Visible bow and arrow in national park justifies search of entire car, including trunk

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mobeewan wrote:

These were all federal charges and tried in federal court. Was the OP confused about the facts in the case or just trolling? The Original post seemed to indicate he was wrongly convicted for violating State law and Fed court upheld the conviction.

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Now you're accusing the OP of being a troll? Repeater, a troll? Seriously?

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mobeewan wrote:

So the guy had an illegal weapon (bow and arrow) on national park land. It was seen by a park ranger. He was stopped by the ranger. He admitted to having a gun which was loaded on NP land (another violation on federal land). Then thecar was searched and drugs and money found. Busted. Guilty. Imprisoned.

Well DUH! I got no sympathy for him.

These were all federal charges and tried in federal court. Was the OP confused about the facts in the case or just trolling? The Original post seemed to indicate he was wrongly convicted for violating State law and Fed court upheld the conviction.

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Original information found here at FourthAmendment.com:

CA4: Finding gun justified protective search of car for others 12/26/08

Knowledge that defendant had a gun in the car justified a protective search of the car for more, which turned up more. United States v. Carico, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 25702 (4th Cir. December 19, 2008) (unpublished).

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There was nothing in the blog entry or the opinion itself that mentioned the National Park Service. Further, there were no archery references.

FourthAmendment.com is operated by John Wesley Hall, Jr. who is a widely respected expert on Fourth Amendment issues.

Later, when I had more time, I used google to search for additional information.

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So, jumped the gun er uh bow so to speak.

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mobeewan wrote:

So, jumped the gun er uh bow so to speak.

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Have you read the opinion?

Well, with the bow and arrow supposedly in plain sight inside the vehicle, this passage from the opinion seems odd:

Carico was not in custody when he made the statement at issue as the officer had not placed him under arrest or otherwise restrained his freedom requiring the administration of Miranda warnings. See Berkemer v. McCarty, 468 U.S. 420, 440 (1984) (holding one temporarily detained in traffic stop is not in custody for Miranda purposes); United States v. Sullivan, 138 F.3d 126, 131 (4th Cir. 1998) (same). Additionally, Carico’s statement was spontaneously rendered rather than the result of any formal questioning by a law enforcement officer.

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If possessing bows and arrows inside a National Park is illegal, then he was already arrested. Yet the court claims he wasn't in custody.

The court's opinion does not seem to square with the article on the internet, which I point out is uncorroborated. Even the Press Release I cited earlier fails to mention a bow and arrow, only mentioning a weapon:

According to evidence presented at trial by Special Assistant United States Attorney, Zachary Lee, Carico, was stopped by a Blue Ridge Parkway National Park Service Ranger for possessing a weapon while driving on the Blue Ridge Parkway. During the traffic stop the ranger found a loaded .380 semi-automatic pistol, brass knuckles, and $18,641.00 in cash.

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That still doesn't provide sufficient details, such as how the Ranger knew the weapon in the vehicle, unless the bow was the "unauthorized weapon."

The opinion could have been written better. Fortunately, it's "unpublished" so it lacks value for future cases.