By: Derek Hawkins//October 4, 2016//
WI Court of Appeals – District IV
Case Name: State of Wisconsin v. Kenneth M. Asboth, Jr.
Case No.: 2015AP2052
Officials: Lundsten, Sherman, and Blanchard, JJ
Focus: Motion to Suppress
Kenneth Asboth appeals a judgment of conviction for armed robbery, challenging the circuit court’s denial of his motion to suppress evidence. Police lawfully took Asboth into custody at a private storage unit facility, then had a car associated with Asboth towed to a police facility, where police conducted an inventory search of the car. The inventory search revealed evidence that Asboth seeks to suppress, but no aspect of the inventory search itself is at issue in this appeal. Instead, Asboth argues exclusively that police violated the Fourth Amendment in initially seizing the car. The seizure was unconstitutional, Asboth contends, for two reasons: it was not conducted pursuant to a law enforcement vehicle seizure policy with standardized, sufficiently detailed criteria, and it was not justified as an exception to the Fourth Amendment warrant requirement under the bona fide community caretaker doctrine. We disagree and accordingly affirm.