When a Vehicle is Used in a Crime, Do You Need a Warrant to Search It?

From the Classroom: Vehicle as an Instrumentality of a Crime
By Ray Hill 
Professor Emeritus, Santa Rosa Junior College 

A predator kidnaps a girl at knifepoint while she was walking home from school. He forces her into his vehicle. He drives to a secluded location where he rapes her. The victim is released. Based on the victim’s description and a multi-jurisdictional broadcast, the suspect and his vehicle are observed two days later parked a block away from another school in another city. The suspect is arrested and his vehicle impounded.  

May the suspect’s vehicle be subject to a warrantless forensic examination for physical evidence (“theory of transfer”) or because the vehicle has been immobilized, must a search warrant be obtained  

Under these circumstances, no search warrant is required by case law. The vehicle falls under the “Instrumentality of a Crime” doctrine. Officers may seize a vehicle that is itself a crime scene, take it to a secure location, and postpone a search until a proper scientific examination can take place (North v. Superior Court (1972) 8 Cal.3d 301). 

The “Instrumentality of a Crime” doctrine applies when there is a “fair probability” or “substantial chance” that physical evidence (such as fibers, blood, semen, hairs, fingerprints, etc.) is inside a vehicle or when other physical evidence will be found on or inside a vehicle.  

Examples: hit-and-run, expended shell casings or other ballistic evidence in a drive by shooting, vehicle striking another in an assault with a deadly weapon case, accident reconstruction in murder-second implied malice, or vehicle manslaughter case.  

The scope of this search is limited to the nature of the evidence relating to the crime that prompted the search. 

The “instrumentality” rule differs from the “probable cause” or “auto exception” rule, in the at the latter is a search for fruits, instrumentalities, or contraband in the vehicle related to criminal activity. 

Examples of “Instrumentality of a Crime” Case Law 

• The defendant was a suspect in a murder case. Los Gatos police impounded his ....

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