Can acop charge me with something he wasnt looking for when he entered my house?

Question

Okay. Heres the story...

Say someone smokes pot. Now they(lets say bob) have been letting their friend(lets say Phil) stay over because he has had a hard time with his GF. He(Phil) is wanted on charges of hitting her, Now as far as everyone knew the charges had been dropped by the GF. But the state (NC) picked them up and were having him(Phil) arrested. The cops came to Bob's house looking for Phil. Bob let the cops in willingly to look for Phil, Nothing else. While there the cops happen to see a left out remainder of a joint in the ashtray. They pressed charges on Bob for illegal substance and other charges.

Im im correct the cops can not charge him (Bob) with these charges due to one of those amendments i cant remember the name of. Stating that if they enter the house looking for 1 thing they can not charge you for something entierly different.

Am i correct?

Answer 1

He can be charged.  It is called "plain view".  Anything that can be seen without the officer manipulating the object is considered plain view.

Answer 2

You are incorrect.  First, as to Phil, there is no such thing as dropping charges in domestic violence.  That victims change their minds after calling the police is common, it is referred to as a symptom of battered women's syndrome.  So the arrest warrant is solid.

The police are entitled to enter a home with permission or if they see the target of an arrest warrant inside.  The police went to the known friend of Phil and requested permission to enter, which they did.

The police did not have a search warrant, meaning they did not go to a judge requesting permission to search for a particular thing in the house.  Thus, the police were not allowed to manipulate objects in the house to search for things.  However, according to the doctrine of "plain view" the police were entitled to take notice of whatever was within plain sight and react to it.  It is true that Bob, with his statement, did restrict the power of the police to search.  Items in plain view are not covered by the seach clause because there is no "search" needed to detect them.

Once the cops found the weed, they were entitled to arrest Bob and detain everyone in the house for their own safety.  Anything found on Bob is fine since he can be searched "incident to arrest."  Not clear on what you mean by other charges.

Answer 3

If the police enter a residence to serve an arrest warrant and see the cannabis IN PLAIN SIGHT, then not only the homeowner but EVERYONE PRESENT can be arrested and charged with the cannabis. If the person responsible for the cannabis steps forward and says "That's mine", then he/she would be the only one charged.  Otherwise, it is looked at as "it's there and you're there so you all possess it".

Answer 4

Yes they can.

Answer 5

Police can charge a person if what they found is in plain view because they were permitted into the home. It's like saying a cop can't shoot a criminal robbing a convience store because the cop was off duty at the time. cop was there and so was the offense,so cop did their job.

Answer 6

No, you're not correct.

If the officers were admitted into the residence, any contraband or illegal substances out in plain site would be seizable and 'Bob' could face charges for those substances.

I think what you're referring to is.. If an officer with a search warrant comes into your home looking for a stolen big screen TV, and he locates illegal drugs inside a closed drawer in a sock, the search MIGHT be deemed as invalid as the big screen TV wouldn't be found in a drawer in a sock.

And even with that, "Ya might beat the rap, but you gonna take the ride"......

Answer 7

It's a legal seizure. The principal is that police can seize anything that is contraband (drugs, stolen property, anything that's unlawful to possess) or evidence of crime (drug dealing records, crowbar used in the burglary) if they can see it from where they are standing when they're lawfully in that spot. It might be because they are executing a warrant or checking health and safety (bad smell and mail piling up) or, as in your case, they were allowed to enter by the person in control of the place.

You may be misled by cases in which they were executing a search warrant for something and were looking in a place where it could not be hidden (looking for stolen bicycle in a kitchen drawer). But, in your case, it's not a search. They were were they were lawfully because they were allowed in, and the stuff was laying out where anyone there could see it. Even under a plain search warrant, they can seize things not named in the warrant, if they are in plain view, which means where they can see it while searching for the named things. (Does not apply to "evidentiary" search warrants in every state. That special kind of warrant for evidence only can be limited to just what is named.)

If that's all they found, and if good ol' Phil comes up front about the dope being his, Bob ;) might get off. Of course, you don't say what the "other charges" are. And, if they are making an arrest, they can lawfully walk through the house and look anywhere a person could hide, a safety sweep to detect any danger to themselves from other persons. Also not a search and it's limited to where people might hide, but anything they see, like under the bed, and identifiable as contraband or evidence can also be seized.

You can easily check all this out by Googling "search seizure law." but it's all the questions were pretty well answered a long time ago in the courts.

Answer 8

Yes, the police can charge for any offense they see in "plain view."

Answer 9

The plaine view doctrin allows law enforcment personal to take action for anything illegal that they see in their "plain view". You allowing the police to enter your home lessons your privacy, therefore they have the right to take action of whatever they want that is in plain view.

They would not have the right to enter your house without a warrent unless ones consents....or search any of your belongings without a warrent.

You, i mean Bob...is in a damaging position right now!

Answer 10

once the police are let into your house to look for a specific thing and they see something illegal out in the open then they can charge you. They can not go looking for something but if it is in plain sight they can charge.

Answer 11

You are incorrect. (Bob) is toast.