Breaking Case News: Idaho Search Incident to Arrest Decision

The Idaho Supreme Court held this month in State v. Lamay that the area within an arrestee's "immediate control" is determined at the time he is arrested, not at the time he is first approached by the police.  In Lamay, the police encountered the defendant next to his backpack, but arrested him in another room 15 feet from the backpack.  Despite the fact that the arrestee's hand was inches from the backpack when the police first found him, the backpack was considered outside of the area of his immediate control by the time the officers placed him under arrest.  The court ruled that the flexible "recent occupant" rule of Belton v. New York does not apply outside the automobile context.  [Mark Godsey]