Warrantless vehicle search? Court says “Where’s the Nexus?”

Posted Friday, January 27, 2017 by Andrew Charles Huff

Mr. Livingston was on probation with the Department of Corrections (DOC) for an offense and required to maintain compliance with conditions. But did this fact authorize DOC to search Mr. Livingston’s vehicle based on his arrest for an outstanding warrant?

In reviewing this appeal, the Court found the warrant against Mr. Livingston stated only that there was reason to believe he had violated probation. But this violation was not stated in the warrant, nor established by the trial court. Further, when the DOC Officer conducted the search of Livingston’s car, he and his fellow officer had no information as to the basis for the warrant.

The Court found that DOC did not have authority to search Mr. Livingston’s vehicle based on this separate warrant because there was not a nexus between the probation violation and the searched property. To support a search, the property searched must relate to the specific violation that the officer believed had occurred. This was not the case here and therefore search was improper.

Division II Court of AppealsState v. Livingston: