del Carmen & Walker: Briefs of Leading Cases in Law Enforcement, 8th Edition

Apply the Case Law

4. Home Drug Search on an Anonymous Tip

Based on an anonymous tip, officers went to a house suspected of having marijuana growing on the property. One officer went around the back of the house on a small walkway to a park that bordered the house. She was able to look over the six-foot-high privacy fence and see stalks of marijuana growing in pots in the back yard. The other officer went to the front of the house. The officer stepped between some shrubs and the house to look inside the windows. There, the officer saw a bag of marijuana on a couch.

Questions

Which cases are most applicable to these facts?
Your Answer
Correct Answer
- Illinois v. Gates (Chapter 1) to address the anonymous tip.
- Oliver v. U.S. (Chapter 13) to address officers viewing public fields for contraband.
- California v. Ciraolo (Chapter 13) to address officers’ naked-eye observation of the back yard (which was part of the curtilage).
Could the officers take these actions based on the anonymous tip?
Your Answer

Correct Answer

Yes, based on California v. Ciraolo.
Are either of these searches legal? If so, why?
Your Answer
Correct Answer
- Oliver would allow the officer to walk around the house to the public park. Ciraolo would allow the naked-eye observation of the plants in the back yard.
- The officer could not step between the bushes and the house to look inside the window because that breaks the plane of curtilage; therefore, the observation of the bag of marijuana would be inadmissible.