State v. Wilcox

Summary

The court held that an inventory policy authorizing officers to open closed, opaque containers does not automatically make such a search reasonable under Article I, section 9. In the civil-detoxification context, opening a closed, opaque container that does not announce its contents violates the Oregon Constitution, even when the search follows a valid, nondiscretionary policy and the container may hold valuables. The Court of Appeals and circuit court judgments were reversed and the case was remanded.