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Busted

Tell me if you think I might be able to get the charges dropped. The cops said someone was trying to break into my neighbors car and the neighbor scared them off. But when they ran away my neighbor thought they might have gone into my house. I left my side door unlocked because I lost the key. The cops came and were checking around my house and found my door unlocked, so they went inside to look for a prowler. What they found was my grow room. They went back outside and one cop stayed the other left to go get a search warrant. That's when I came home and found the one cop waiting outside. My laywer said I would be stupid not to fight it. What do you guys think.

 

PokeSmot

Fight! They shouldn't have entered your property. If they weren't LOOKING for pot, but a prowler, they should have left the premises. They had no warrant, nor a real reason to be in there in the first place. Just because a door is unlocked is reason to go inside? Nahhhhh....

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weedzinger

I wouldnt do anything til you talked to NiteShift.

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Niteshift

I'm going to sort of avoid part of this because, to be honest, the answer is very complicated and involves a lot of variables that Busted probably couldn't tell me and will end up being for a judge to assess the validity of.

My short advice is: Get a lawyer.

But I do want to address this comment:

"If they weren't LOOKING for pot, but a prowler, they should have left the premises."

Wrong. At that point, they did exactly what they should have done.

Contraband was observed. Whether the entry into the premises was legal or not, at that point, since it has been seen, they have an obligation to act on it.

By leaving one officer to secure the scene while the other went to obtain a warrant, they did exactly what they should have done. It would have been incorrect for them to just start hauling it out of the house. What they did at that point was the most correct thing, both procedurely and legally speaking.

The best wa to look at the scenarios is to remove the pot and make it a non-drug example. If the cops had entered and observed a box of grenades, would you reasonably expect them to just turn around, walk out and close the door behind them? I certainly hope not.

The whole case will hinge on whether or not the judge finds their reason for entering credible, then if the jury finds it credible. If they do, the rest of it was done textbook.

BTW, if they got a warrant, one judge has already found their story credible.

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Turtle

Damn Busted, that really sucks. How would you not have a lock on your grow room door? When I grew even though I only had 1 plant in there (it was a white widow though ), before I even planted it I baught my self a pad lock. Especially with a door always unlocked, wether your the only person living there or not, you should always have a lock on it for these kind of things. What my question is, is even though they found it, does that mean that he will be fined for it? Or will they just incenerate the plants and call it good. Ive never dealt with house raids like this, but I do know that if you are illegally searched on your person that if you fight it and win that they will drop all the charges, of course you sill lose whatever they took but you arnt charged for it. How many plants was it Busted? Make sure you get a good lawyer, good luck in court.

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weedzinger

What happened to you is pot growers worst nightmare.

mihi

My advice would be to fight it. Go to the NORML.org site and look for a lawyer in your area that has MJ defense experience.

If a neighboor "thinking" that the intruder "might have" entered your house to allude LE is sufficient to enter a private citizens home, then LE would be able to enter any house anytime their was someone that "thinks" a criminal is in a private home.

What the LE should have done was get a warrant to enter the home in the first place (which they probably wouldn't have been able to do unless the neighbor "saw" the person enter) but they didn't get a warrant to enter you home the first time.

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.


If you the fact that your door was open is "probably cause" for LE to enter and search your home, then we are in a sad state of affairs....like right before our founding fathers revolted againsth the tyranny of GB.....

Good luck.

Niteshift

"What the LE should have done was get a warrant to enter the home in the first place (which they probably wouldn't have been able to do unless the neighbor "saw" the person enter) "

What?

There are a number of notable, time tested and court approved exceptions to the warrant requirement. However, one of them may not even be needed here depending on the circumstances.

Skipping the incident in this thread, because I don;t think any of us, including Busted, have all of the facts about it........ let me give you an example that shoots your contention in the foot.

You contend, quite simply, that unless someone saw the person enter the building, the officers need a warrant.

Most burglar alarm calls the police respond to turn out to be false. So, if averages are a yardstick, then a burglar alarm would be presumed false. However, if I respond to an alarm call and find an unlocked door, you can be damn sure I will enter and check the building to make sure a crime is not occurring or has not already occurred.

Before you tear off on your answer, think about it..........if we used your method (and a burglary were actually happening), I'd simply stand outside and go....hmmmm, I guess I need a warrant under the "mihi law". Then, I'd get an officer to secure the door (still not knowing if there is anyone in there or not) and hope that the burglar isn't armed, dangerous or smart enough to leave through another door. Then I go back, do up a warrant request (an hour), wake up a judge, drive to his home, have him read it............. and tell me no. Why no? I have no witnesses, and since the burglar alarm is statistically going to be false, it won't amount to probable cause. So I call the officer at the scene, tell him to go back into service and we leave.

If you were that business owner, when you came in the next morning to find your sh!t stolen, you will be one angry taxpayer.

The moral of the sotry: Common sense tells me to check the building. If it is common sense, then it's probably not "unreasonable" and prohibited by the 4th Amendment.

mihi

Yeah guy, I don't really know a lot about Alarms...so my answer to your hypothetical is...

WHATEVER!

Also I'd appreciate it if you kept this discussion free of personal attacks.


In regards to my other point, if you pull up to a house and don't have anything orther to go on besides someone "thinks" that a person might be hiding out in a neighboors house, sure you have the duty to investigate, but, and this is a big BUT, I seriously doubt the intrusion into a private citizens home with out any "probably cause" would be construed warranted.

Hey I may be wrong but like I said if that is the case that LE can enter into a private citizens home with out probably cause then we are in a said state of affairs...

Article IV.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Niteshift

"Yeah guy, I don't really know a lot about Alarms...so my answer to your hypothetical is...

WHATEVER!"

You don't need to know anything about alarms to understand the example. You simply need to drop your prejudice and look at it.

"Also I'd appreciate it if you kept this discussion free of personal attacks."

Where exactly did you see a personal attack?