United States of America v. Cole A. Ussery

21-1707Court of Appeals for the Eighth CircuitJul 29, 2022

Full text

United States Court of Appeals
For the Eighth Circuit
___________________________
No. 22-1189
___________________________
United States of America
lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiff - Appellee
v.
Cole A. Ussery
lllllllllllllllllllllDefendant - Appellant
____________
Appeal from United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Missouri - Cape Girardeau
____________
Submitted: July 8, 2022
Filed: July 13, 2022
[Unpublished]
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Before BENTON, SHEPHERD, and GRASZ, Circuit Judges.
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PER CURIAM.

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Following his guilty plea to a firearm offense, Cole Ussery appeals the district
court’s1 denial of his motion to suppress evidence recovered from a search of his
backpack.
Upon careful review, we conclude that the district court did not err in denying
Ussery’s motion to suppress, as the factual finding that Ussery abandoned his
backpack was not clearly erroneous, and the search of the backpack was a valid
inventory search. See United States v. Holly, 983 F.3d 361, 363 (8th Cir. 2020) (in
reviewing denial of a motion to suppress, district court’s findings of fact are reviewed
for clear error and its legal conclusions are reviewed de novo); United States v.
Crumble, 878 F.3d 656, 659 (8th Cir. 2018) (defendant does not have a reasonable
expectation of privacy in abandoned property); United States v. Allen, 713 F.3d 382,
387-88 (8th Cir. 2013) (officers have broad authority to conduct inventory searches
of items found in the possession of an arrested person who is to be jailed).
Accordingly, we affirm.
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1The Honorable Rodney W. Sippel, Chief Judge, United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Missouri, adopting the report and recommendations of the
Honorable Abbie Crites-Leoni, United States Magistrate Judge for the Eastern
District of Missouri.
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