HIGH COURT TO DRAW LINE IN CAR SEARCHES BY POLICE

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court said today it will decide how far
police officers can go in searching the personal belongings of motor
vehicle passengers.

The justices agreed to review a Wyoming Supreme Court car-search
decision the state's attorney general says is ``unworkable'' and
``illogical,'' and will confuse courts and law enforcement agencies.

The state Supreme Court overturned a woman's drug conviction, ruling
that police unlawfully searched her purse.

A car driven by David Young was stopped for speeding on Interstate 25
in Natrona County, Wyo., in the early morning hours of July 23, 1995.
After a Highway Patrol officer saw a hypodermic syringe in Young's
pocket, Young said he had used it to take drugs.

Two other officers asked the car's two female passengers to get out.
One of them, Sandra Houghton, left her cloth purse on the car's back
seat. Inside the bag, police found drug paraphernalia and liquid
methamphetamine.

Houghton was convicted on a felony drug charge, but challenged her
conviction.

The state Supreme Court threw out her conviction in April, ruling that
police should not have searched through her purse. Even though the
officers had ``probable cause'' to search the car for drugs Young may
have had with him, they could not justify searching a passenger's
personal belongings, the court said.

In the appeal acted on today, state Attorney General William Hill and
his staff argued that the state court's ruling repudiates a long line
of rulings in which the nation's highest court gave police far greater
leeway to search motor vehicles.

The case is Wyoming vs. Houghton, 98-184.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry