Also known as: lawful custodial arrests · custodial arrest · lawful arrest
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A constitutionally valid arrest that places the suspect in full custody rather than releasing the person with a citation. The arrest supplies the legal predicate for a warrantless search of the arrestee's person and the area within immediate control. It also triggers related rules governing resistance, attenuation, and justification defenses.
Officer Ramirez arrested Lola Langley at her kitchen table on an outstanding warrant for forgery. While Langley remained seated and handcuffed, Ramirez opened a drawer two feet away and found a forged check. The search is upheld because the drawer lay within Langley's immediate control at the moment of arrest.
Campus officer Lewis ordered Professor Kim to help detain Leah Lamb after Lamb overturned furniture in a classroom. Kim grabbed Lamb's backpack and pinned her to the floor. Lamb's later claim of self-defense fails because Kim was lawfully assisting in a custodial arrest.
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Officers arrested Lucy Liu for possession of drug paraphernalia and immediately searched her pockets and purse. They found additional contraband even though they had no particularized fear for safety. The search is valid solely because it followed a lawful custodial arrest.
An officer stopped Luna Lang without reasonable suspicion and learned of an unrelated outstanding warrant. After arresting Lang on the warrant, the officer found methamphetamine in her car. The drugs are admissible because the valid warrant created an intervening circumstance that attenuated the unlawful stop.
Logan Lane killed a witness to prevent the witness from reporting Lane's fraud to police. The jury found that the murder was committed to avoid a lawful custodial arrest. That aggravating circumstance supports imposition of the death penalty.
An officer frisked Lamar Lewis during a brief investigative stop and found nothing. Later, with probable cause, the officer returned and placed Lewis under full custodial arrest. The subsequent search of Lewis's person is governed by the custodial-arrest rule rather than the limited Terry frisk.
Yes. Once officers effect a constitutionally valid custodial arrest, they may conduct a complete search of the arrestee's person without needing to show case-specific concern for safety or evidence preservation.
No. Under the Model Penal Code, force is not justifiable when used to resist a public officer performing official duties or a person lawfully assisting the officer in making an arrest.
Yes. The valid warrant constitutes an intervening circumstance that, together with minimal police misconduct, attenuates the taint of the initial stop and renders the arrest and ensuing search lawful.
A custodial arrest places the suspect in full custody and authorizes a complete search of the person. A Terry stop permits only a limited pat-down for weapons when the officer reasonably suspects criminal activity and danger.
…or place of lawful confinement. "(10) The murder was committed for the purpose of avoiding, interfering with, or preventing a lawful arrest or custody in a place of lawful confinement, of himself or another." § 27-2534.1 (b) (Supp. 1975). Having found an aggravating circumstance, however, the jury is not required to impose the…