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161 Conn. 570

State v. Castle

Supreme Court of Connecticut

Decided June 8, 1971

Supreme Court of Connecticut · decided 1971-06-08

Cited by 2 later decisions — most recently March 2021

2 state decisions

Relies on Chimel v. California · Williams v. United States · Luckenbach Steamship Co. v. Zim Israel Navigation Co.

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1971-06-08

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Per Curiam.

¶1The sole issue on this appeal is the legality of a search and seizure by law enforcement officers on March 25,1969. To support his claim that the search and seizure were illegal the defendant relied on the holding of Chimel v. California, 395 U.S. 752, 89 S. Ct. 2034, 23 L. Ed. 2d 685, which narrowed the scope of permissible warrantless searches incident to arrest to the arrestee’s person and to the area from within which he might obtain either a weapon or something which could be used as evidence against him. The Chimelcase was decided by the United States Supreme Court on June 23, 1969, subsequent to the search with which this case is concerned. In State v. Keeby, 159 Conn. 201, 205, 268 A.2d 652, cert. denied, 400 U.S. 1010, 91 S. Ct. 569, 27 L. Ed. 2d 623, we decided that although the United States Supreme Court had not decided whether the ruling in the Chimelcase would be given retroactive application to searches and seizures made prior to that decision, “the most probable holding of the United States Supreme Court, if and when it decides the question, will be that the Chimeldoctrine applies only to searches and seizures conducted after June 23, 1969.” While the present appeal was pending, the United States Supreme Court has decided Williams v. United *572States, 401 U.S. 646, 91 S. Ct. 1148, 28 L. Ed. 2d 388, and, as anticipated in State v. Keeby, supra, held that the rule stated in Chimelis not to be retroactively applied to searches antedating the date that case was decided. This holding, confirming the conclusion at which we arrived in State v. Keeby, supra, is decisive of the merits of this appeal. In addition, we conclude that the defendant had no standing to object to the use of the evidence taken from his brother’s room since the defendant had no possessory interest in either the room searched or the evidence seized and was not present when his brother’s room was searched and the seizure made. State v. Oliver, 160 Conn. 85, 92, 273 A.2d 867.

¶2There is no error.

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