State v. Sommer

Summary

Adam Timothy Sommer appealed from a criminal judgment entered after his conditional guilty pleas to three drug offenses. The North Dakota Supreme Court held that the automobile exception permitted the warrantless search of Sommer’s vehicle because police had probable cause, and affirmed the judgment.

Holdings

1. The automobile exception does not require exigent circumstances beyond the vehicle's inherent mobility and probable cause, and it does not require an inquiry into the likelihood that the particular vehicle would actually be driven away or its contents tampered with before police could obtain a warrant.
2. The warrantless search was valid because probable cause supported it, and probable cause was the dispositive requirement for application of the automobile exception. Sommer conceded that probable cause supported the search.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the automobile exception to the warrant requirement required more than the vehicle's inherent mobility, including a case-specific likelihood that the vehicle could actually be moved or its contents disposed of.
2. Whether the warrantless search of Sommer's vehicle was valid under the automobile exception where probable cause existed but Sommer was in jail and the vehicle had been secured by police.

Disposition

affirmed