Automobile Exception to Search Warrant Rules: In a Warrantless Search, Probable Cause Still Required 

The automobile exception to the search warrant requirement: Warrantless searches of vehicles under the automobile exception require that there be probable cause to search those areas of the vehicle searched.   

Searches of Vehicles; The Automobile Exception; Probable Cause and the Scope of an Automobile Search  

The automobile exception to the search warrant requirement allows for a warrantless search of a vehicle anywhere in that vehicle for which there is probable cause to believe seizeable items are located.  

On April 1, 2021, detectives from the Stockton Police Department were surveilling a gang funeral expecting criminal street gang members connected to prior shootings to be in attendance. The detectives were in plain clothes and in unmarked police vehicles. One detective recognized a particular juvenile based on photographs he had seen and prior conversations he had had with other detectives after a recent shooting at the juvenile’s home. He was aware that the juvenile was on searchable probation with a firearm restriction. In his observations of this juvenile, the detective believed that he was carrying a firearm.   

This conclusion was based upon the detective’s observation of an unidentifiable object protruding from the juvenile’s right front waistband as the juvenile held onto that area as he walked. The juvenile also walked as if he was trying to prevent the object in his waistband from causing his pants to fall.   

Another detective on the surveillance team confirmed via radio broadcast that he was able to clearly see a black handgun in the juvenile’s waistband. This juvenile was further observed contacting another minor, later identified as the defendant, Hilario Leal, Jr., and a woman. The three of them walked over to Leal’s car.   

Although the juvenile walked toward the car’s closed trunk at one point, at no time was the trunk observed to be open. The juvenile then walked back to the gravesite as Leal and the woman drove away. It appeared that by the way the juvenile was holding his waistband that he was still carrying the firearm. Leal was soon observed driving back to the gravesite as the juvenile approached his car a second ....