Law of the Case: Florida v. Riley, 57 LW 4126, United States Supreme Court (From Crime to Court: Police Officer's Handbook, P 4-7, April 1989, Joseph C Coleman -- See NCJ-117250)

• NCJ Number: 117251
• Author(s): J C Coleman
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 4 pages
• Corporate Author: South Carolina Educational Television Network; South Carolina Criminal Justice Acad
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article details the reasoning of the U.S. Supreme Court in Florida v. Riley, a search and seizure case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court on January 23, 1989.

Abstract

This issue before the Court was whether flying a helicopter over Riley's greenhouse at 400 feet constituted an illegal search in violation of the fourth amendment. The Court reasoned that Riley's home and greenhouse were not necessarily protected from inspection that involved no physical invasion. Police may see what may be seen from a public vantage point without obtaining a warrant. Therefore, since the police investigator had a right to be in the public airspace over Riley's greenhouse and to see what could be seen from that vantage point with his naked eye, he did not violate the fourth amendment warrant requirement when he flew the helicopter at 400 feet over Riley's greenhouse. The controlling case in the Court's decision was California v. Ciraola, decided in 1986.