When a Vehicle is Used in a Crime, Do You Need a Warrant to Search It?

From the Classroom: Vehicle as an Instrumentality of a Crime
By Ray Hill 
Professor Emeritus, Santa Rosa Junior College 

A predator kidnaps a girl at knifepoint while she was walking home from school. He forces her into his vehicle. He drives to a secluded location where he rapes her. The victim is released. Based on the victim’s description and a multi-jurisdictional broadcast, the suspect and his vehicle are observed two days later parked a block away from another school in another city. The suspect is arrested and his vehicle impounded.  

May the suspect’s vehicle be subject to a warrantless forensic examination for physical evidence (“theory of transfer”) or because the vehicle has been immobilized, must a search warrant be obtained  

Under these circumstances, no search warrant is required by case law. The vehicle falls under the “Instrumentality of a Crime” doctrine. Officers may seize a vehicle that is itself a crime scene, take it to a secure location, and postpone a search until a proper scientific examination can take place (North v. Superior Court (1972) 8 Cal.3d 301). 

The “Instrumentality of a Crime” doctrine applies when there is a “fair probability” or “substantial chance” that physical evidence (such as fibers, blood, semen, hairs, fingerprints, etc.) ....