United States v. Geoffrey Brunick

MEMORANDUM

Geoffrey Brunick appeals his conviction as a felon in possession of a firearm, contending that the weapon was obtained during an illegal search of the vehicle in which he was a passenger. The district court upheld the search as a valid search incident to arrest and, alternatively, as an inventory search pursuant to the Beaver-ton, Oregon, police officers’ impoundment of the vehicle. We affirm on the second ground only.

We review the denial of the motion to suppress de novo and the district court’s factual findings for clear error. United States v. Howard, 447 F.3d 1257 , 1262 n. 4 (9th Cir.2006). Searches conducted without a warrant are presumptively unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment. United States v. Lemus, 582 F.3d 958, 961 (9th Cir.2009). The government therefore bears the burden of proving that the war-rantless search of the vehicle was conducted pursuant to a “specifically established exception[] to the warrant requirement.” United States v. Hawkins, 249 F.3d 867, 872 (9th Cir.2001) (quotation omitted).

1. The district court relied on California v. Acevedo, 500 U.S. 565 , 111 S.Ct. 1982 , 114 L.Ed.2d 619 (1991), in concluding that the search of William…