Chimel v. California
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| Chimel v. California | |||||||||||||
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| Argued March 27, 1969 Decided June 23, 1969 |
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| Holding | |||||||||||||
| An arresting officer may search only the area "within the immediate control" of the person arrested, meaning the area from which he might gain possession of a weapon or destructible evidence. Any other search of the surrounding area requires a search warrant. | |||||||||||||
| Court membership | |||||||||||||
| Chief Justice: Warren E. Burger Associate Justices: Hugo Black, William O. Douglas, John Marshall Harlan II, William J. Brennan, Potter Stewart, Byron White, Abe Fortas, Thurgood Marshall |
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| Case opinions | |||||||||||||
| Majority by: Stewart Joined by: Burger, Douglas, Harlan, Brennan, Fortas, Marshall Concurrence by: Harlan Dissent by: White Joined by: Black |
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| Laws applied | |||||||||||||
| U.S. Const. amend. IV | |||||||||||||
Chimel v. California, 395 U.S. 752 (1969), was a case in which the United States Supreme Court held that police officers could search only within the immediate area of a suspect who was being arrested.
Police officers went to Chimel's home with a warrant to arrest for burglary of a coin shop. Chimel's wife allowed the officers in the home and the police waited for Chimel's return. When Chimel arrived the officers arrested him and began to search his home. The police found the evidence needed to convict Chimel as they had found coins that Chimel was suspected of stealing in a burglary and the police used the evidence to convict him.
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the conviction stating that the officers could search only the immediate area the person was in and only for items that were an immediate threat for the officers safety. The evidence could not be used as it was an illegal search. There was no search warrant to search Chimel's residence, only an arrest warrant.
[edit] External links
- ^ 395 U.S. 752 Full text of the opinion courtesy of Findlaw.com.
- Summary of case from OYEZ
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