Hello there, I have a question about the Exclusionary rule and exigent circumstances to serving a search warrant.

If police officers point a heat-sensing device at someone's house without a warrant (for the device) and discover, say marijuana or cocaine, and then obtain a warrant for that residence from a magistrate, but serve that warrant without announcing their presence, can the evidence found be used against the defendant?

I am unsure how the Exclusionary rule applies in this mess because the officers got a warrant after having used the sensing device which they did only on a suspicion. Would the resulting evidence be obtained in good faith despite the invalidated technical reasons of the warrant?

Are officers required to announce their presence in exigent circumstances where they fear the defendant would use the delay to destroy the evidence?

I hope that made sense lol.

Thank you, and I hope someone can help with this.

Hello con:

Well, it's not quite as definitive as one might want. "Warrants shall not issue, but upon probable cause"...

What was the probable cause for them to shine their marijuana ray upon your house? If somebody TOLD them, then the snitch has to be a RELIABLE snitch - one they've successfully used before, not just an angry neighbor...

And so what if they find that you keep your house rather warm? Is THAT probable cause to suspect you of criminal activity?? I don't think so, but apparently the ex prosecutor magistrate thought so..

Now, I don't know if they're supposed to announce their presence when they search... If they have a warrant, I think they can come ANYTIME, whether you're there or not. Plus, I can't see that they were afraid of you destroying the evidence. If your house was hot enough to show up on their marijahoochie scan, there was more pot inside than you could stuff into a toilet.

In MY state, the pot police used to fly helo's over neighborhoods and shine their death ray on ALL the houses. THAT was found to be illegal. Fortunately, I live in a state where I can now grow ALL my own medical pot, and I do.

I think you need a good criminal lawyer. I don't know what state you're in, but go see my friend Jeffery Steinborn at potbust.com

excon

Thank you for the help, Excon, much appreciated.

This is the issue, if they got a no knock warrant, they don't have to knock or tell you they are there till they knock the door down.

Was there other evidence used or reason to use the heat detector, as noted in some states they can not use the sensor without a warrant for that, but I don't believe there has been a ruling on this in your state. So you will have to fight it out in court.