United States v. Jose Antonio Mercado

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• concluding that the automobile exception applies to temporarily immobile vehicles when the immobility is caused by mechanical problems
• holding officer’s discovery of false ceiling, coupled with suspicious activity, gave probable cause to search
• finding that “mere temporary immobility due to a readily repairable problem . . . does not remove the vehicle from the category of ‘readily mobile’ ”
• noting \officer was at liberty to look in the windows of the van\ after defendant \left it at a [repair] shop open to the public twenty-four hours a day\
• finding car temporarily immobile with mechanical problems had not lost its inherent mobility; also cited to unpublished Eighth Circuit case that held truck stuck in ditch had not lost its inherent mobility
• officer’s dismantling of the altered ceiling of a van to search hidden compartment was legal because supported by probable cause

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).