NCJ Number
137960
Journal
Crime to Court: Police Officer's Handbook Dated: (May 1992) complete issue
Date Published
1992
Length
34 pages
Annotation
This booklet, which accompanies a television show aired by South Carolina ETV, discusses warrantless police searches of structures in open fields.
Abstract
The case examined here, United States v. Pace, involved a drug offense arrest of a man who was growing marijuana in his parents' barn in Texas. Police obtained a warrant after entering the private property without a warrant and observing the marijuana plants from the barn's window. The district court rejected the defendant's suppression motion, leaving the appellate court to reconsider the conviction on the basis of two legal principles: the fourth amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizures and the right to privacy in specified situations. Some of the issues that arose in the appellate decision touched on business curtilage, warrants to search residences, and probable cause for warrants. The appellate court affirmed the conviction.