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Panel questions reach of search-incident-to-arrest rule in backpack search
Summary
Appeals court heard argument about whether troopers needed a warrant to search a backpack taken from an arrestee’s person and whether Massachusetts decisions (Commonwealth v. Soto and related cases) control over federal precedents such as Gant.
The appeals panel considered Commonwealth v. Fred Douglas Baskin, docket 23P764, and probed the limits of a search-incident-to-arrest when officers opened a backpack removed from an arrestee during a multi-officer arrest.
Attorney (identified in the record as) Merrill argued the state cases (including Commonwealth v. Soto and related SJC precedents) govern and permit officers, under particular safety and evidence-preservation circumstances, to open containers on or very near the person. Justice Blake noted…
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