Illegal Search and Seizure

Balzac89

Undercover Mod
Just wanted to have a little discussion. Anyone who understands illegal search and seizure might find this interesting.

An associate of mine was arrest over the weekend.

He had a warrant for his arrest for leaving the scene of an accident. The cops followed radiator fluid from a crush stop sign to his house about quarter mile away.

So two days ago the Sheriff serving the warrant for arrest. To set this up.

His apartment is on the second floor. He has two doors to his apartment.

The first door is at the bottom of the stairwell and is not shared by any other apartments. The first door has a dead bolt which my friend has the key for. Also the stairwell has apartment storage. At the top of the stairwell there is a second door with a standard door lock.

The officer walks in the first door and at the second door the officer smells marijuana and just opens the door.

My friend is in the middle of cleaning up his trimmings. 15 minutes later hes in cuffs and 6 cops destroy his house.

They obtain around of pound of trimmings and bud.



Convince me that, that is not illegal search and seizure.
 

massah

Well-Known Member
Just wanted to have a little discussion. Anyone who understands illegal search and seizure might find this interesting.

An associate of mine was arrest over the weekend.

He had a warrant for his arrest for leaving the scene of an accident. The cops followed radiator fluid from a crush stop sign to his house about quarter mile away.

So two days ago the Sheriff serving the warrant for arrest. To set this up.

His apartment is on the second floor. He has two doors to his apartment.

The first door is at the bottom of the stairwell and is not shared by any other apartments. The first door has a dead bolt which my friend has the key for. Also the stairwell has apartment storage. At the top of the stairwell there is a second door with a standard door lock.

The officer walks in the first door and at the second door the officer smells marijuana and just opens the door.

My friend is in the middle of cleaning up his trimmings. 15 minutes later hes in cuffs and 6 cops destroy his house.

They obtain around of pound of trimmings and bud.



Convince me that, that is not illegal search and seizure.
Are cops allowed to enter a porch to knock on a door? I'd assume this would be the same type of thing...
 

Balzac89

Undercover Mod
To dive deeper that stairwell is completely enclosed in the house and is part of the rented dwelling
 

Balzac89

Undercover Mod
They have his phone which worries me. I cleaned my place of everything. He is literally one of my closest associates.
 

Balzac89

Undercover Mod
This comes about after another associate of mine was busted a month ago. I have a contact that says the Sheriffs are sweeping on 36 warrants in the next few months.

*Just in my county.
 

HydroDawg421

Well-Known Member
To dive deeper that stairwell is completely enclosed in the house and is part of the rented dwelling
They had an arrest warrant. If they can prove they had reasonable suspicion that he was inside (car parked outside) they can enter the residence and anything found is admissible. a good high $$ lawyer could make an argument that the search was illegal but I think that's an uphill battle that won't be won.

Your buddy is a dumb ass for leaving the scene. What would have been a minor fender bender with a couple of traffic citations has now escalated and is looking at prison. I bet they tack on driving under the influence of a narcotic too!

And smelling marijuana is sufficient probable cause BTW.
 

Winter Woman

Well-Known Member
I remember that. Sounds like no one there is safe for the moment.

What a shame I can only imagine the little girls biting the dust.
This comes about after another associate of mine was busted a month ago. I have a contact that says the Sheriffs are sweeping on 36 warrants in the next few months.

*Just in my county.
 

massah

Well-Known Member
They had an arrest warrant. If they can prove they had reasonable suspicion that he was inside (car parked outside) they can enter the residence and anything found is admissible. a good high $$ lawyer could make an argument that the search was illegal but I think that's an uphill battle that won't be won.

Your buddy is a dumb ass for leaving the scene. What would have been a minor fender bender with a couple of traffic citations has now escalated and is looking at prison. I bet they tack on driving under the influence of a narcotic too!

And smelling marijuana is sufficient probable cause BTW.
I imagine he ran due to being inebriated or had drugs on him ;)
 

Balzac89

Undercover Mod
They had an arrest warrant. If they can prove they had reasonable suspicion that he was inside (car parked outside) they can enter the residence and anything found is admissible. a good high $$ lawyer could make an argument that the search was illegal but I think that's an uphill battle that won't be won.

Your buddy is a dumb ass for leaving the scene. What would have been a minor fender bender with a couple of traffic citations has now escalated and is looking at prison. I bet they tack on driving under the influence of a narcotic too!

And smelling marijuana is sufficient probable cause BTW.
The Warrant was only for his arrest not for the premises. The accident happened months ago. They just served the warrant.


The cop had probable cause when he smelled it, but he had already entered the dwelling.(Illegally)
 

massah

Well-Known Member
I remember that. Sounds like no one there is safe for the moment.

What a shame I can only imagine the little girls biting the dust.
The bad thing is once cops start getting at growers who want to get off easier and they start spilling information about other growers/etc...ergo why nobody knows I grow except me, my wife, and the dude who sells my excess who if he ever gets caught will use the story "I found it growing late last summer while riding my bike through the woods"...and for him its a perfectly reasonable and logical answer :)
 

massah

Well-Known Member
The Warrant was only for his arrest not for the premises. The accident happened months ago. They just served the warrant.


The cop had probable cause when he smelled it, but he had already entered the dwelling.(Illegally)
But doesn't someone having an arrest warrant kinda trump the "search" since they were already there to arrest the guy for the warrant?
 

HydroDawg421

Well-Known Member
I imagine he ran due to being inebriated or had drugs on him ;)

Still better than being busted with a grow. The cops have to prove he was driving the car, I don't know if following a trail of coolant to a residence is enough to hold up in court. Like I said. He needs to sell everything he has, max out his credit cards and beg, borrow and steal to get a good lawyer. Even if he beats it, it will cost him everything he has and life as he knows it will cease to exist. I feel for him!
 
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