The Appellate Group

State v. Saunders

State v. Saunders, 2026 UT App 103 (Christiansen Forster, J.)

Criminal Law

The Utah Court of Appeals held:

(1) The district court correctly concluded that Detective had probable cause to believe that the baggie he saw in plain view contained a controlled substance, and as such, the plain view doctrine applied and the search was reasonable.

(2) The district court did not clearly err in finding Detective credible, and the lack of Detective’s body camera footage, as well as the later negative field- test results, did not negate Detective’s probable cause at the time of the seizure.

Practice tip:

The question of whether an item is considered clearly incriminating under the third prong of the plain view doctrine turns on whether there was “probable cause to associate the property with criminal activity.”

Read the full court opinion