Arrest, Search, Seizure, Warrant Was this search/seizure illegal?

[Dustin1987]

This happens while i was at work.

My 2 roommates were at home and the 1 was making a smoke bomb on the stove using potassium nitrate for something fun to watch go off in the back yard like an idiot... Anyways the boiling pot went out of control and splattered on the floor and filled the ENTIRE house with smoke.. So of course the fire dept. arrives with a police officer, my roommate told them it was under control and he did not need their assistance they came into our kitchen to investigate and saw that the fire was out and began ventilating the smoke out of the house using a large fan at the front door so they opened all the doors in the house. (not necessary for that police officer to be in the house? Or necessary for him to go inside the rooms, room to room in the house?)
We have a paper from the fire dept. stating the above is true. Aside from what i put in parenthesis.

As that officer went from room to room he found we had paraphernalia, so he then further looked in our house(our basement) and found we had a grow room for our personal use marijuana. Totaling an estimate of 10-15 plants between 10"-20" tall with no full marijuana buds on them just some hairs. They arrested my roommates and me when i arrived home from work and we are going to court for this now. It was weighed out at 689grams thats the entire plant without the soil and it was not even dry(this would lower the weight by 50-70%) The reason the officer says he looked around was he was looking for the potassium nitrate which was left in the kitchen still after they seized everything, so he did not even take it and it was right in his face?

Should that officer have even been in our house without our permission, my roommate did tell them they were not needed.
Was this legal?? Please let me know! I need all the help i can get!

My roommates and I are being charged with these charges
1oss. of drug paraphernalia M-4
2oss. of marijuana F-5 (in an amount equal to or exceeds 200grams but is less than 1,000)
3:Illegal cultivation of marijuana F-5 (in an amount equal to or exceeds 200grams but is less than 1,000)
4ossessing criminal tools F-5 (the lights we used to grow the marijuana.)

We did not have other marijuana in the house, if we did it was less than 5grams of smokable or sell able marijuana. So does it not sound like their charging us for that amount of it twice?

 

[CdwJava]

When there is a potential hazard to the rest of the block from your roommates' stupid actions, yes, they had a right to make entry. A possible fire IS an exigency that will usually justify entry whether you want them to come in or not. Whether the officer had a right to look in all the bedrooms and the basement depends on why he did so. Until the officer takes the stand or the defendant's attorney can read the police reports there is no way to know how good an argument there might be for looking in all those places.

Now, if the fire department saw the contraband and the weed while inspecting the premises for further threats and then told the cops, then I suspect the seizure is golden. Personally, I would have gotten a search warrant after all of this was discovered ... hopefully for the state's case, they did.

One of the best dope busts I made while a patrol cop as when a guy had an alarm on his house and it went off ... we found the back sliding glass door slightly ajar so we made entry to search for possible intruders. As a result, we stumbled upon an indoor grow of 32 plants with an advanced hydroponic system and ventilation. And it happened right at the end of my shift!!!!

The moral of the story is that if you are involved in illicit activity, do not do anything that might give a green light to the authorities to make entry without specific consent! Were your friends half baked when they decided to make a smoke bomb in the kitchen?! I mean ... what prompted them to do that!?

 

[Dustin1987]

Yes i agree, like i said i was at work but yes very dumb move i agree. I know it was dumb what we did and don't intend on messing with that dumb stuff ever again. But they did not get a warrant. And there was nothing in their line of sight when they entered the area of the smoke bomb for entry of any room with a door closed.

 

[mightymoose]

Entry was absolutely reasonable.
Opening all the doors and windows was also reasonable, and anything that was in plain sight to the officer while doing so is fair game (he can't search through your drawers and closets).
As you describe it I am not concerned until the officer goes into the basement. Whether or not his doing so is reasonable or not has a lot to do with how he justifies this based upon his observations. It is also significant that the door apparently was not locked. You would have to go over this with legal counsel to find out whether or not the officer reasonably went into the basement. Nobody can say without reading the report or speaking with the officer.
If the officer had seen contraband that led him to believe there might be plants/drugs in the house then he should have stopped in his tracks and sought a search warrant... however the situation with the smoke/possible fire gives wiggle room for the argument of exigency to check all the rooms simply for safety purposes.

 

[Dustin1987]

Well at this point we have fire officials with the fire dept. that was on the scene saying they felt no reason for searching the rooms and felt no reason for a search of the house, in fact they left my roommate sitting on the couch in the living room the entire time.. Obviously was not a serious risk in our home.

 

[army judge]

Well at this point we have fire officials with the fire dept. that was on the scene saying they felt no reason for searching the rooms and felt no reason for a search of the house, in fact they left my roommate sitting on the couch in the living room the entire time.. Obviously was not a serious risk in our home.

Go to court plead not guilty and ask for a public defender.
Listen to the public defender.
Admit nothing, agree to nothing.
Do as your lawyer instructs.
Be patient.



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