020) (stating that a variety of factors indicated an open-container violation and “established probable cause to search Lian's vehicle for an open container. Accordingly, the vehicle search was justified under the automobile exception to the warrant requirement.”); People v. McGhee, 443 Ill.Dec. 929, 162 N.E.3d 1080, 1088 (Ill. App. Ct. 2020) (“We find that the search of the locked glove compartment for open containers of alcohol was justified under the automobile exception because the officers had probable cause to search the locked glove compartment for open containers of alcohol.”); Gomez v. State, 168 P.3d 1139, 1143 (Okla. Crim. App. 2007) (“Officer Burpo's warrantless search of the interior of Gomez's car for an open container of alcohol was lawful because it was supported by probable cause.”); State v. Fischer, 873 N.W.2d 681, 685, 688, 692 (S.D. 2016) (finding that an officer who spotted an open beer can had probable cause to search the vehicle under the automobile exception); Elrod v. State, 533 S.W.3d 52, 57 (Tex. App. 2017) (“Based on the odor of alcohol and Elrod's admission that there was an open container in his vehicle, there existed probable cause to search Elrod's vehicle for the open container.”).
*6 Any container in the vehicle that could hold an alcoholic beverage—even a flask or a miniature bottle—would be fair game. SeeUnited States v. Ross, 456 U.S. 798, 824, 102 S.Ct. 2157, 72 L.Ed.2d 572 (1982) (explaining that the scope of a search “is defined by the object of the search and the places in which there is probable cause to believe that it may be found”); see also state v. Daily, 164 Idaho 366, 429 P.3d 1242, 1245–46 (Ct. App. 2018) (finding that an open-container violation justified the search of a vehicle glove box).
- State v. Rincon, No. 20-1300, 2022 WL 495063, at *5–6 (Iowa Feb. 18, 2022)

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