Drug Charges with Search & Seizure Case Study:

Your House is Your Castle

Situation:

Officers stop a package in the mail that has a lot of money in it (they can tell this by X-ray). The officers dress up as postal workers, and try to deliver the package of money to the addressee, thinking they’ll get inside the residence, poke around, and arrest him. They never get a search warrant.

The police ring the bell, get no answer, and go around to the back of the residence, where the door is slightly open. They go inside, smell marijuana, search the whole place, and arrest everyone there. 

Hearing:

The judge agrees that just because the back door was slightly open, there was no reason for the officers to assume that there had been a burglary and enter without a warrant. The case was dismissed, and the money was returned.