State v. Sykes, 2018 Ohio 5129

Leonard Sykes was stopped for speeding; officer smelled marijuana and obtained probable cause to search the car but found no contraband in that search.
Computer check revealed Sykes had suspended licenses and outstanding warrants; he was arrested on a Struthers warrant.
Officer elected to impound the vehicle (discretionary under department policy) because it was parked at a gas pump on private property and Sykes lived an hour away.
The department's impound/tow policy requires an inventory of impounded vehicles and authorizes opening closed containers; the officer followed the department checklist and opened the spare-tire compartment and a knotted grocery bag, finding heroin.
Sykes moved to suppress, arguing the inventory search did not conform to departmental procedures; the trial court denied suppression, and Sykes pleaded no contest and appealed only the suppression ruling.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (Sykes)	Defendant's Argument (State)	Held
Whether Boardman PD's inventory policy is so expansive that inventories become evidentiary searches	Policy authorizes opening many containers and coupled with discretionary impoundment, it permits investigatory searches of every impounded vehicle	Policy conforms to Ohio law, was followed here, and inventory purpose (protect property/department) justified opening containers	Rejected — policy was standardized, followed in good faith, and not a pretext; suppression denial affirmed
Whether State v. Banks-Harvey implicitly overruled Hathman (that standardized policies can authorize opening closed containers during lawful inventories)	Banks-Harvey undermines Hathman and makes departmental policy insufficient to transform otherwise-unreasonable retrievals/searches into lawful inventories	Banks-Harvey is limited: it held retrieval of personal effects from a location not in police custody is not justified by policy; it did not overrule Hathman and Hathman remains good law for lawfully impounded vehicles	Rejected — Banks-Harvey did not overrule Hathman; its holding is limited to items not lawfully in police custody

State v. Banks-Harvey, 152 Ohio St.3d 368 (Ohio 2018) (policy alone does not justify warrantless retrieval of effects that never came into police custody)
State v. Hathman, 65 Ohio St.3d 403 (Ohio 1992) (closed containers discovered during valid inventory may be opened only if a standardized policy governs opening them)
State v. Leak, 145 Ohio St.3d 165 (Ohio 2016) (inventory-search exception to warrant requirement when performed under standard procedure and not a pretext)
State v. Mesa, 87 Ohio St.3d 105 (Ohio 1999) (reasonableness of inventory searches of lawfully impounded vehicles)
State v. Robinson, 58 Ohio St.2d 478 (Ohio 1979) (inventory search reasonable when in good faith and pursuant to policy)
Florida v. Wells, 495 U.S. 1 (U.S. 1990) (opening closed containers during inventory permissible only under standardized policy)
Colorado v. Bertine, 479 U.S. 367 (U.S. 1987) (inventory-search exception and role of standardized procedures)