“An object may not be seized from a car merely because the police plain view of it was lawfully acquired; there must be probable cause that the object is a fruit, instrumentality or evidence of crime. And under the ‘immediately apparent’ requirement of Coolidge v. New Hampshire, this probable cause must be determined without examination of the object other than is justified by the purpose underlying police entry of the vehicle.” Wayne R. LaFave & Jerold H. Israel, Criminal Procedure § 3.7, at 201 (2d ed. 1992).
immediately apparent requirement
immediately-apparent requirement. Criminal procedure. The principle that a police officer must have probable cause to believe that an item is contraband before seizing it. • This plain-view exception to the warrant requirement was first announced in Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443, 91 S.Ct. 2022 (1971).
