It is 0200 hours and you are on routine patrol of your beat. You get a BOLO for a silver SUV bearing Maryland tags ABC123 as a suspicious vehicle. There have been several burglaries in the area. Shortly thereafter, you see the vehicle pass a nearby roadway. You call the information out to dispatch and request another unit. Another unit arrives and you stop the vehicle. While approaching the vehicle you observe the vehicle is occupied by a white male and a black male. You stop the suspect vehicle an make contact with the driver. In plain view you notice a television in the back seat. The driver claims he bought the television that morning and is moving it to his girlfriends house. Your back up officer opens he door of the rear of the vehicle and looks at the television and observes that the serial number matches that of a television involved in a burglary from the previous day. He places both persons under arrest and performs a search of the vehicle and their persons. He discoverers a small amount of marijuana on the passenger. He finds a key to a locker that he is tagged with "USPS Salisbury". He gets a search warrant and searches the locker where he finds a pound of cocaine. The registered owner of the mailbox has an address of 123 Main Street. He gets a search warrant for the address and upon searching it finds two bodies and sixteen pounds of cocaine.Is this a good case? Why or why not?
Posts
4 comments:
As soon as the back up officer opens the door, it became a seizure under the 4th amendment. I agree you had enough to stop the vehicle but was there enough RAS to pat the vehicle and occupants down for weapons? I don't think so. I would have asked for permission. The question now is was there probable cause to search the vehicle without a warrant under "Carroll". Not really. Suspicious vehicle in an area where burglaries had occurred in the past just doesn't cut it. The subsequent arrests and the evidence found incident to the arrests are non-admissable. HOWEVER......if the police lack probable cause and apply for a warrant and the judge signs the warrant to search the areas which were searched (the P.O. Box and the residence)and the officers were acting in good faith, the evidence located as a result of the two warrants may still be admitted (Leon). If it is determined that the officers lied on the affidavit and application it would be a different story - but there is no indication that this happened in the scenario you provided.
I think everything was good until the backup officer opened the door to the suspect vehicle to look at the tv's serial number.
Realy depends if the vehicle was in the suspects name. If not he has no standing. It is a mobile conveyance. If it is in his name then there could be an issue. One can never go wrong bt stopping and writing a paper. A good cop will be willing to go one step further for a solid case. Quality not Quanity. Simple take good shit to court, the judges, lawyers, and defendants will know who you are.
If you are labeled one time for a bad search the CRAP will follow you on the Crapper and in the court room.
Or the simple answer in this case was Shoot Him. Then the search is a moot issue. You feeling me.
Have a Crappy Day
How 'bout some Crapper input on this. These are good scenarios. Definitely relavent to the patrol function.
Post a Comment