Curley v. Commonwealth, 816 S.E.2d 587

Officer Wyatt stopped Curley for no front license plate; Curley was the sole occupant and was seen leaning over a backpack in the front passenger seat.
Curley took ~30 seconds to retrieve his license from the backpack, remaining bent over the bag and appearing very nervous; officers became concerned about weapons and asked him to place his hands on the wheel.
Officer Owens arrived, asked Curley to exit the vehicle, requested consent to search the vehicle (denied), and received consent to search Curley’s person (Curley does not contest this finding on appeal).
A search of Curley’s person produced a digital scale with white residue that Owens, from training and experience, believed was cocaine residue and indicative of distribution rather than personal use.
Based on furtive movements, nervousness, and the scale with suspected cocaine residue, Officer Owens searched the vehicle and found packaged cocaine, marijuana, plastic baggies, and a Glock 19; cash on Curley was found later and was not considered in the probable-cause analysis.
Curley moved to suppress the evidence as the product of an unlawful warrantless vehicle search; the trial court denied suppression, Curley pleaded conditional guilty, and the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court affirmed, holding probable cause existed for the vehicle search.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (Curley)	Defendant's Argument (Commonwealth/Officers)	Held
Whether officers had probable cause to search Curley’s vehicle without a warrant	Search lacked probable cause; facts must be analyzed separately and did not justify search	Totality of circumstances (furtive movements, nervousness, scale with suspected cocaine residue) gave fair probability of finding contraband	Probable cause existed; warrantless vehicle search was lawful
Whether evidence from vehicle search must be excluded because cash was discovered after the search	Court of Appeals relied on post-search cash erroneously; that fact should not support probable cause	Cash discovery occurred after the vehicle search and was not relied upon by Supreme Court in probable-cause analysis	Court rejects inclusion of cash; still finds probable cause based on other facts
Whether Curley consented to search of his person	Curley testified he did not consent	Trial court found Curley gave consent; not challenged on appeal	Consent to search person upheld; evidence from that search (scale) validly obtained
Whether prior case law (Brown, Buhrman, Cost, Harris) compels no probable cause here	Curley relied on those decisions to argue no probable cause	Commonwealth argued those cases are distinguishable on facts and do not control	Court held those cases distinguishable and not controlling; probable cause distinguished by multiple corroborating facts

Maryland v. Dyson, 527 U.S. 465 (warrantless vehicle search permitted if probable cause exists)
United States v. Ross, 456 U.S. 798 (scope of vehicle search with probable cause)
Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132 (foundational automobile exception to warrant requirement)
Herring v. United States, 555 U.S. 135 (probable cause standard does not demand certainty)
United States v. Grubbs, 547 U.S. 90 (probable cause: fair probability standard)
Maryland v. Pringle, 540 U.S. 366 (totality-of-circumstances and objective officer standard)
Jones v. Commonwealth, 277 Va. 171 (de novo review of probable cause for vehicle searches)
Brown v. Commonwealth, 270 Va. 414 (distinguished; limited facts insufficient for probable cause)
Buhrman v. Commonwealth, 275 Va. 501 (distinguished; similar limitations to Brown)
Cost v. Commonwealth, 275 Va. 246 (distinguished; limits on pat-down/seizure during detention)
Harris v. Commonwealth, 241 Va. 146 (distinguished; unlawful seizure during pat-down)