Thornton v. United States

541 U.S. 615 (2004)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

An Officer noticed D who was driving in such a manner to avoid pulling next to the officer on the road. The officer pulled onto a side street and D passed him. After running a check on the tags, it revealed that they had been issued to a 1982 Chevy two-door and not a Lincoln Town Car. Before Officer could get to D, he pulled into a parking lot and got out of the car. D appeared nervous. The officer was concerned for his safety. The officer asked D if he had illegal narcotics and D agreed to a pat down. D admitted to possessing illegal drugs, and two bags were pulled from his pocket; one containing three bags of marijuana and the other containing a large amount of crack cocaine. D was handcuffed and placed under arrest and put in the back seat of the patrol car. The officer searched D's car and found BryCo .9-millimeter handgun under the driver's seat. D sought to suppress, inter alia, the firearm as the fruit of an unconstitutional search. The District Court held that automobile search was valid under New York v. Belton and alternatively that the officer could have conducted an inventory search of the automobile. A jury convicted petitioner on all three counts; he was sentenced to 180 months' imprisonment and 8 years of supervised release. D appealed. Belton was limited to situations where the officer initiated contact with an arrestee while he was still an occupant of the car. The Fourth Circuit affirmed. The Supreme Court granted certiorari.