United States v. Albert Bruce Neal

83 F.3d 429 NOTICE: Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3 provides that dispositions other than opinions or orders designated for publication are not precedential and should not be cited except when relevant under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, or collateral estoppel. UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Albert Bruce NEAL, Defendant-Appellant. No. 95-10157. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted Feb. 12, 1996. Decided April 12, 1996. Before: REINHARDT, THOMPSON, and O'SCANNLAIN, Circuit Judges. ORDER 1 Defendant Albert Bruce Neal contends that the police search of his car cannot be justified as a search incident to arrest because he had already voluntarily exited his car before the police officers initiated any contact with him. Rather than resolve a difficult constitutional question about the permissible scope of a search incident to arrest, see United States v. Strahan, 984 F.2d 155 (6th Cir.1993); United States v. Fafowara, 865 F.2d 360 (D.C.Cir.1989), a question that might not even be raised by this case, we remand this case to the district court for a factual determination whether Neal voluntarily exited the car prior to any contact…