Practice question
Officers lack any lawful arrest ground but search a pedestrian's pocket to see whether an offense might be discovered. Finding illegal drugs, they arrest him and call the earlier pocket search 'incident to lawful arrest.' They identify no consent, protective-frisk basis or other exception. Is that justification sound?
- No; an exploratory search cannot create the arrest ground needed to justify that same search as incident to lawful arrest.
- Yes, any successful search becomes incident to lawful arrest.
- Yes, all pockets are outside constitutional protection.
- Yes, formal arrest words after the search cure the missing prior basis.
- No; search incident to arrest is never recognized.
Legal references
- Veridiano v. People, G.R. No. 200370, June 7, 2017, main decision: https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocs/1/63122
- Rules of Court, Rule 126 Section 13: https://lawphil.net/courts/supreme/rc/rc_110-127_2000.html
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