186
Breyer, J., dissenting
tion suspects. Cf. New York v. Belton, 453 U. S. 454, 458 (1981) (noting importance of clear rules to guide police behavior). Some will apply the test successfully; some will not. Legal challenges are inevitable. The result, I believe, will resemble not so much the Sargasso Sea as the criminal law equivalent of Milton's "Serbonian Bog . . . Where Armies whole have sunk."
There is, of course, an alternative. We can, and should, define "offense" in terms of the conduct that constitutes the crime that the offender committed on a particular occasion, including criminal acts that are "closely related to" or "inextricably intertwined with" the particular crime set forth in the charging instrument. This alternative is not perfect. The language used lacks the precision for which police officers may hope; and it requires lower courts to specify its meaning further as they apply it in individual cases. Yet virtually every lower court in the United States to consider the issue has defined "offense" in the Sixth Amendment context to encompass such closely related acts. See ante, at 168, n. 1 (majority opinion) (citing cases from the Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Ninth Circuits as well as state courts in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania); Taylor v. State, 726 So. 2d 841, 845 (Fla. App. 1999); People v. Clankie, 124 Ill. 2d 456, 462-466, 530 N. E. 2d 448, 451-453 (1988); State v. Tucker, 137 N. J. 259, 277-278, 645 A. 2d 111, 120-121 (1994), cert. denied, 513 U. S. 1090 (1995). These courts have found offenses "closely related" where they involved the same victim, set of acts, evidence, or motivation. See, e. g., Taylor v. State, supra, at 845 (stolen property charges and burglary); State v. Tucker, supra, at 278, 645 A. 2d, at 121 (burglary, robbery, and murder of home's occupant); In re Pack, 420 Pa. Super. 347, 355-356, 616 A. 2d 1006, 1010 (1992) (burglary, receiving stolen property, and theft charges), appeal denied, 535 Pa. 669, 634 A. 2d 1117 (1993). They have found offenses unrelated where time, location, or factual circumstances significantly separated the
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