In this section, our attorneys explain Nevada’s criminal laws and legal concepts, A to Z
Criminal Law A to Z
In this section, our attorneys explain Nevada’s criminal laws and legal concepts, A to Z
Crimes by NRS Section
Every crime in Nevada is based in a section of the Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS). For each crime, our attorneys explain the laws, penalties and best defenses to fight the charge.
Nevada DUI
Getting arrested for DUI does not mean you will be convicted. Police misconduct, defective breathalyzers and crime lab mistakes may be enough to get your charges lessened or dismissed. Visit our page on Nevada DUI Laws to learn more.
Post-Conviction
Even if you’ve already been convicted of a crime, there is still much you can do to seal your record and restore your rights. Our attorneys explain how.
Please note: Our firm only handles criminal and DUI cases, and only in California. We do not handle any of the following cases:
And we do not handle any cases outside of California.
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The police may search all parts of a person’s car, including the trunk, if the police have “probable cause” to believe a crime has or is about to occur.[1]
Merely citing a driver for a traffic violation does not automatically give police probable cause to search the trunk.[2] There need to be other circumstances that give rise to a reasonable suspicion that a law is being broken, such as:
Once a police officer has probable cause, the officer can perform the search of the entire car including the trunk without getting a warrant first. The reason for this “warrant exception” is to prevent the driver from driving away during the time it takes for the officer to secure a warrant.[3]
If a police officer asks a driver to search the trunk and the driver answers yes, then the search is legal. It makes no difference if the officer had no probable cause or was not able to get a warrant first.[4]
Therefore, people are always advised to politely decline when police ask them to search their trunks. This way, the police may not be able to search the trunk unless the police have probable cause or can get a warrant.
If the police get a valid search warrant to search a car, then the police may legally search the trunk. It makes no difference if the driver does not give his/her consent or is not present at the time.
Typically, police do not get warrants to search cars. This is because they are allowed to conduct warrantless searches as long as they have probable cause to believe a crime has been committed.
But if the vehicle is parked and there is no driver present, courts prefer that police get a warrant first before searching the car. This is because parked cars are not as “fleeting” as cars on the road, and therefore police do not have a good excuse to with dispense with the warrant requirement.[5]
When police impound a car…such as after a DUI arrest…police may inventory the contents of the vehicle in order to safeguard the defendant’s possessions. When doing an inventory, police do not need a warrant nor probable cause in order to search the trunk.
If the police happen to find suspicious evidence while doing an inventory…such as drugs…prosecutors may be able to use this evidence against the defendant to bring new criminal charges or to support existing ones. However, the judge could exclude this evidence if a criminal defense attorney can show that the police exploited this “inventory exception” as an excuse to search for incriminating evidence.[6]
A former Los Angeles prosecutor, attorney Neil Shouse graduated with honors from UC Berkeley and Harvard Law School (and completed additional graduate studies at MIT). He has been featured on CNN, Good Morning America, Dr Phil, The Today Show and Court TV. Mr Shouse has been recognized by the National Trial Lawyers as one of the Top 100 Criminal and Top 100 Civil Attorneys.